She’s 33 and is only now releasing her second album, One Breath. But that’s no big thing, says Anna Calvi, whose self-titled debut received a 2011 Mercury Music Prize nomination, oodles of love from the music industry and led to a BRIT award nomination for Best British Breakthrough act.

“What does an 18 year old know?” she whispers.

She’s a quiet and unassuming presence. Her personality belies the sassy stage image and promo shots with slicked-back hair, black leather jackets and red lipstick, which tempted Karl Lagerfield to ask her to pose for ad shoots for his label.

“F***, I was just a kid back then,” she continues, discussing her later arrival to the industry.

“I can’t even begin to imagine how I would have navigated all the various things you have to when you are doing this job. I’m happy with my trajectory. It’s been healthy.”

Star support

She’d hardly been under the radar, though. Before she released her debut, Brian Eno had declared her “the biggest thing since Patti Smith” (despite what PJ Harvey might think). Calvi’s label Domino had booked her on bills with stable-mates Arctic Monkeys and Nick Cave had invited her to support Grinderman.

Into 2014 and her ascent into the pantheon of progressive, serious-minded female musicians is advancing with One Breath. It’s smaller steps than those leaps following the release of her debut, though. None of the reviews match NME’s love letter to her debut: “this self-titled collection of ten songs is perhaps the first great record of 2011.”

Talking about the critics’ response to One Breath, Calvi says she is much better now at dealing with criticism – after all, it wasn’t until her mid-20s that she began singing.

“I am sensitive generally. Criticism was not something I took naturally but I definitely have got there now.

“Opinion is just an opinion. It is someone saying something good or bad about your music and it is up to you how much power you give that opinion.

“I just don’t let anyone else have too much power to say what is good or not.”

She had a tough year when she recorded One Breath. Other papers reported that a family member had died. She does not want to talk about it.

“It was some personal stuff; nothing that needs to be said in an interview. Life has its ups and downs.”

It’s made One Breath a turbulent record.

“Records are a snapshot. It is a year of your life. It’s like when you listen to something you have done and it reminds you of a period of your life. You can hear through its songs the things you were experiencing, suffering and enjoying.”

She’s the daughter of two psychiatrists (one British, one Italian) and admits her heritage affects artistic development. Calvi’s parents encouraged her to be introspective and helped her express her feelings succinctly.

“I felt that it was important to come from a more personal place lyrically and not be afraid of what was happening in my life. That ended up in the songs and I didn’t try to stop it.”

So One Breath represents everything in life – ugly or beautiful. Sounding like a painter before beginning a picture, she outlines its wide spectrum, its “different colours”.

“I guess it was emotional, especially on a personal level. Some of that came out on the record in the music and so it feels quite turbulent,” she says.

“There is feeling of trying to deal with a lack of control, which is something that happens sometimes in life.”

It has more subtlety than the debut. It’s darker. Gone are the grandiose guitars evoking Jeff Buckley and Calvi used her voice as an instrument. The inspiration came, in part, from Tom Waits’ Rain Dogs and how its chords are suggested by unusual sounds.

“I wanted to use my voice as an instrument. I wanted the guitar to come in at the emotional climax of the song rather than being an instrument to strum in the background which is limited to holding down chords.

“I used orchestral percussion as suggestion and chord progression to free up the guitar so I could use it as an extension of my voice to create sound textures.”

Still, Sing To Me is a homage to Maria Callas’s voice.

“The way she conducted herself as a professional artist is very inspiring. There is something beautiful, physically, in the way she sung and looked. Her voice is the most inspiring thing I have ever heard. I wanted to say thank you.”

Sonic inspiration came from John Adams and Steve Reich, while Massive Attack and Portishead-collaborator John Baggott joined on keys.

“I was interested in minimalism in general: music that changes slowly over time and the idea of manipulating one’s sense of time. Carry Me Over repeats and repeats, things are happening but there is still this repetition, something is going and going.”