Radiohead drummer Phil Selway says the acclaimed Oxford art-rock quintet are taking “baby steps at the moment” towards making the followup to their 2011 album, The King of Limbs.

“(Soundwise), you’ll never know where we’ll go ‘til the end anyway,” said Selway, 47, on the phone with QMI Agency during a Canadian newspaper exclusive.

“(Radiohead) finished back at the end of November (2012) and since then we’ve all taken the time to work on other projects. It had been full on up to that point, in a great way, but the band was in a really healthy place, a lot of good touring in that year, so it felt like an opportune moment to stand back from that and actually be at home, do other musical projects. But we’re just starting to get back together now. We’re preparing for it at the moment, actually.”

And yes, the group did spend a bit of time at Jack White’s Third Man Records compound in Nashville while touring North America is 2012, but it was only a visit.

“He was very hospitable,” said Selway “As you’d expect with Jack White, there was lots of lovely gear. I was drooling the afternoon we were there.”

Otherwise, Selway is about to unveil his atmospheric, Radiohead-like sounding sophomore solo album, Weatherhouse, on Tuesday on the heels of Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke’s own sophomore effort, Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes, that came out via BitTorrent on Sept. 26.

After touring with multi-instrumentalists Adem Ilhan and Quinta for his first solo disc, 2010’s Familia, Selway wanted to explore that relationship further.

“(Radiohead’s) a big part of my life,” said Selway. “I suppose I wanted to have a record that sounded like it was a band playing, cohesive in that way, and I love records that you can almost live in. That’s something that envelopes you and I that’s what I was aiming for in this one. There’s a warmth to it, though at some points, slightly unusual textures. But there’s something kind of emotionally direct about this.”

Weatherhouse has been described as Selway, a married father of three, taking stock of his life and the first song, Coming Up For Air, is indicative of that.

“That came out of that point of stopping at the end of 2012,” he said. “There wasn’t a schedule there that was pressing things along. And so it’s kind of like a very natural time to stop and just actually, I suppose, review a couple of decades. And the song Coming Up For Air was very much affirmation of being at that point, thinking, ‘This is a good place to be. This is the right place to be.’ It’s a positive start to the record and then sometimes you find, I think, where you’re in that frame of mind that’s a good place to go back and readdress the more negative aspects of life.”

Weatherhouse is dedicated to drum tech Scott Johnson who was killed when the roof of Toronto’s Downsview Park’s temporary stage collapsed in June 2012 just an hour before doors were to open to the public.

The show, the last of their North American tour, was cancelled and Radiohead postponed some of their European tour before resuming in July.

“It was a hugely difficult time for everybody around Scott, particularly his family, watching what they went through with it and just something that happened so rapidly and the nature of these things, so unexpectedly,” said Selway. “It all seemed very out of context. And you know, you start the day with a lovely, lovely person, in a very well, drilled happy crew, and later on that day, they’re gone. It’s just deeply tragic when that happened. It’s not a day to look back on in any sort of good way.”

Selway said Johnson’s death didn’t directly inform the writing on Weatherhouse, but it affected his mindset.

“That was a very big sad event for all of us and I don’t know if it will inform the specifics of what you’re writing about but there’s a sense that comes out of that which I think stays with you and then will inevitably permeate to what you’re working on. But really the main thing for me was the dedication to Scott.”

Selway, who has announced a handful of February touring dates in England, says he’s hoping to cross the pond and play some North American dates, specifically Toronto, for Weatherhouse.

“I would love to visit Canada, I’ve always loved playing in Canada,” he said. “I very hope it will be part of the tour schedule – it would be a great shame to cross the Atlantic (and not do it.) The 2012 show apart, actually coming to Toronto, (Radiohead) have done many, many shows over the years and we’ve always had such a good reception.”