In her own words: A track-by-track accompaniment for listerners

1000 Beautiful Things: "A friend of mine used to say that I saw the glass half empty, rather than half full. He was right. I did. I do. So this is a kind of reminder to myself of the many reasons why I should show gratitude for just being here-and-now in the world. Sometimes, when you feel yourself to be in a very dark place, it's hard to remember what those reasons are. At such times, you have to get back to the simplest things. It's about an existential way of living your life, so that you can see the light, and appreciate all the beauty that's around you".

Pavement Cracks: "Children have such an instinctive way of reacting to the world. They skip because they're happy. They delight in the moment - in the macaroni on the plate before them. We lose that freshness as we grow. Life knocks it out of us. Yet still, there's this miraculous capacity for new growth. In my darkest times, I'd walk with my head bowed, seeing only the cracks in the pavement slabs. But then I'd notice the weeds pushing up through them, like a metaphor for hope. All is not desperate. Change comes, even when it seems it won't."

The Hurting Time: "This is a song filled with sorrow. But it's written at that point of wearied acceptance, when you've cried so much that you're all washed out, there are no tears left, and you bow to the inevitable. After any loss, there has to be that time for grieving. It's something we must go through, sooner or later, without exception. It's part of the human condition. From the moment we're born into the cycle of life, we each carry the fact of our eventual death with us. When it comes, literally, or in terms of the death of a relationship ... that's the hurting time."

Honestly: "This song grew out of a turmoil of over-thinking. The mind's such a fascinating thing. It's able to carry on a multitude of conversations with itself. As the core part reacts to a given situation, another part will be observing that reaction and commenting on it. And another part will be observing that second reaction and commenting on that, and so on. Here, the music reflects that, in the sense that there are two dialogues on-going (the principle one, with its extended phrasing, and a second, reacting to the first) both searching for understanding."

Wonderful: "This has a kind of Alicia Keys feel to it. It's about a longing
to be with someone. It's a song about desire, about Eros. And as we all
know, desire is so toxic, so addictive. It goes way beyond the rational. It's far, far deeper than that. You may know entirely that the person you're being drawn to is the wrong person, but does that stop you? No. The relationship may be bad for you. It may be unhealthy, non-supportive, wrong in every way ... But boy, are you going there, and usually at speed. Something a lot of us have felt, I think."

Bitter Pill: "I have a lot of powerful emotions, and I think it's better for me to acknowledge them in song form than to try and hold them inside. I don't like to feel anger or aggression, but sometimes you have to just hold your hands up and admit how things are for you. Otherwise, your bitterness will fester, eroding the vessel that contains it. That said, this is not a revenge song, and shouldn't be read as being against this person or that. It's just an acknowledgement of feelings that we all have from time to time, and which all of us have to process."

Loneliness: "It's strange, isn't? Here in the western world, we're all of us supposed to be living these successful, evolved, fulfilled lives, and so it's really quite shocking and exposing when someone says, 'Actually, there is failure in my world and yes, I am lonely.' Well, I'm prepared to say that about myself. And take even the happiest individual away from their safe haven of friends, family, familiar places, and they'll have that feeling too. But it's not even about physical isolation. You can be lying next to someone and still know what it's like."

The Saddest Song: "The title's very touching for me. It kind of sums everything up. I found myself looking at this bag of songs that I'd assembled and here was this one, the saddest of them all. Very clearly, it's about the end of a relationship. But it's also a song about acceptance. It's overflowing with acceptance. There's no point me trying to hide the fact that this is an album of songs about negative emotions. That's why it's called 'Bare'. But it's also about channeling those emotions, and overcoming them. And in that sense, it's uplifting."

Erased: "When I was 11, a great aunt of mine died, and I went with my parents to help clear her home. It turned out to be one of the biggest lessons of my early life. An awakening moment. Everything was as it always was - the sofa, the chairs, the table set and ready - and yet suddenly it was like a theatre set, because she was gone. Erased. And that happens again and again as you progress through life. Situations that seem permanent are suddenly altered. Circumstances change. People disappear from our lives. It's a song about that."

Twisted: "This is about miscommunication. Non-communication. When you're on track in a relationship and everything's reciprocal ... Well, what could be more wonderful than to be fully engaged with another human being, and one that you love? You talk, and they listen. They talk, and you listen. Both of you understand. But once things go off track, everything gets twisted. Suddenly, it's as if you're speaking two different languages. You cannot make yourself understood, and every attempt makes things worse. It's the ultimate in frustration."

Oh God: "At first, this seems like one of the bleakest moments on the whole album, because when you have depression, you go down to a very dark place. This is a prayer, one from someone who doesn't really believe in a God, and so isn't convinced anyone will be listening. But the very fact that they're reaching out for a benefactor, given such low expectations, represents a kind of optimism - a shift from negative thinking patterns to more positive ones. In that sense, that reaching out is symbolic of progress, and of a looking to a better future."