When you've sold as many records as Travis, it's hard to hide in plain sight. Two years ago, the Glasgow group's second album, The Man Who, shot them into the superstar league and the public's adoring gaze. It had nothing to do with Oasis-style antics or Verve-style posturing; it was down to Fran Healy's songs - simple, unassuming tunes such as Writing To Reach You, Driftwood, Turn and Why Does It Always Rain On Me?, which became stadium anthems for the turn of the millennium.
For the follow-up to The Man Who, Travis have tried to pull off a daring trick: they've become invisible. The new album, The Invisible Band, is ostensibly even more downbeat and minimal than The Man Who, but, says Healy, when you peer a little closer, its complexities come into view. One thing the new album is not is The Man Who 2. When the band went back into the studio, the last thing they wanted was to try to recreate their biggest success.
"The minute you do that, you've failed," says Healy. "You've got to do it in your own little world. Self-consciousness is the enemy of all art. You can't deliberately go and create something, whether it's a masterpiece or a minor piece. It occurs when your ego is on vacation and it occurs completely unconsciously; you're just thankful you're standing next to something pure and beautiful. And don't try and take all the slaps on the back - you've just got to take them with a pinch of salt and realise what's important - and that's the song itself."
When Healy talks about new songs such as Sing, Dear Diary, Flowers In The Window and the ridiculously titled Humpty Dumpty Love Song, he speaks with the beatific calm of someone who regularly has divine visitations. For him, these tunes are not merely a collection of notes and words arranged into a sonically appealing structure; they're celestial specks of fairy dust that have fallen from above and landed on his guitar. He doesn't write them; they just come - and he's been lucky enough to be there when they've landed.
All this talk of songs "coming" and his being "humbled" by them sounds a tad pretentious, but there's no denying Healy's intense self-belief, nor the other band members' faith in his ability to come up with the goods.
"It's like panning for gold. All you can do is have a go, keep panning and panning until you've got a couple of little nuggets to start with. And as soon as you have a couple of nuggets, you know you're in a hot area. But you keep it quiet, because it might be fool's gold."
But, admits Healy, when Travis went into a Los Angeles studio with producer Nigel Godrich to lay another golden egg, there was doubt in the air. For a start, none of the other band members had heard Healy's new songs, which made Andy Dunlop, their guitarist, more than a little nervous. Also, having played up to 250 gigs in the past couple of years, the band had become a little complacent, thinking they could breeze into the studio and knock out an album.
"We were a tight band," says Healy, "but you don't know until the songs are being played whether you're going to be able to make the next record, or whether you're going to drop the ball. There are different levels of quality control in the band. There are A & R people all the way up: there's your mum, there's your girlfriend, there's your son and daughter; then you get your actual A & R man at the record company, your publisher, your manager. If it's a good song, it'll weave its way through and trickle up to the top."
The toughest critic on that ladder, claims Healy, is himself. For him, a song has to have something special to distinguish it from the millions of other ditties that clutter the airwaves and record racks. It may be a single line, such as "Time exists, but just in your wrists" from Indefinitely, or the soul-stripping intimacy of Dear Diary, or a chorus, such as Sing[ NO])'s. Whatever, when the songs come down from above, they have to have that sparkle to make the cut.
On this new album, says Healy, the sparkle and shine are there, but it's often hidden behind deceptively simple arrangements. With the help of Godrich - who produced Radiohead's Kid A, and was also behind the desk for most of The Man Who - Travis have tried to disappear into the sound. Healy's vocals often sound disembodied, suspended on a sonic tightrope. Primrose's drums and Doug Payne's bass sound like air and water. Andy Dunlop's guitars flit like shadows behind the melodies. The invisible band, absorbed into the music.
"It's like simplicity with weight," says Healy. "I think the best things are the stuff that will always get you through, like your Zip or your teaspoon or your mug."
Healy and Primrose credit Godrich with helping Travis to pull off this sonic sleight of hand. He is, says Primrose, a craftsman at the top of his game, and his sharp instincts helped to put the shimmer and shape on Healy's work.
"The songs are very traditional and old-fashioned," says Healy. "There's a Cole Porter-style vibe about them. They would sound great if it was during wartime: very uplifting, but with a sadness in the background. I heard OK Computer and thought: if we could get Nigel to do that with us, the middle ground, it'd be great, totally brilliant." Travis have no idea what the new songs will sound like live, but they'll find out when they play Dublin Castle next Sunday as part of the Heineken Green Energy festival. On the face of it, there aren't as many obvious anthems on the new album, but Healy insists that Sing, Pipedreams, Safe and Flowers In The Window will get fans singing along. When The Invisible Band sees the light of day in early June, we'll find out if Travis's trick has worked or if the fans see through the subterfuge. Either way, the band won't worry. They've got nothing to hide.
"It's the same as it ever was through our first, second and third albums," says Primrose. "You've only got yourself to look at. The four of us are in a little bubble of our own, and that's the thing. If it's not going to be any good from in here, then who cares what anyone else thinks?"
Travis play Dublin Castle on Sunday May 6th. The Invisible Band is released on June 11th by Independiente