I was moving to a new office last week, so after clearing my desk I found a copy of his second album 'The Tension & the Spark' from 2004 lurking at the back of a drawer.
I hadn't listened to it for years, so put it on for the journey home.

It's still in the CD player now. Jesus it's a good album.
All killer, no filler as they say. Fantastic songwriting as well, very personal album.

I know he released his fourth album in 2011 (haven't heard that though but reviews seem very good), but what happened? He was massive at one point.

My guess is that he fell into the trap of wanting to do something more experimental and less commercial. 'The Tension and The Spark' was a great album but it didn't sell all that well and he released the next album on his own label.

Instead of making an album that would naturally sell, he just suited himself and did what he wanted to. Fair play to him, and all that, but I'd argue that 'This Delicate Thing We Made' was too long and too inaccessible for most people's tastes. It has 25 songs on it! Getting into an album of that size is quite a commitment for anyone to make who isn't a super fan. Plus I don't remember it getting a huge amount of promotion.

It was another 4 years until he released 'Secret Codes & Battleships' - nearly 9 years after his last hit album. The passing of such a length of time is surely a factor in why, in spite of some good reviews (and it was definitely a return to form), it went largely unnoticed by then.