Tim Minchin casually slips in the phrase 'craft over truth' during his conversation with Ray D'Arcy and the comedian, musician, actor and writer probably thinks he's getting away with it. But Ray lets it go for a short while and then pulls him up on it. Minchin's first solo studio album, Apart Together, is full of songs that draw their inspiration from his life. The album, Tim says, is full of the sort of songs that pop artists don't usually write and subjects that aren't usually addressed in popular music:
"I'm addressing issues that pop music tends to dance around, or pretends don't exist, like the fact that you're going to die. And the fact that love is complicated and requires discipline and all those things that people don't talk about."
Minchin's previous solo albums have all been live recordings and he's delighted to have come out with an album that's been produced in a controlled studio environment:
"I love that I've got to put out a record that someone's taken a whole lot of care over how to produce my voice and how to orchestrate it and how to record the instruments and all that stuff."
But back to 'craft over truth'. Ray quotes Tim's own lyric from the album to him: "Her vodka-soaked lips only taste of the absence of you." The you in this instance likely being Sarah, Tim's wife. And Tim has spoken about being tempted in the past. When you've got a musical on Broadway (did we mention Minchin wrote the musical version of Road Dahl's Matilda, which has been seen by more than 10 million people?) you tend to be invited into the room where it happens more than the guy who hasn't got a musical on Broadway.
"There's none of this Irish irony. They're just like, really kind and really nice and really complimentary. Whereas if the Irish like you, they just sort of tell you you're an idiot."
Tim is admirably frank about how his life has been since he became so successful – telling Ray that Americans love a successful person in a way that nobody else does:
"In America, everyone's fawning over you and you're up all night drinking. And I've definitely been in a situation where I've gone, 'Oh God'. And there's truth in the story of me kissing a girl or a girl kissing me and thinking, 'Well, what am I doing this for?'"
When the subject inevitably gets on to Sarah, Tim's wife, you almost expect to hear that she's "long-suffering", but Sarah seems to be anything but. They met in college and have been married for nearly 20 years. Sarah, it appears, is well able for Tim's schtick:
"She is one of the most ego-less people I know. So, when things started taking off for me, there was no, 'What about me and what I want?' She just went, 'Oh this is a grand adventure and this is how we'll pay the rent.'"
You can hear the full chat between Ray and Tim Minchin – including how love is about watching each other decay over time – by going here.
Apart Together is released by BMG.
Niall Ó Sioradáin