Patrick Wolf Creates 'Magic' on the Road

Though he sings like a robustly confidant troubadour on his orchestral, fuzzy pop album 'The Magic Position,' Patrick Wolf is sounding road weary and delicate over the phone with Spinner.

"That's far from the case," he answers softly, but determinedly. "I'm weary of the road because I know it so well. I'm a gypsy. I haven't really settled down in two years. Three albums in and it would be really nice to paint the walls in my flat or go and make a meal not in a hotel room."

But Wolf, who's finishing up the last few dates of an American trek is far from the complaining sort. "It's really fun," he says enthusiastically. "I chose this life when I was 12, but like any job that you love -- whether you're a painter or any vocation -- you can take a step back to appreciate what's going on instead of complaining about your bum being sore 'cause you're on a 13 hour drive."

Wolf has gone coast to coast promoting 'Magic,' his third album, which features a duet with '60s legend Marianne Faithfull on the song 'Magpie.' The effort and its corresponding jaunts have brought about an increase in the Brit's profile back home, and it has been much to his personal bemusement.

"So much of what I've done in the last six years has been outside the U.K.," he says. "I couldn't get anyone to book me shows because they didn't like the way I looked. Now, when I book shows, they're like 'Yeah! Come along.'"