The Leisure Society, Komedia, Gardner Street, Brighton, Monday, April 27

FOR the lead single to The Leisure Society’s fourth album in five years, chief songwriter Nick Hemming took inspiration from Hastings’ seafront.

Tall Black Cabins is the story of a small boat fisherman trawling the Channel for an ever-decreasing catch more by habit than for profit.

It took its title from the structures found off Rock A Nore Road, while there is an unspeakable sadness in the folk-inflected song’s refrain: “there’s so many tides are made to go to waste”.

“I always end up writing about myself,” says Hemming on a break from recording new B-sides for the band’s Record Store Day release, albeit only a few days before the day itself.

“It’s about the fishing industry, but also about the music industry. When I was writing in this arcane nautical language I was also thinking about how hard it is to get by in the music industry – but people are still doing it. You have got to have some personal experience when you’re writing songs, otherwise it can feel fake.”

The gestation of latest album The Fine Art Of Hanging On had a very personal aspect. As Brighton-based Hemming was penning the songs one of his close friends in his old hometown of Burton On Trent was diagnosed with a terminal cancer.

“He was a big fan of the band and a close friend too,” says Hemming. “I started sending him the demos for the new album as a way of reaching out to him. There is nothing to say when someone is going through a terrible thing. It was good to have something to send to him – his brothers told me at his funeral that he had appreciated it.”

It has led to what Hemming describes as the band’s most cohesive album to date – starting out with the title track.

“Lots of other tracks grew out of that song,” he says of The Fine Art Of Hanging On, which over a skittering drum pattern slowly builds to a life-affirming tale of those “born in the eye of the storm”.

“We have received some of the best reviews we ever had for an album. I was really pleasantly surprised. You always say you don’t care what the reviews say, but it’s nice when you get good ones. I take it very personally – one little bit of negativity is always the thing I remember! It’s not very healthy...”

Hemming is on his longest tour to date, with Brighton forming the homecoming final show for the full band, before he heads out again as a two-piece with longtime collaborator Christian Hardy.

“I have a two and a half month stretch – the longest I have ever done,” he says. “It’s quite daunting. Being on a tour bus or living in a van is not the healthiest way to live! I wouldn’t want to give it up. When I finish a tour I’m quite glad it’s over, but when you’re locked in the studio recording an album it’s nice to go out and play music to people who appreciate it.”

He is a prolific songwriter with ten half-finished songs on the go for the next Leisure Society album.

“I always feel like I could start on another album straight away,” he says. “The Beatles would write and record an album in a few days – it took eight months to do the last Leisure Society album from start to finish.”

For The Fine Art Of Hanging On the band went back into the studio, but mixed it up with field recordings, getting the reverby drums on tape in London’s Union Chapel, and recording other elements in the countryside.

“We didn’t want to go back to doing it all ourselves,” he says. “We wanted to be a bit more experimental with the sound this time.”

As for the future he hopes to release another EP very soon with some of the out-takes from the album sessions.

“I think 1979 On Film is one of the best songs I have ever written, but it didn’t fit on the album,” he says.

“We have released four albums now – not many bands get that far. I just have to keep going.”

• essential info

Doors 7.30pm, tickets £15. Call 0845 293 8480.