Alt-rocker's sonic boom

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In Welcome To England, the first single from her latest album, Abnormally Attracted to Sin, Tori Amos sings about how she better take her "own sun" when she moves to gloomy Britain with her other half.

As the North Carolina-born singer/songwriter divides her time between her Miami beach-house and the Cornwall residence she shares with her sound engineer husband Mark Hawley, it would be easy to interpret the song as autobiographical.

Not so, says the 45-year-old, who is holding court in a Kensington hotel suite. "It's about a woman who leaves her friends, family and job to be with her partner. As she tries to build a new life she becomes absorbed into his friends and family and yet they're not really hers. She needs to develop her own self as well."

As to what extent Welcome To England's lyrics are derived from her own experience, she says: "There's a little bit of me in all of my songs because that's the kind of writer I am. I am American and I've had to try to carve out a life in another country while having friends and family somewhere else." Despite being married to Hawley for more than a decade and mum to an 8-year-old daughter, Amos has yet to put down any roots in Cornwall. "It's my husband's home. I can't vote here, I have no rights here ... unless I'm prepared to give up my American rights and I'm not willing to do that."

But she does appear in an American-style jumpsuit in the "visualette" for Welcome To England, one of the short films by director Christian Lamb that accompany almost every track on the deluxe version of the album. "It was a lot of work to make the songs into visuals. I always loved the visual medium and I thought that if people could have something tangible that they could watch as well as listen to then it becomes a complete experience. I call them sonic installations." The return to her trademark piano-led sound after her last opus, the 2007 American Doll glossy production, Abnormally Attracted To Sin was made at Hawley's Martian Studios in Cornwall, her favourite studio.

But Amos' surroundings haven't influenced her work. "I write a lot on the road," she says. "There's so much that goes into the music. I write a lot when I'm exposed to new senses. When you're travelling, a lot of ideas come because your buttons get pushed."

With its surf beaches and unspoiled landscape, Cornwall is reminiscent of New Zealand, which Amos and Hawley visited in 1992. "We snuck away from the crew to Milford Sound ... the seas were emerald-green and the water was gorgeous. We hiked a lot and got lost a lot, which was fine. I just love the culture, it's what is unique to New Zealand.'

She hopes to return on her next world tour. "It's on our schedule to come. It's been a long time since I've been Downunder."

* Abnormally Attracted To Sin is released tomorrow.