Singer-songwriter Kelley Stoltz talks inspiration with Sinead Gleeson

IT'S no secret that music reviewers get sent a lot of music, the standard of which can vary hugely. Every album that pops through the letterbox gets at least one listen; if it's for review, it usually gets heavy rotation. And then there are albums like Kelley Stoltz's Below The Branches that have to be surgically removed from the CD player. From the exuberance of track one right through to the final elegy, it's an album of many moods.

"I've been working on these songs for the last four-and-a-half years," says Stilz. "And I've tried lots of different things so I think the mood, which changes from fun to introspective, just represents all the things I've been doing"

Below the Branches is also a riot of influences and Stoltz has been compared to Tim Buckley, but says it was music from this side of the Atlantic that inspired him. "Growing up, my stepbrother got me into Joy Division and David Bowie. Echo & The Bunnymen were another of my favourite bands so I started wearing a trench coat, took up smoking and sat around talking in a Liverpool accent for a while."

Such is Stoltz's respect for Ian McCullough and co, he recorded his own versions of the albums Crocodiles and Heaven Up Here and has plans to tackle Porcupine and Ocean Rain.

Hailing from Michigan in the US, Stoltz started playing in bands when he was 14, but didn't start writing his own music until he was 20. College and a career as a schoolteacher followed, but he knew that eventually he'd have to decide whether to commit to music fulltime or not.

"After college, I didn't know what I wanted to do, but had a nagging feeling that I wanted to make music," he says. "But I didn't know how to go about it. For me, musicians were otherworldly people and I was just a guy from Michigan, so I taught for a while and tried to make music in the evenings. I began to realise it was too tiring doing both and I got really frustrated, so I quit teaching to give music a shot. I didn't have any stylistic ideas about recording when I started out, I just bought a four-track and a couple of microphones. I was shy starting out and knew I had to write a lot of bad songs while I learned to be a songwriter, so it made sense to do it at home."

Home, by this stage, was his adopted San Francisco, where he recorded 14 tracks, pressed 200 vinyl copies and sold them at shows and in the city's record shops. Antique Glow picked up much positive press, particularly from the UK and later from Sub Pop Records. The label was once inextricably linked to grunge, and Stoltz himself had a preconception about the kind of music they released.

"When they first approached me, I thought I didn't have anything in common with what Sub Pop do. I considered myself some sort of psychedelic folk-pop blues singer-songwriter. I'm also one of those musicians who look backwards and not around me, but some of the piano on the album is very Rufus Wainwright and I also love Richie Hawley. They're both contemporary musicians who have an understanding of classic pop song structures with a twist, and I think that's where I am. Then I remembered The Shins were on Sub Pop, so it was great to find out they release such a diverse range of music. They were really supportive about the way I make music."

Stoltz records at home, thus providing the album's distinctive, vintage feel. He dabbles in guitar and drums, but piano drives his sound. "I used a crummy, old, upright piano because I was tired of writing songs on my guitar and I used to play piano when I was a kid," he says.

Stoltz had some friends help out with drums and bass, but he plays on "about 75 per cent of the album" - including a child's piano on one of the album's best tracks, Birdies Singing. With its lazy pop melody, it throws up another palpable musical reference - The Beach Boys - and Stoltz praises their recording techniques and arrangements before telling me about a recent bizarre phone encounter with Brian Wilson.

"Brian was raising money for Hurricane Katrina victims, and agreed to double pledges of $100 or more. As part of the deal, he'd also call you and you could ask him a question. I thought a lot about what to ask him and I didn't just want to gush or ask some arcane recording question, I wanted him to know I'm a songwriter who could speak his language. He calls later that day and I tell him that I just got my piano tuned and that I've tried to play a Beach Boys song called Meant For You. It doesn't sound right and I ask if he can tell me the chords, but he says he can't remember and I felt that I'd blown my chance. I hang up and just as I'm trying to figure out who to call first and tell them what's just happened, the phone rings and it's Brian. 'Hi Kelley, it's Brian again. That song starts in A flat.' So I walk to the piano and play the chord and he tells me to sing - and he started singing along with me. He told me I was pretty good on the piano. It was just too much for me."

Below the Branches is released today on Sub Pop.