Tom Vek: "I’m not going to suggest that it really takes that long to produce 45 minutes worth of music..."

It’s not quite on the scale of the 17 years it took Mr A. Rose to solve the conundrum that was/is Chinese Democracy, nor is it quite on a par with the ridiculous level of expectation generated by the wait for The Stone Roses' Second Coming, but the six-year hiatus Tom Vek has treated himself to does seem particularly odd given the impact his debut release We Have Sound was to have on the music scene.

The bright, breezy electronic pop punk and odd lyrical non-sequiters bringing to mind (if only for the sake of homonymic concenience) the polymathic idiosyncrasies of Beck and seemingly heralding the start of an innovative career. Then, radio silence. Nary a peep nor a tweet and so began the rumours. Tom Vek had been abducted by aliens/relocated to San Francisco (same thing)/extradited/developed a crippling addiction to World of Warcraft. But now, he’s back, with sophomore effort Leisure Seizure, and seemingly wondering what all the fuss was about. We caught up for a quick blether, mainly to ask him where the Vek Tom’s been.

We bet you’re getting heartily sick of being asked what you’ve been up to in the past five years [since he stopped touring We Have Sound. Have you felt the need to come up with an ‘official line’?

I haven’t really established an official line because there was no overriding plan at any point. I’ve just been taking every day as it comes, and after every day I would ask "Have I finished my album today? No. OK then!"

Five years is a long time to make one album. We’re going to speculate that you’re really quite the perfectionist?

I suppose so, but I’m not going to suggest that it really takes that long to produce 45 minutes worth of music. There was a lot of production and mixing involved; the last year or so has been incredibly busy, but the hard thing about it is getting to that point where you want something, or you’ve got a situation whereby you want to work. I’m not interested in finessing something that wasn’t that good in the first place. I guess I was waiting for inspiration; it’s hard to recreate it or demand it.

We really, really hope you’re happy with the results?

Yeah, of course I am. I don’t mind that I have to reiterate it, but in my mind, I’ve always been in love with the idea of artists believing in their work, and that was what had to happen. I needed to be ready to do things that I like and wanted to release. I don’t want to operate under the scenario whereby I am heavily influenced by others, or have people to blame if something goes wrong, or do something that someone has suggested would further my career. That would shock me if it happened to me. The integrity is there in keeping with my naïve music fanboy teenager ideals, I trust that point of view – it’s important.

Does Leisure Seizure imply a specific theme or are you just hugely aware of the American market's penchant for rhyming titles?

It does indeed rhyme in American, that was pointed out afterwards, but it’s not meant to be a rhyming thing. I think it’s just an interesting couplet of words that can mean wildly different things. One of them is agitative, the other descriptive. You can be like, "One is doing it to the other, or vice versa," I’m sure there’s a word for that. But really it’s just two words together.

Your return has generated quite the fanfare. But why so silent in the interim?

[Somewhat sheepishly] Obviously I’m incredibly flattered. I think that … it makes me proud in a way. I really think that in the internet culture, that if you’re not doing a lot of things then you’re seen to be actively not doing stuff, if that makes sense [mibbe]. I feel like I didn’t hassle anyone in the meantime; I came back when I thought I had something exciting enough with which to request people’s attention again. I like to think that it was a matter of politeness or etiquette or something like that. [Laughs]

Talk about the processes involved in making the album; when you got down to it, did it vary much from the first time around?

It’s hard to say really. With the first album, I had just finished studying and we were doing it in stolen time and in a way it was quite a relaxed thing. That’s what’s sort of cool about doing music with no pressure or presumption. It can be whatever it wants to be and that’s a really positive thing because you only care about establishing your own style, and doing stuff you like doing. I was very pleased and excited that the record retained so much of that.

This time around, of course I spent a lot of time thinking about it. You can’t help but be aware that it’s a completely different scenario and the question is whether or not you try to emulate the situation you were in the first time, or try a new way. Does that make it contrived if you’re thinking about it? The thing I really wanted with this record was to make it a career reality without affecting the musical side of things at all, which is why I spent a long time looking for the right studio space – very similar to how I imagine people might decide that they like or don’t like a job because it’s got nicer offices, what kind of commute you have to do, whether you get to sit next to a window and these kinds of things that are quite important in the scheme of things.

I just like the idea of cleaning the desk scenario. You know you’ve got a lot of work to do, but you clean your desk and then you can do your work quicker. I wanted to have a studio where I could feel creative, and I was spending more and more time in it. When I did feel I had everything in place I felt quite excited.

Forgive us if this seems a little premature considering your recent five year absence but do you have a musical blueprint for the next five?

To be pretty creative there’s an obligation to promote yourself and it does take up a lot of time. You play shows, travel a bit, but we are living in the age of overall communication now and I’m excited to be pretty busy with stuff but the key is to continue working. I feel a lot more quick because now I’ve established a certain skillset and approach. It’s mainly just a mindset matter, I’ve managed to validate it in my mind as an adult now, and so I’ll continue to do it.