And that can apply in music as well as love. Certainly it worked for Chris Murphy, maker of epic songs, muscular ballads and pleasant rockers – and something of a fixture on the county's unsigned scene for four years.

"I had just left a band and, because of the harsh way that it broke up, I wanted to be pretty self-sufficient," recalls Chris ahead of new album Another Reunion.

"I was more self-conscious about my music and live performances then than I am now. Things changed when I met really suitable guys to get playing my stuff, though. They had an immediate impact on the production and delivery of the music, which is a little more bouncy and rockier and even funkier in places.

"Before I had something of a template for writing, which is inhibiting."

And so Murphy has evolved from a musician guilty of maybe too many intimate efforts to battling between his rocky and mellow sides; musical moodswings buffeted by emotions and other peoples' 'issues'.

"Writing songs for me is just thinking aloud. Anything can occur when you let yourself go; a thought borne out of a newspaper article or hearing/mis-hearing something a mate has said.

"Some of my lyrics are completely from the heart: because you feel for someone when they're sad or angry – and others just materialise because I felt inclined to juxtapose words I hadn't heard together before."

With the phrase singer-songwriter having become a dirty one in some quarters, thanks to the inexplicably popular James Blunt among others, Murphy is perhaps sailing choppy waters.

With his band The Boxer Genius – a term applied to Muhammed Ali for his strength and grace and "the kind of thing I wanted my music to be like; thoughtful but tough enough not to be pushed around" – he is keen to avoid comparisons.

"It's sad there is still a lot of stuff in the UK that sounds like it's been cut from the same cloth. I don't really want to be part of that," says Chris.

"I just try to write good songs that explore common themes and express my own thoughts. If I wanted to sound like someone else I'd form a covers band called Mouldplay or Kaizer Chaps. I believe in heroes, though. Don't get me wrong – I'm not completely cynical.

"I suppose I am prone to ballads from time to time but the word has been tarnished by some chart tripe over the last few years. It won't always be the case. Everyone feels pain and love so the ballad will have it's time again."

Certainly Chris isn't towing any city style line, if there is one. Sheffield is no longer a town of archetypal Monkeys.

"You can't really say there is a certain 'sound' here now. It's like musicians are taking less notice of what's going on in the rehearsal room next door and just doing what they want. So in that way, the Sheffield 'sound' is more about trying to do something different and not busting a gut keeping up with the Joneses."

Another Reunion is effectively 30-year-old Chris's third album.

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