MARTHA Wainwright admits that working on her new album Goodnight City has proved to be an interesting experience.

An acclaimed songwriter in her own right, Martha turned to others to provide half the songs on the new album with contributions including songs by her brother Rufus, Beth Orton and Glen Hansard.

“I asked people to write songs for me or with me in mind.” said Martha, who comes to Manchester Ritz next Saturday as part of a UK tour.

“I was able to pick the songs which I felt reflected me the most.

“I think it also took away some of the pressure of having to write 14 or so of my own songs which can be intense.

“My songs are generally quite personal. It kind of freed up some of that responsibility and allowed me to focus more on being a performer and a singer and performing the songs as best as I could.”

Although half the album is not Martha’s own material, the clever part is that the listener will not discern that.

“I think that over my career I’ve always touched on different styles of music such as jazz or rock or country but I’ve never really allowed myself to fully go there as I felt I had to keep something that was definitive of me,” said Martha.

“On this record I’ve allowed myself to be a little more free and go further into different musical genres.

“It was nice to not have to be as fully navel gazing as I can be and be a little more forward looking,” she laughed.

“Even my songs on the record are not as much about me as they are about my relationships to other people so it’s a slightly different approach to my other songwriting.”

For the next few months. Martha will be on the road. After the UK tour she’s off to Australia and then back to Canada.

It’s a demanding schedule, particularly for a mum of two young boys aged seven and almost three.

“This is the new reality for me and that’s probably the hardest part of doing what I do,” she said.

“Right now I don’t have the kids with me but they will come sometimes, sometimes just one and sometimes both. As we go we’ll sort of figure out what works best.

“Because I don’t release records that often (her last solo release Come Home to Mama was in 2012) I like to tour them and give them a chance to be heard and there’s a lot of ground to cover.

“I’m lucky to be able to play in a lot of different countries and pride myself on making an effort to get to as many places as possible.”

Goodnight City will form the main part of the live shows

“Although the record is where we want to start, I’m not set on having it exactly the same when we go live,” she said. “It really does morph over time so it keeps it interesting for us and the audience.”

Being away from the children may be hard but it will give Martha time on the road to start work on some new songs.

“I can’t promise there won’t be at least one song about a mum worrying about her kids,” she laughed.

Martha Wainwright, Manchester Ritz, Saturday, January 28. Tour and album details from marthwainwright.com