Conceived by Canadian singer Mike Milosh and Dutch producer Robin Hannibal back in 2011, Rhye emerged as an alternative-R&B force of nature when they dropped their debut album Woman in 2013.

Both Mike and Robin went their separate ways in the years that followed, but Mike has continued to make music under the Rhye moniker with various musicians. However, it took until last February for him to release a follow-up album that he could be truly content with.

“I wanted to be happy with it for myself,” he admits, speaking down the line from across the Atlantic. “That’s the real reason that it took me as long as it did. I’d been working on it for two years – sort of on-off because I’d been doing a lot of touring. But there was a moment when I was doing the last song on the album, ‘Song For You’, where I had a kind of epiphany; I realised, okay, it’s finished now.

“When I look back on it and listen to it, there’s nothing about it that gives me a cringe moment, or a feeling of, ‘Oh my god I wish I had done this or that.’ I feel very satisfied with it. I wanted to make a much more analogue, live sounding record and I think I’ve got that.”

Safe in that knowledge, Rhye tells me he can shrug off any reviews of Blood with relative ease. He’s knows that he’s keeping the fans happy, and most importantly, he’s enjoying the process.

“I wholeheartedly enjoy production and writing,” he enthuses. “I don’t have a tortured relationship with music. I’m also not trying to do anything specific with it, or cater it to anyone else. I’m not hired by anybody to make a radio hit. I don’t feel any pressure on me to create something that is going to blow people away. For me, it’s more like, ‘Oh I feel this way, now I’m going to write a song about it.’ I think, over time, I’ve learned that I create best when I’m operating on my own terms – I’m most content doing things my own way.”

That independence also extends to his time on the road. Rhye toured relentlessly to buy himself out of a record deal a few years back, in order to retain artistic independence. He was, quite literally, getting behind his own wheel.

“I used to even drive the tour bus myself!” he laughs. “I think this tour that I’m on right now is the first time in about 500 shows where I haven’t been driving the tour bus. But I was happy doing it. My outlook was: I’ll drive the bus, organise the tour, and use the sound engineers in each venue I go to. I enjoyed doing that stuff, having my independence. I didn’t even want to outsource the photography for the album cover or hire an artist, because I like doing that stuff myself.”

Mike’s latest tour will take him back to Ireland this summer, and he’s very familiar with the auld sod.

“A lot of people don’t actually know this, but I’ve played in Ireland a lot of times over the years,” he says. “I played there about 14 times back when I was just Milo, although I’ve only played twice as Rhye. I’ve done shows in small art galleries, playing to like 25 people – so yeah, I’ve had some very special experiences in Ireland. The main problem of travelling with such a big band is that we usually only play at festivals and stuff. But I’m still looking to put together a situation where we play, like, five shows – that way we can perform properly throughout the country.”