Paolo introduces his new album <em>Sunny Side Up</em> with just a whiff of some of the tracks, such as Pencil Full of Lead which you can listen to now, and some revelations on the making of it.
Musically, he admits, it represents quite a departure for him from what has gone before and the reactions to early performances have been very different.
"In America, they are just so open to new things - mostly because they've probably never heard of me. Here, there's a bit more demand for some of the old songs."
The Paisley-born singer has astonished fans with his follow-up to These Streets, If that established him as a leading light amongst the new wave of singer-songwriters, Sunny Side Up, to be released on June 1st, casts him in a whole other light.
As he explains it, "I don't really have a genre or style that I feel a part of," explains Paolo. "I skip from Djhango Reinhart to Cab Calloway to Canned Heat. It's a bit of a random mish mash.
"I honestly wanted it all to come out, and not harness it, not manipulate it. I just wanted it to be organic, and so immediate it's in your face and you can't help but take it all in."
Having signed for Atlantic records when he was just 18, five years ago, Paolo now has the freedom to do what he likes. The new album was recorded in a residential studio in Ireland where, as he puts it, he and his musicians could just throw ideas around.
