No point in crying over split milk. Nothing to be gained from regret. No reason to look back and think what might have been. David Kitt knows this better than most.

"Around eight years ago, I was playing in Cologne in Germany supporting Tindersticks. My record label said they really liked my second album, The Big Romance, and decided that they were going to push it. So they sent a couple of their head honchos from Berlin and asked me to have dinner with them. But I had already agreed to play percussion with Tindersticks that evening, so I refused to go. In my mind, there was no contest -- either playing with one of my favourite bands or hanging out with two executives. Perhaps things might have been different, but I don't regret it. I feel proud of the guy who made that decision at 25."

In some ways, this well-thumbed story could be a metaphor for the career of David Kitt. Now 33, Kitt has seen his fair share of ups and downs within the music industry.

Hyped as the next big thing, his debut album, the decidedly lo-fi and intimate Small Moments (2000), indicated that he had more substance than most. Nine years on, it would have been a pretty safe bet that he wouldn't now be self-releasing an album, which he recorded in his Dublin flat. Even though that's precisely where his new record, The Nightsaver, sees him at, you can be sure he won't be feeling sorry for himself.

"This album is probably the most complete one I've made since my debut," he says. "I was very clear with how I wanted it to sound, how I wanted it to flow. I've done about 10 interviews in the run-up to the release [tomorrow] and everyone I talk to has had a different take on it. I've heard it's my dark album. I've heard it's my light album. I've heard it's a summer album. I've heard it's an album with an edge."

Perhaps it's all of the above. Certainly, it is his most accomplished record in years, a beguiling blend of electronic and indie rock. But it is also the sound of musician at ease with himself and still looking to push himself in interesting but not wilfully obscure directions. "I'm starting to play to my strengths a lot more now. Experience in your life will always affect how you make music and I draw upon my own. As a musician, you are constantly trying to uncover the identity of something. When you do that, there's excitement as it is revealing itself to you. That's the feeling I got from making the album."

His ambitions for the album are practical.

"I've pressed 5,000 copies. The last couple of albums I've pressed 10,000 and I still have a lot of CDs in my house! I want to sell those 5,000 CDs. It might seem weird, as it is less than a tenth of what I sold of my second album. But people are not buying as much music as they used to."

As evidenced by the opening tale of youthful vigour, things haven't always gone Kitt's way. Dropped by his record company after an under-performing third album, Square 1, he admits that money is tight as a working musician in a climate when "nobody under the age of 25 seems to buy music any more".

"There are plenty of bands who've had a better rub of the green when it comes to record companies. But I don't sit back and see my experience as wholly negative. To me, it is all about surviving. I want to get from one year to the next and keep being able to make music. I have faith at that stage."

No regrets?

"I am happy where things are going creatively. I had a sniff of bigger stage success and it can change you as a person. You might get some sort of a notion about yourself. But it is difficult to get a notion about yourself in this city because there'll always be some fucker at a party telling you you're a prick! Ending up where I have ended up has helped me see what is important -- friends, family and making music."

As for the future, plans for world domination have been shelved in favour of a more practical solution than depending on either the whims of the media or a record company. "In five years' time, my goal is to have 5,000 to 10,000 people subscribing to my website [www.davidkitt.net] and pay €25 a year. For that, they'd get a CD, vinyl, downloads and I'd be able to keep making music. And I think that's achievable." hq

David Kitt's new album The Nightsaver is out tomorrow. A national tour starts on April 3rd and he plays Whelan's on April 18th

- Garreth Murphy