He is a drummer for alt.folk darlings Fleet Foxes anda respected songwriter in his own right, but J Tillman is more than an indie Phil Collins, as Sinéad Gleesondiscovers

DOWN A crackly phone line from Seattle, Josh Tillman – or plain J Tillman as he likes to be known – sounds like he's had a heavy night. As it turns out, a cold is the cause of his bunged-upness, but then Tillman couldn't be further from the textbook cliché of a hard-living musician. As a teenager, his biggest musical influences weren't punk or rock bands, but folk singers and the church, something that's very apparent on listening to his sixth solo album, A Year in the Kingdom.

Before we even discuss the new record, it seems necessary to get the F word – or the FF word – out of the way. When Tillman’s not writing pastoral folksongs, he also happens to be the drummer with Fleet Foxes, a band critics were falling over themselves to award best album of 2008.

"I wasn't looking to be a drummer in a band, but I love being in thisband. I was friends with the guys and they needed a drummer. It helped that I could also sing, so they asked if I wanted to join them. Fleet Foxes is the only band I'd be the drummer with."

Tillman is proud of his association with the group, but had a musical career of his own long before Fleet Foxes came calling. He released his first solo album, I Will Return,in 2005 when he was 23. Since then his output has been ridiculously prolific, and 2006 saw him release three full-length records, followed by another in 2007.

A Year in the Kingdomis his second album of 2009, after Vacilando Territory Bluesand the Isle Land EPfor Bella Union. This kind of productivity would be the envy of most musicians, but Tillman admits it's more to do with his schedule changing completely.

“I’ve had much more free time this year than I’ve ever been accustomed to,” he says. “I used to have a 40-hour week job like most people and was broke.”

Until 2009, Tillman worked full-time as a carpenter (he laughs when I point out that this ties in well with the bearded Jesus comparisons he often gets) and was used to stealing the odd day to make music. These days, he goes on tour for a month and typically then has three weeks off. “That kind of break is a completely novel thing for me, so it felt like I had tons of time to make this record.”

Tillman’s musical background and influences feed directly into an album that could easily jostle for elbow room alongside some of America’s great folk songwriters. His father played guitar, but the singer says that he didn’t grow up around influential records. “I didn’t hear good music until I left my parent’s house, so in some ways it was both a musical and unmusical upbringing.”

While still at high school, a friend of his parents introduced him to Doc Watson and Pete Seeger, which marked him out from his peers, who were listening to punk bands.

“Seeger blew my mind. I thought there was something so simple and pure about those folk songs. Most of his catalogue was traditional songs and covers, and it clicked for me that you can be a guy with a guitar and be so much more than that. That’s what intrigued me about songwriting, it’s so transformative.”

Raised in a small Maryland town, Tillman grew up around the church, which provides many of his earliest musical memories. We discuss the idea of being taught music versus picking up an instrument yourself and being instinctive, and he says he can see merit in both.

“The thing that I love about church music is that the emphasis isn’t on musical proficiency or originality,” he says. “It’s about a spiritual experience, and that probably had the biggest effect on my musical ideology. I learned early on that music has a purpose beyond just the act of listening to it.”

Tillman's trademark sparseness is evident on A Year in the Kingdom, but he experiments with other instruments. A friend loaned him a Hammer Dulcimer and he fell in love with its sound, which ended up dictating lots of the arrangements on the album. He confesses to being a Luddite around computers and records his music with help from a friend.

“I’ve never made a ‘studio’ album – or what most people would consider a proper, professional recording. I’ve always just recorded with a four-track. This album comes pretty close – because most of my records sound so shambolic, I thought it might be fun to make a really nice sounding record.”

And it’s quite a record. Tillman, often just with a guitar, tells hushed stories about life and love. For him, it represents “a projection on the death experience and death informed by love”. The former creative-writing student and Flannery O’Connor fan recognises that there’s a religious feel to his lyrics.

Writing so personally and being out front with a guitar is very different to being tucked behind Fleet Foxes drum kit. He plays the Electric Picnic with the band and as a solo performer, and relishes the two different experiences.

“I really like playing festivals on my own; it’s demanding. On my first European tour I was amazed at how willing people were to listen to my songs. I felt blessed, but I also like subverting people’s expectations.”

-J Tillman plays solo and with Fleet Foxes at the Electric Picnic on September 6th and with Fleet Foxes at Vicar Street, Dublin on September 7th. A Year in the Kingdom is released on September 25th