"I built a hotel out of shampoo bottles that I collected in a gallery in Cardiff," confesses Gruff Rhys when called upon to explain the title of his third solo album, a near tropical-sounding collection of tunes recorded in Wales and mixed in LA. “They were switching over exhibitions and they gave me three days. I'd been collecting them for about 15 years and I got them all out. It was a huge relief: I'd been planning it for over a decade. I built it over the few days and on the last night I slept in it. It was like a diary of the boom years. I didn't make any money but at least I have a kennel-sized hotel that I can sleep in.”
And if that sounds curious, it could have been even curiouser.
“Initially I was going to make a lake out of shampoo,” Gruff continues. “When I started touring I was quite shocked by how much free stuff was given away. I thought I'd make a monument to the waste, and decided to build the hotel. About two years ago I started organising them into boxes and things, under the stairs, and it was the same time as writing this record, which was reflective, it looks back at the same period. So I stole the name of the hotel for the record as well."
And did the grand unveiling live up to his expectations?
"I think the idea is better than the execution! It didn't look very good, it looked like a weird kennel, but I built it to resemble a Monopoly hotel, a kind of generic shape. They gave me a corner near this huge bar with incredibly strong European beers, so I tried to sign off early every night before things got too rowdy. I had to explain myself to loads of drunk people quite often."
Since the demise of the Super Furry Animals, Gruff's been a busy man. Aside from his solo work, he's embarked upon a number of collaborations with De La Soul, Gorillaz and Brazilian artist Tony da Gatorra, as well as making a cameo on 'Just War' from the epic Dark Night Of The Soul album, conceived by Danger Mouse with the late Mark Linkous, featuring visuals by David Lynch.
"I've ended up working with DJs as producers, which is interesting," Gruff observes. "They're often not so bothered about the technical aspect, they're more interested in the black arts of making a good record. It was interesting doing the Neon Neon record with Boom Bip, he's militant about what qualifies for the album, and that's good because I'm not a particularly militant person, musically. And Danger Mouse is an amazing DJ, I've seen him play records to rooms and keep people going mental all night. He's done a lot of his best records with very simple, limited equipment. He did something to my voice on Dark Night Of The Soul, I think he got a really good vocal out of me. That record is kind of mired in tragedy on every level. I saw Mark Linkous play but I never met him. I got a demo of a song with him whistling a tune over it and I had to apply lyrics and sing the melody – it was an education. I've made a compilation of walk-on parts called Rent Boy, I hope to stick it out on the internet... But I suppose I should ask all the artists first!"

Hotel Shampoo is out now on Ovni Records. You can listen to 'Sensations In The Dark' on hotpress.com now.