Alex Knight, aka Brightness, talks religion, moving to Canada and his self-titled second album

Yet that's the situation the then 28-year-old was in two and a half years ago as he was releasing what would be his critically-acclaimed, yet commercially-ignored, debut solo album Teething under the moniker Brightness.

Mushroom's hip subsidiary label I Oh You - the home of acts like Violent Soho, DMA's and Jack River - had discovered the homemade album on music sharing site Bandcamp and decided to re-release the record, led by the driving psychedelia of first single Oblivion.

Knight had spent six years pursuing music in England as a drummer with the bands Canvas Kites and Kins. He'd returned to Newcastle burnt out.

However, this unexpected interest in Teething, which included a 7.4/10 review from influential US taste-master Pitchfork had afforded him a second chance. It was in this environment that song ideas began flowing again.

The result would be Brightness' self-titled second album, which was released on Friday.

"It was during that period I was writing and I was kind of stripped away from everything in my life," Knight says in the Newcastle Herald's Honeysuckle office. "It feels like it was written from a quiet space.

READ MORE: How Alex Knight emerged from London darkness into Brightness

"I had this little granny flat thing my brother added onto his shed and I was able to do my own thing in there and window cleaning on the side. It was a very solitary period."

Musically Brightness isn't a major departure from Teething. The dream-like mix of psychedelia and grunge remains present, but the production from producer Sam Griffin Owens has significantly improved.

Lyrically there's also a sense of hope that was absent in the alienation of Teething.

"I wasn't necessarily in a better head space," Knight says. "I was thinking about this analogy of being at the bottom of a well, but with this record I was looking up.

"It's an attitude thing. The situation is the same, but the attitude had changed."

Perhaps it was the heavy religious tones that populate Brightness which had shifted Knight's attitude.

During the album's conception he constantly studied articles on the history of Christianity and Judaism, streamed televangelist broadcasts and read the Bible.

Those influences are heard throughout the album.

The opening track Dallas references watching American televangelist Robert Tilton with "But the way that Tilton's gushin'/ Man it really hypnotises me."

READ MORE: Brightness finds inspiration in late-night televangelist for new single Dallas

Old Crow mentions Jacob's ladder from the Book Of Genesis, while Papessa is inspired by Shekhinah, which represents the feminine attributes of the presence of God in Judaism.

"I've moved towards it, yes, but I haven't found a faith," Knight says. "It still is, and it'll continue to be, a search."

In fact, it's Knight's fascination in why people seek religion or a higher being that shaped his songwriting on Brightness.

"That's what inspires me, it's that yearning and the search," he says. "The effort that people put in is inspiring.

"They're trying to bring meaning and make them and the people around them, through these stories and different symbols, a better place. Often it doesn't work."

However, the album's most emotional moment is devoid of religious sentiment.

The sparse piano ballad Feathers is a beautiful tribute to his mother, set in the aftermath of his parents separation in the late '90s when Knight was 10.

Here Knight sings "Though your feathers were few/ I remember you always had room/ For us under your wings" as his voice threatens to break.

"It's a song of thanks, a song of gratitude to her perseverance during a time when she was adrift mentally," he says. "Despite how much stress she was under, despite how dark things got for her, I can say I never felt left out in the cold at any time."

Knight is a restless soul. Forever searching for new experiences. New knowledge.

You won't find the former Hunter School of Performing Arts student settling for a steady job and life in the suburbs.

The 31-year-old has long since left his brother's garage in Kahibah for a share house in Maitland, but it's only temporary.

Even before his second album was planned Knight had made the decision to again move overseas early next year, this time to Montreal, Canada.

"It doesn't feel alien, it feels overly familiar like still living with your mum," Knight says of being in Newcastle. "It's so harsh to put it that way.

"It's a very personal thing and I'm not saying it's absolute in any way, but being here I feel restless as one would feel still living with their parents.

"That feeling of 'this is nice', but it's too cozy. Maybe it's that masochistic thing of wanting to be in the deep end and not too comfortable.

"I need a therapist to tell me what's happening there, but history shows me I need to be continually moving."

Because of his intentions to relocate to Montreal, Knight is unlikely to tour the album, much like Teething.

"Straight up touring in Australia probably won't happen as I intend to leave pretty soon and get on with the next chapter," he says.

"It feels like, again, tearing everything down and starting anew."

Knight stresses that the move to Canada isn't about pursuing a music career or a rejection of Australia.

"I've just learnt it's important to follow that feeling of being pulled sometimes," he says. "Especially if it's pulling you in a direction that's frightening. That's good.

"It's always led to good things for me. The worst case scenario is it goes really badly and I come back here. I don't have anything to lose. Many people my age have something to lose by doing that."

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