The second album is often the moment when a successful artist can become unstuck - just ask Terence Trent D'Arby or Alanis Morissette.

So Scottish singer-songwriter Sandi Thom decided early on to start work on her second collection of songs, Pink And The Lily, before her million-selling debut album, 2006's Smile... It Confuses People, had even been released.

"I didn't know what the future could bring," says Thom from her basement studio, the site of her career-making internet broadcasts 21 Nights From Tooting.

"People always talk about the second album syndrome, a lot of artists do it and fall flat on their arse. My way of ensuring that didn't happen was to start recording tracks before the label asked me for them.

"A lot of people do their first album in their house or their mate's garage, and then get put in a posh studio for their second where they aren't comfortable. You can't sit in a strange room and write 12 songs, especially when you've been out on the road, in a different city every day. You're knackered, taken to your limits, with so many emotions flying about.

"Quite a few of these new songs were written before the first album came out. I kept all the recording in my basement and kept the same sort of approach as the last album. You've got to stick to what you know."

This intimate tour is designed to showcase the new songs, with Thom taking the stage solo, accompanied by her acoustic guitar.

"I wanted to take the opportunity to talk more and explain things more," she says. "Sometimes when you're in a bigger venue you can't do that. I want to take people through the process, to get up close and personal, to represent myself in the most honest way I can."

Part of that desire came from the feeling she has been misrepresented over the past couple of years.

It was a series of 21 nightly internet broadcasts from her basement studio which brought her, and her UK number one single I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker, to national attention.

But in the months since the hugely successful webcasts there have been accusations of hype and behind-the-scenes orchestration by her label Sony, which has since stated it was the webcasts which brought her to their attention.

"With this tour I want to be exposed to the point where I have nothing to hide," Thom explains. "I am aware of the fact a certain negativity has been conjured up by some people because that is how it was portrayed by the media.

"Things like this have been happening since the 1950s. It is the very nature of how you get yourself out there, you go on telly or get on the radio, or now you use the internet. It was so totally innocent and it is a shame it has been looked on as something more.

"I guess changes like the internet can be scary for people. I remember when CDs came out people thought they were the spawn of the devil and would ruin us all.

"Five years down the line, it is part of our daily life. Everybody has a Blackberry now."

  • Support from Randall Brenaman and Andy Walker.
  • 8pm, £10, 01273 647100