You're never really happy. I'm certainly not. That's a good thing. It means you're always striving to do better. You hope the next piece will be better.

I'm not vanishing into thin air.

That doesn't matter. If it speaks to them and they get something positive from it, it's great.

["A Deal with God"] was the first single off Hounds of Love. I'd put a lot of work into putting that album together and I wanted it to have every chance.

I think snow is so evocative and has such a powerful atmosphere.

The thing with 50 Words of Snow is that it was literally back-to-back from Director's Cut [also released in 2011]. It was more or less that I got to make two albums in one hit. I was already in this space in my mind to be writing and making an album.

I love words, I think they're fascinating and incredibly wonderful things and part of the joy of my work is that I not only get to work with music but also with words. Sometimes it's a difficult process but a lot of the time it's really fun.