Sydney, Australia

THERE’S an idea behind all this adventure – and it’s only in the Uber on the way back from Maroubra when it comes into focus.

America’s political climate had worn Ruban down creatively, and the album provided a good excuse to not only leave the basement, but the daily media maelstrom. “Reading about Donald Trump every day was really shutting my creativity down,” he says.

But as much as Ruban wanted to keep politics out of Sex & Food, the album is a political statement of sorts: about recognising music’s value as a safe space that can’t be touched by Trump, Putin or Kim Jong-un.

“My music works better when it’s humble; when it keeps its eyes on a specific, low-key goal.”

By creating a distraction-free atmosphere in which to make the album, Ruban was able to really interrogate the purpose of his music in the first place – to not just him, but to the world. If Multi-Love was an album that helped him process the complexities of adult relationships, Sex & Food is a functional experience that refocuses the UMO lens on the listener.

“The Sex & Food title is important,” he explains. “It’s really supposed to ultimately be to psych you up when you’re on the bus going to work. To keep my eye on what music is for and what scale it operates. It’s all just sounds coming out of my phone.”

I wondered too whether Ruban’s decision to let people into his private life so intimately on Multi-Love had inspired him to make a more outward looking, worldly record – but Ruban says that wasn’t the case at all.

“I don’t think I did that on purpose,” he says. “I tried to keep it about the internal world, internal feelings – and I tried not to make it political … It was important to keep the scale of it manageable, because my music works better when it’s humble; when it keeps its eyes on a specific, low-key goal. And I think politics is outside of that.”

We’re about to part ways when Ruban throws another curveball: his desire to produce a black metal record. “I’ve been sending stuff back and forth with Anderson .Paak for years, and there’s all these singer-songwriter girls that want me to produce their records. But I just think it’d be really cool to work on something abrasive.”

For now though he’s focussed on the release of Sex & Food, and all that goes with it – from press, which he’s admittedly more guarded about; and touring, which he’s rekindled his love for thanks to Kody. Tomorrow, he’s off to Madrid for ostensibly more interviews, but there’s a hidden agenda as well.

“It’s a chance to bro out with my manager,” he smiles.

Any weird excuse.