Described by filmmaker Caveh Zahedi as "more soulful than Al Green", singer Kath Bloom has been toiling away in relative obscurity ever since her mournful and haunting collaborations with avant-garde guitarists Loren Mazzacane Connors and Tom Hanford in the mid-70's. That collaboration lasted until the mid-80's and left behind a catalogue of limited, sought-after LP's comprising of traditional blues and folk songs and Bloom's originals. The many years that followed saw poverty-imposed peregrination, with Bloom busy raising her family with husband Stan Bronski whilst working as a groom, teaching music, painting and looking after the elderly.

But throughout all that time she continued to write, and the inclusion of the comparatively bombastic pop record 'Come Here' featured in Richard Linklater's love-story 'Before Sunrise' kindled a brief flurry of public interest, prompting her to sell self-released CD-R's from her homemade website to any interested punter. She also reunited with Hanford to form the band Love At Work. This year sees a timely confluence with the re-release of four of the six LPs recorded with Connors and the release of her second solo album, Terror, not to mention a forthcoming tribute album with artists like Bill Callahan, Josephine Foster and Mark Kozelek. The courageous majesty of Bloom's music is there in its cutting simplicity and in its poetry. And whilst her influences: the depression-era, Billy Holliday, or even Maria Callas, are audible, there is not one thing even slightly derivative about Bloom – a modern rarity.

Dazed Digital: So does it feel quite strange to be travelling around like this at this stage?
Kath Bloom: You don't even know how bizarre it is - I can't even get a gig in my hometown! I want to do this, but I just have to feel that my family can function okay without me and I can't come home with nothing in my pocket. But I'm very small potatoes.

DD: Do you draw a lot from your collaboration with Connors?
KB: Sure, but music is what you come from. My father was a famous oboe player and I was dragged from concert to concert hearing some pretty great music. Loren gave me much more of an esoteric education though – I was kind of a lost soul. He made me listen to all the old black blues guys and that had an incredible affect on me; the idea that such great art can come from just one person playing

DD: Who are your main influences?
KB: Nobody's better than Louis Armstrong if you want to study phrasing. I like Maria Callas and a lot of great opera singers. Puccini, I love Puccini. I've studied a lot of musicians and a lot of visual artists too.

DD: Are you quite conscientious about studying?
KB: Not any more, I don't have time. I have a crazy family. My older boy got into some trouble and my second son was finally diagnosed with schizophrenia this year. So it's been a real rollercoaster. He was in and out of about six hospitals and I had to go and see him in isolation. It's very complex but I'm happy to say he's doing well; he's creative, lyrical, kind and loving. He's a really wonderful kid.

DD: A lot of people are drawn to your music because you talk about that in-between state of feeling emotionally lost and found. Do you think that is an innate human condition?
KB: Well yeah, I never knew anything about what I wanted to do. I used to be a much more envious and jealous person - not that I would ever show it, but it would churn around inside of me, 'What's wrong with me', 'Why can't I be like that?' But with the music, it was a place where I felt centred, after a lot of getting tossed around.

DD: Can you tell me how this album came about?
KB: Really, when I record, I'm trying to put down all the songs that I can remember – there's a range in those songs that spans over about 15 years, so it's not really a cohesive thing.

DD: What comes first the words or the music?
KB: Usually it's a melody and sometimes I'll just put the tape -recorder on and do stream of consciousness. Sometimes I listen back to it and sometimes I don't. I must have about 30 million tapes (laughs). My stuff is so simple though and I really haven't pushed the boundaries with the guitar playing at all.

DD: Things seem to be happening for you now. Do you feel hopeful?
KB: Well, there are only a couple of people that have pursued me actually. Mark Kozelek (Red House Painters/Sun Kil Moon) wants me to open for him and put some of my stuff out. Oh and then there's this tribute album coming out too. So we'll see what happens. I wish I could just go full guns with the music, but I'm  now wondering whether I should do my nursing diploma to earn more money!