David Gray says that he’s written a lot of songs for his new album, but his own perfectionism is making it hard to finish the recording.

According to Gray, the follow-up to his 2010 album, Foundling, is having “a difficult birth so far.” In Billboard, the singer says he wants to do something new with his 9^th studio album.

“Rather than just repeat myself, I’m at a point where I’m asking, ‘Why should this thing, the next thing, exist? What’s it going to have that’s different?’” he said. “It’s a reductive process, and that can be a little difficult, not just for me but for all musicians. You just get fed up with your own schtick, your own way, your style, the default setting. You have to look for something else.”

This something else, might even lead the singer to come out with two albums, to show off his dueling personalities. 

“I’ve got some big songs that I’m really trying to tweak into some new shape, but I’ve also got the really quiet, really quite poetic songs that will pick up where Foundling left off,” Gray said. “But it’s early days yet; you can’t make two albums at once, so I’ve got to set (the quiet songs) to one side and come back to them when I’ve concluded the heavy work.”

The singer, who has not announced a release date for his upcoming album, is currently finishing up the last two dates on his eight-city North American tour.

- Shannon Carlin, CBS Local