. . . which, for David Kitt, is a good place to be. His last album made it into 50,000 homes. Will his new one - heartfelt, individual and direct - take him into more, asks Jim Carroll

A few weeks ago David Kitt went on holiday. He needed a break. He'd finished his new album, knew a tour was coming up and realised time off would be scarce, so he headed for Crete. Turns out it's been very windy in Crete, but that didn't shake Kitt.

He wasn't thinking about mini-tornados, he was back to Square One. Kitt was buzzing about his new record, buzzing about the new songs he'd written, buzzing about the new sounds he and his band had got down on tape. Yeah, he thought as the wind kept blowing, this is where it all begins again.

Back in a hotel bar in Dublin Kitt is beginning to realise it really has begun again, but some of it is familiar. Day two of the latest wrestling bout with the media and it's the same question-and- answer routine as ever. You can even see the makings of a thousand-yard stare in his eyes. Comes with the game, you know. You can't have an album that makes its way into 50,000 homes in Ireland without going a little stir-crazy.

Kitt's last release, The Big Romance, was the one that took him from hip next big thing to best-selling artist in 12 months. Its mellow atmospherics and sweet electronic pop were winners, but he worked hard to score nonetheless. He toured, the album sold. He toured again, the album sold again. He stopped touring, the album stopped selling. The touring - and the selling - begins again in September. It really is a long, long way from Crete to here.

A lot has changed since The Big Romance, and Square One is the place to go for snapshots of the metamorphosis. Soulful and funkier than anything this bright, thoughtful, likable fellow has touched before, it's the sound of someone hearing old records for the first time and going off all inspired to make new ones. Got What I Need best catches the new Kitt clatter, snaring an old Gamble and Huff soul classic for a few brassy hints before flying away on its own steam.

"My whole interest in electronic music was about finding sounds which hadn't been heard before, sounds which were incredibly fresh and exciting," he says. "I was involved in that pursuit for a long time and started out that way with this record. After a while, though, I heard all these old soul records and became excited about the prospect of going back and recording simple sounds well."

When Kitt talks about this being his "funky white guy" turn, you smile. When he mentions bringing records by Betty Wright, Otis Redding and Al Green to recording sessions, you nod. And when he talks about using the old beauty of a desk Curtis Mayfield used to record Movin' On Up - a desk now in the Black Box studio in deepest France - you hear the hum of a few anecdotes stirring.

But it's when Kitt starts talking about the lyrics on Square One that you realise how much has changed. Last year he fell in love and married, and it has affected every aspect of Kitt's musical world. It makes this album something of a wedding album with a difference.

For the first time today there's a lengthy pause and some hesitation before Kitt answers. It's understandable: few of his Irish peers have been this direct or personal in their lyrics. "I suppose I hadn't thought about how open the lyrics were until now," says Kitt. "But I couldn't help writing about it or talking about it, because the person I fell in love with has been a huge influence on my life and on my approach to music. Poppy was a key influence on me and how my musical journey changed, and the lyrics are the verbal expression of that.

"Falling in love's great, and I wanted to sing about it. I wasn't going to dress it up; I wanted to capture it in a simple way, and the music was pointing me in that direction. It comes back to the soul records which turned me on prior to starting the record. There's a real honesty and directness to soul music. There's no self-censorship apart from trying to make it sound right. Now, though, I suppose it's the era of celebrity, and it's quite a shock to see myself as one, as someone people have an interest in finding out more about. I should have known, I should have expected it, but it still comes as quite a surprise."

Kitt has always been a focus of attention, but not just for his musical leanings. Having a political dad (Tom Kitt, the Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs) means everything, especially the odd controversial comment you end up coming out with in the rock 'n'roll game, is viewed through a slightly wider lens. Some newspapers had a field day with comments Kitt Jr made about drugs, so he's learned to shut up and be slightly guarded. "You get better at avoiding those situations, and you become more tolerant," he says.

He's had to make other adjustments, too. The Big Romance did extremely well in Ireland but, despite a fair amount of touring and promotion abroad, didn't make the break. "When the last record didn't take off and I was touring Europe with no interest from the record company, I got quite despondent," he admits.

"With this one it's getting released in Ireland first, and I'm hoping it will do well here. Beyond here I have no expectations. But I have a real belief in the record that makes me want to get out on the road and play gigs and get to as many people as possible in that traditional way."

It makes quite a change from the Kitt who said in 2001 that he didn't enjoy touring - "it's hard work, the lifestyle is difficult and I don't think it suits me," he remarked. Back then, he says with hindsight, he had just come to the end of a tough year. "A lot of the frustrations the last time came from being with a band I wasn't happy with. Now I've got a new band, and I'm really excited about playing with them. Maybe it will be different after six months on the road."

For much of his career Kitt has been at the centre of a creative circle in Dublin that was running clubs and putting on smart events. Such a tie-in helped him make a credible splash in the early days, but now, based, as he puts it, "out Meath direction", Kitt regards himself as non-scene. "When you move out like I did you lose touch a bit, but moving to the country helped me find my own voice."

Out there there's no room for hipster cliques or scenes. He's not part of the singer-songwriter set - he feels the Other Voices television programme based around the current crop of Irish troubadours was "a missed opportunity to reflect the diversity of stuff that's going on in Dublin and Ireland at the moment, and I didn't do it because I didn't want to be lumped in with a scene I didn't feel I was a part of".

Instead Kitt seems content to be following his own star once again. "I'm taking more pride in what I do. Before it was quite personal, it was me exploring these sounds. Now it's about presenting it to people in a form that I'm really proud of. I'm not getting my hopes up, but there's more to be hopeful about this time around."

• Square One is released on September 5th. David Kitt plays the Lisdoonvarna Festival at the RDS, Dublin, on August 30th and tours Ireland in September