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In 2004, Brian decided it was time to step away from Westlife and pursue a career as a solo singer and songwriter. His first album, Irish Son, produced by Guy Chambers, featured three UK top 10 hits, including the chart-topping debut single, Real To Me, plus an unforgettable, ultimately life-altering duet with Delta Goodrem, Almost Here - a worldwide hit which also topped the Australian singles charts. Another classic and powerful track called Demons featured prominently in the US television series Lost.

Aside from its big hits, Irish Son was defined by its stunning lyrical honesty. Brian looks back at the whole thing as an unedited "life story" and, ultimately, the record would mark the beginning of a major turning point in both the singer's career and private life.

As he was wrapping up work on Irish Son, Brian met Australian singer/songwriter, Delta Goodrem. Together they sang Almost Here and it sounded like nothing else on the record, but it's the song that would eventually reveal itself as the bridge between album one and two. In time, Brian and Delta fell in love and their romance brought about a profound change in the lives and work of both young artists, eventually leading Brian to spending a considerable amount of time in Australia.

Brian quickly adopted Australia as a second home. He loves the place, loves how it allows him relative anonymity compared to his day-to-day life back in the UK. It's given him a chance to relax, to focus clearly on his music, and given him back what he values most: complete artistic freedom.

As a result, Set In Stone has a remarkably different feel and mood to Irish Son.

"The songs and the sound and the writing of this record is a bit different," Brian explains. "Because obviously that first one was written in a completely different headspace and a different time in my life. Where all these songs have been written in a much happier place. And you can hear that in the lyrics. There's a lot more light."

Another reason for the big change in sound, Set In Stone was primarily created by Brian working alongside Scottish dance producer, Stuart Crichton. Brian's pop-rock leanings infused with Stuart's dance-pop approach give Set In Stone a unique electro aural sheen on top of real drums, guitar, piano and strings.

Brian wants us to believe that Set In Stone is simply a pop album -"Enjoy it and take it for what it is, which is pop music," he declares - but the truth runs deeper than that.

Apart from the geography involved, Brian took a considerably longer path to make Set In Stone than its predecessor. Whereas he'd written about a dozen songs on the way to the first album, this time the number was closer to 150.

Ultimately, it's an extraordinarily diverse collection of songs on Set In Stone, even though Brian only allowed a total of 10 to reach the final cut. One of the earliest of the new tracks to survive the long journey is the album's first single, a beautiful piece called Like Only A Woman Can. Brian is happy to concede this song is a straight-up ode to his love and gratefulness for Delta.