If Bombay Bicycle Club’s Jack Steadman came away with anything from producing his band’s fourth album, it was that there is no right way of doing it.

“I have never been comfortable in most studio environments,” he admits ahead of his band’s sold-out Brighton show.

“When I’m in a studio with a producer, I get the sense they know better than me and that I don’t know what I’m talking about.

“In fact, you need to trust your instincts. For the first time, instead of having to explain a sound, I could just make it and no one would interfere.”

Bombay Bicycle Club’s first chart-topping album So Long, See You Tomorrow came together after Steadman, the band’s principal songwriter, took a break from the studio.

He spent time travelling in Turkey and had what he describes as “the best week of my life” as part of Damon Albarn’s Africa Express train project up and down the UK, playing with the likes of Peter Hook, Gruff Rhys, Nick Zinner of Yeah Yeah Yeahs and African musicians Amadou And Mariam.

“It had been a long time since I’d improvised with musicians I’d never met before,” he says.

“I had been in such an enclosed world of writing, recording, learning songs and playing them every night. We aren’t a band that improvises very much, so it was really inspiring.”

His decision to go travelling came from a desire to get out of London and the daily routine.

“I wanted to go somewhere I felt more proactive and creative rather than just sitting in a studio,” says Steadman, who ended up living with a Turkish family for part of his trip.

“The nature of Turkish hospitality is that if you’re under their roof then you’re their son. They took care of me. I had to be involved in everything. It was distracting sometimes – I’d be making progress with a song and then the mum would knock on the door and say she was taking me shopping!”

He admits the thumb piano and Eastern sounds featured on So Long, See You Tomorrow, as well as the positivity which fills the album, are a direct result of his musical explorations.

“It was how I was feeling when I was writing,” he says. “I was having so much fun and was so excited to be in this place, it was going to find its way on to the record somehow.”

Coming home, his next challenge wasn’t necessarily to convince Island to let him produce the record but to persuade his fellow bandmates.

“On paper it sounded like a crazy idea,” says Steadman. “We were at a point where it could be make it or break it – I was aware of the importance of this record.

“In the end I sent the band versions of songs we had recorded with other producers and they all agreed they preferred my versions. It was quite simple in the end!”

To create the album, Steadman drew on a pair of female vocalists to help flesh out the sound – Rae Morris and long-time collaborator Lucy Rose.

“As singers they are almost complete opposites,” he says. “It was exciting to have someone like Rae, with such a powerful voice, when I was singing something that didn’t have enough impact.

“On the other side when I wanted something soft and warm sounding, I could call Lucy.”

As he worked, Steadman had his bandmates, especially guitarist Jamie MacColl, to keep his feet on the ground.

“Jamie is definitely the most honest and critical person in the band,” says Steadman, having started the four-piece in 2006 with his Crouch End schoolmates MacColl and drummer Suren de Saram, and mutual friend bassist Ed Nash.

“Without Jamie I would feel very lost. It’s important for every songwriter to have somebody like that, who they trust, who will tell them straight up if something isn’t good enough.

“I always email ideas and sometimes sit there refreshing the computer until the band reply. If they haven’t replied in five minutes, I usually think they hate it! I know it’s good when they don’t bother to write but just call me back.”

Aside from a soon-to-be released 7in single featuring some songs recorded separately from the album, the focus is now recreating the dense songs live on stage.

“We did get to the point in the recording process where we were listening and thinking, ‘How is this going to work live?’” admits Steadman.

“We set rules for ourselves when we got into the rehearsal room not to drive ourselves mad by staying faithful to the record. It’s like Africa Express – you can improvise or interpret it in a way that makes more sense on stage.”

Support from Flyte and Rae Morris.