By Moonlight

“Snowbird is essentially a collaboration between myself and a wonderful American singer – Stephanie Dosen. I first came across her back in 2005 via her MySpace profile – you know people actually did that back then. We started talking and emailing each other and we decided to do something together. She sent me some demos and came over to the UK to do her album, and then, to cut a long story short, we became a couple for the next six years.

“It's funny, we never really discussed doing more music and then she got deported because her visa had run out. At the same time I bought a grand piano off Gumtree – and because she was gone I had nothing to do in the evenings except tinker around on this piano. So for the first time in 12 or 13 years I found myself creating music again – and each night I would email what I'd done to Stephanie over in North Carolina. I'd get up in the morning and I'd find that she'd sent back a song almost wholly realised – not lyrically but with all the melodies in place. These were the sketches that became the Moon album.

“Once the songs were there I went up to a studio in North Wales and put the songs together so Stephanie could finish her vocals. But at that point I wasn't really satisfied with everything – it was a little too one-dimensional – I wanted more dynamic from the material. I had individual musicians in mind who I thought would suit particular tracks. So I got people like Phil Selway [Radiohead] and Jonathon Wilson to put their stamp on the music. And they definitely did that; their contributions have improved the material immeasurably.”

One of the key themes of the album is reflected in the title – Moon.

“We chose the title together because the moon had been so important in the making of the record. Stephanie would never do her vocals earlier than midnight and I of course created all the initial music sitting at the piano night after night because I worked all day at my label.”

Raymonde's label is of course the indie powerhouse Bella Union, responsible for releases from the likes of Fleet Foxes and Midlake. And when it comes to business Raymonde is quite the idealist.

“We're in our 16th year now and I've got to say things are going well for us. Of course, having had experiences with labels as a musician I know what not to do - so that gives me an advantage I guess. I run the label I wanted to be on as an artist - I go out of my way to avoid the usual antagonism that exists between artist and label. And I've been proved right - because my bands stay with me. I've managed to maintain friendships with my artists and still run a label that survives financially. It sounds like a cliché but Bella Union is more like a family than a business.”