The directions Luka Bloom had given me for his house in Blacktrench, outside Naas, were concise and exact, as simple and direct as his songs on his new album 'Before Sleep Comes'.

When I arrived at his house I was unsure of where to enter but then I saw Luka smiling and waving me around to the back door. We sat at a coffee table in his airy open-plan kitchen/living-room as sunlight flooded in through the many big windows. 'I am lucky with the sunlight,' he tells me, 'as it makes the country view even more appealing.'

He has been living in the house since he built it about eighteen months ago and already the garden has been organised along feng shui principles. There are clusters of daffodils here and there and a beautiful bog-oak piece at the very front.

He doesn't have a dog or cat because they would scare away the birds, which he obviously loves judging by the birdhouses and the subliminal birdcalls recorded on the album. The surroundings are peaceful, Luka is easy-going and relaxed, we have tea and chat.

Luka Bloom sometimes forgets that some people still him by a different name.

Born May 23rd 1955, Kevin Barry Moore changed his name to Luka Bloom at the age of twenty-two as he headed for America and a new beginning.

'I had been sort of struggling in Ireland and then when I went to America I had this sense of 'newness'. At the time I thought to myself 'imagine if I just arrive here as a completely new kid on the block' and the only way I felt I could really do this was to have this Iggy Pop type name.'

He explains that he took the name from Suzanne Vega's song 'My name is Luka' and Bloom from James Joyce's Ulysses. The simple act of changing his name allowed him the freedom to express himself in his writing.

'I feel like I've revealed a lot more of myself in my songs since I became Luka Bloom. I think in some way I lost some of the old self-consciousness. It's almost an embarrassing thing, to be writing songs but there's something about having a stage name that makes it more acceptable, makes it easier.'

His career as a songwriter began at the tender age of 14 and a few of the early songs were recorded by his brother Christy Moore. Luka has been playing guitar since primary school, first when his sister Eilis brought one home and later when Christy bought him a new guitar. Since then music has been his life.

'I'm very privileged and that's why it's so important for me to want to give what I can because I know how fortunate I am to have known at such a young age what a great thing this could be, and then to be able to do it. Besides I wasn't much good as a footballer!'

Luka was never drawn to the ballads that his brother was doing but the moment he heard James Taylor, Neil Young and Joni Mitchell he knew where he was heading. 'I don't know how it happened because I was just a kid in Newbridge, Kildare, but the minute I heard those guys I instantly connected and that's kind of what I've done ever since.'

Over the years he has written and recorded an eclectic collection of songs on twelve albums. This variety can be found in the taut emotion of a song like 'Ciara', the sense of fun in 'I'm a Bogman' and the thundering bongos in 'Monsoon'.

His new album, 'Before Sleep Comes' is yet another change of direction. The idea for this album resulted from a recurrence of tendonitis and another later problem that resulted in an operation for his throat. 'I was only able to play very gentle things on my little Spanish guitar and I grew to really enjoy it. I just went down the local Mill where there's a little studio and recorded it over two nights at 11 or 12 at night when everything was very quiet. I deliberately went in there when my voice was tired because I wanted the thing to be authentic, to be very dreamy.'

The album is a combination of soothing instrumental tunes such as 'Nora', familiar ballads and whispery original songs such as 'Camomile'. The calm soothing quality of the songs is like having your head caressed before sleep takes over.

Luka puts it more poetically in the song 'Before Sleep Comes': 'there is a moment of surrender, just before sleep comes, I turn over my life's business to the gold of the setting sun.'

At twenty-eight minutes long the album is just the right length to take the listener to the land of nod.

Playing in Ireland is important to him, especially now that he has written new material and he is looking forward to his gigs in Dublin. After that, he is in America in June to give 'the place where the first incarnation of Luka Bloom was born a whole new show.'

A live gig with Luka is not to be missed. He captivates the audience with his charismatic performance and afterwards it is hard to believe that what you have heard came from just one voice and a guitar.

Luka Bloom plays the Helix on Saturday 15 May and the Pavilion Theatre, Dun Laoghaire on Saturday 29 May. The album is only available via Luka's web site:

www.lukabloom.com