Cathy Davey is in remarkably flying form when she picks up the phone to talk to the 'Limerick Independent'; remarkable because on top of to-ing and fro-ing to London over the past few weeks, she is just back from the arduous task of "a particularly rocky interview."

However, we can't just reveal who that was with!

The previously mentioned expeditions to the UK have been as part of a four-week residency at the infamous London venue, the Water Rats. It is a similar routine to one that Davey developed towards the end of the year, when she was about to unveil her second album 'Tales of Silversleeve' – playing each venue once a week over a one-month period in various cities, including Limerick, around the country.

A bit of an old-school technique, one might say. "It definitely is, and I suppose people don't really do it because it is so expensive," agrees Cathy. "It was something that I did for profile, and just to get bloody better at playing live shows! One of the guys at EMI (Davey is signed to EMI-owned Parlophone) suggested it, but I was a bit ropey about it, as not enough people knew me to come to the gigs."

However, the label man got it right: "By the last week, the gigs were getting fuller and fuller, and I was starting to recognise faces. It was really nice, and I was very surprised because I'm not someone who would really go see a band a second time; I've never been a big gig goer," she confesses.

That in itself seems surprising for anyone involved in music, yet Davey doesn't exactly bow down to convention. "The last band I saw a few times was The Immediate, but they've split up since, and now I've Conor (O'Brien) in my band so I get to see him all the time! To be honest, it would be the same for me with records – if I liked an album, I'd listen to it a few times, but I wouldn't play it to death."

Interesting that Davey would say that, given the public attention that has surrounded 'Tales Of Silversleeve'. A huge leap from 2004 debut 'Something Ilk', her sophomore full-length has had all kinds of superlatives thrown at by critics, while crucially, it has also pricked up the ears of the general public, and radio shows across the spectrum have given it the thumbs up.

It seems that recording this album got the results that Cathy wanted, showing a maturity that perhaps wasn't evident on 'Something Ilk': "Yeah, most of those songs were not conducive to a live environment. With this one, I really wanted to write songs that I'd enjoy playing life."

A solo artist writing may invoke imagery of acoustic guitars and pianos, but Davey found a new weapon of choice in the form of her new drum kit. "I tend to just naturally gravitate towards certain instruments at certain times. I will write a bunch of songs on one instrument and after a while I will just get bored with it; a new instrument inspires new energy," she muses.

As for current favourites? "I'm writing a lot on the mandolin at the moment. When I went away last month to write for a while, I just brought a mandolin, a tiny drum kit, and an eighties keyboard with me. I like new toys, but they just fall on me by chance; I'm not a nerdy seeker of new instruments!"

With the momentum gathered from 'Tales Of Silversleeve', Cathy won a Meteor Award this year for Best Irish Female. However, I put it to her that an event like that must be far removed from her everyday existence, and not such a big deal in the bigger picture?