Windmill is the alias of Matthew Thomas Dillon - a 26 year old songwriter who is currently getting the blogosphere and music world hot under the collar, thanks to a certain outstanding debut record called Puddle City Racing Lights.

The album is an epic collection of strings, pianos, personal and emotive lyrics, and fragile vocals - all produced by Dillon himself alongside Tom Knott of The Earlies.

Windmill will finally release Puddle City Racing Lights on May 21st, courtesy of Melodic Records.

Hi Matthew, how is it going?

Hello. Good thanks, hydrated.

So your debut album Puddle City Racing Lights will finally be coming out next week, after numerous delays - what held up the release?

They were all business decisions that were out of my hands. Because the record has been licensed to some great labels internationally, it meant there weren't enough records left for the UK. Plus some press was running late and some retailers had only just picked up on it. It's not like I was still in the studio with it panicking that it needed more bass and more songs about Tokyo.

I was listening to the first single Tokyo Moon (on Static Caravan) the other day and the album sounds incredible in comparison. Was that what you set out for from the start, this huge epic sound and are you pleased with how the final recordings turned out?

It's crazy to look back on. Originally, Melodic were going to release the demos as an album and that would have been cool. But this record is so much more than those demos. This is the record that I had in my head. My demos were designed to get the song across with basic equipment and no money but I was always shooting for this kind of sound. When I make demos I'm like Ed Wood, just moving quickly to get the job done so I can write the next song. I was really definitive about my ideas for this record.

Your lyrics are as strong and emotive as the music itself, how do you go about writing - words first or the music?

Developing a piano melody comes first and is normally pretty quick. I do pain over lyrics. It's not enough to just decide what I want to say and say it. It has to look beautiful when it's written down. It had to feel like I'm telling stories in a way that only I could. To do this and still say what you are trying to say is difficult. It's science, song, poetry and me, all mixed up with some Bonjela.

You worked with members of The Earlies on the record, how did that come about?

The Melodic big wig, Dave Cooper had ideas immediately about which musicians should work on this record. I owe a lot to him and to the people that came onboard. Everyone took time to understand what I was trying to do and nobody forced their own ideas onto the record.

Who would you say are the main artists who inspired you to start making music yourself?

Mirah Yom Tov Zeitlyn, Eef Barzelay, Michael Stipe, Mark Oliver Everett lot's more besides. It was more about individual songs rather than the artists themselves.

Last week saw a live show in Manchester, how did things go and are the songs coming across well on stage?

The first Manchester show was good, we played as a three-piece band on the back of just two rehearsals and you can already see that it's going to be a great show once we get into it. The songs will flourish at the festivals I think.

Do you perform live solo or with a backing band, and are there any plans for a full nationwide tour at all?

The songs are always there, it doesn't really matter how we presents them. Sometimes I'll do a solo show just at the piano and sometimes we'll have a six-piece band. There won't be a full tour until we have decided on a live agent. We're just happy staying small for now and building a great show whilst working with independent promoters. But we will still be playing all over the world this year. I think next year is when you will see me playing everywhere that you would expect to see me.

The reviews for Puddle City Racing Lights have been brilliant so far, are you surprised at the reception you've been getting?

I've stopped reading reviews. It was good in the beginning to see that some people were going to 'get it'. Records should never be defined by what press are saying about it. I don't want people thinking "I'm allowed to think this is great because it got 4 stars in the broadsheets."

Speaking of reviews, it seems everyone is quick to throw around the whole Flaming Lips, Arcade Fire, Mercury Rev reference points. They are obvious influences, but does it get a little tiring not being recognised for your own talents?

It's cool to be mentioned alongside some great acts. But people have sometimes been pretty far off with my influences. I was making this music and writing these kinds of songs before I had heard of any of those acts. The people that really get Windmill understand that it's different. It's not a fight for people to see me a certain way, I'm just doing what I have done since the beginning.

I see you've done a video for Fit (watch that here) as a new single due in July, was it fun making the film and has it made you feel like a proper MTV-friendly pop star now?

It was fun because Rupert Noble spent the entire budget on us getting drunk which resulted in us telling each other far too much about our depraved private lives. By the time we came to shoot the video we had acquired an uncomfortable level of knowledge about each other. Videos, it seems, are hard work. Running around London as Rocky in pajama bottoms that prove far too revealing is hard work. I get really nervous about having one of my songs represented by something. So it's important for me develop the ideas myself. An MTV-friendly pop star would have been able to afford thicker trousers.

You recently covered the classic Love Will Tear Us Apart song by Joy Division as a free track on your MySpace page, what made you decide to cover the song and are there any other tracks you would like to cover one day?

I came to that song really late, it's truly brilliant. But I would never have chosen to cover it, especially if I had known that it had been covered a thousand times already. I was simply playing around with a new piano riff for that song, which led to me recording it and sending it to my manager just to prove that I hadn't just been sitting around watching deal or no deal. Now it's going on iTunes as an exclusive.

On the Melodic site, you say you always intended to make a piano led album. That's obviously been achieved now, so what are the plans for the second LP?

There's so much life in this record that it deserves my attention at the moment. But I'm still recording demos and the plans for a second record, should I make one, will evolve naturally. Tom Knott and I have been discussing moving forward as a producing team and I think that we will end up spending a lot of time working on other people's records.

Off topic, but what's been on the Windmill record player / iPod lately?

I've been listening to Half Cousin, Arms, Jeremy Warmsley, Death Vessel, Eef Barzelay, The Loungs. I spend my time between records I get given and old favourites; Electro-Shock Blues (by Eels) over and over. I have to take this opportunity to say that I have lost my iPod. I miss it. It's more the not knowing where it went that's killing me. It's probably being filled with Rap and X-factor records. Sigh.

Thanks for taking the time to chat and good look with the album!

Thanks Angry Ape. You know my true feelings towards you. x