I don’t want to see some guy who’s trying to break his story writing about The Next

I don’t want to see some guy who’s trying to break his story writing about The Next Big Thing.”We don’t want to be known for being different, we don’t want to be known for anything other than our music,” Caleb adds determinedly. “I really can’t wait till it gets to the point we have enough, um…”"Leverage…” Jared interjects. Caleb carries on: “Yeah, leverage, where we can make our music and not worry about everything else. Play music for people.” He ends, dreamily: “Or even just keep songs to enjoy for ourselves.”"Turn into Brian Wilson,” Jared jokes. Caleb looks inspired – something’s tripped a switch somewhere. His aquamarine eyes glisten: “Yeah! We can turn into The Band – we can do whatever we like!”‘Youth & Young Manhood’ is out on Handmedown.

It’s early August 2002 and on the other end of the line a barely audible voice croaks, “I’m not very well at all My voice is going and my body has gone into spasms. I’m off to see the doctor in about five minutes.” After months of battling personal demons and intricate melody phrases, Nitin Sawhney has at last finished his new album, Human. The doctor suggests that he has been overworking and needs a complete break for a couple of weeks. In the end, time restrictions mean that all he takes is a late booking to Portugal for a week before diving headlong into the waiting media frenzy. We meet up at his small but elegantly minimalist pad in south London to discuss the new album and discover why this highly rated musician puts himself through the mill every time he digitises a note on to his computer “I always get ill after an album,” he confesses “Everything goes into it.

Whenever I make an album I don’t sleep much, I don’t eat properly.. everything is about the album. I sculpt an album from every influence I’ve ever had, from every thought I’ve ever had. I have to distil it down to the bare essentials of what I’m trying to say. So it’s a big process that involves throwing out a lot of shit and spending a lot of time focusing.”We slope off to a nearby pub. Sawhney has the kind of intelligent but unshaven look of a man who spends countless hours musing over the fundamentals of life. On stage he is the keystone of his group, not always dynamic, but always alert to the needs of his vocalists and soloists. In conversation he is eloquent and philosophical, but also humble and polite He also believes in keeping his private life private.