A LOT has happened to Emma Pollock since the demise of her much loved band The Delgados a decade ago.

Before that, as co-owner of Glasgow label Chemikal Underground, she’s helped issue instant classics by Mogwai and Roky Erikson and now she is back in the driving seat with her second solo LP, In Search of Harperfield.

“It took a long time to gain the confidence to step outside the band and look at doing something more innovative and surprising,” said Emma, one of the headliners at next month’s Cloudspotting Festival near Clitheroe.

“I guess that’s that the beauty of being a solo artist, the fact that the freedom is there to work with whoever you fancy as long as it feels like it fits.

“As soon as The Delgados finished, though, I made a decision to draw a line under it and I’ve never played any of their songs since.

“I think that was only right because I was only piece in the band.”

Even from the title alone, it was clear that Pollock’s latest solo recording would be 12 songs deeply rooted in her personal experience.

Itself a reference to her early childhood home, and the house her parents lived in before she was born, In Search of Harperfield is ripe with memories and raw emotion.

“A lot of the family history came to the fore and the song Cannot Keep a Secret, for example, was about my mother, who died last year, finding out very late in life that she had three half sisters that she never knew existed.

“One day she got a letter through the post to say she had three sisters living in Manchester and to witness that incredible emotion of them meeting for the first time was really humbling.”

Her husband Paul Savage, also a founder member of The Delgados, produced the album.

But Emma has seen the music industry change beyond all recognition since those ground breaking days with Chemikal Underground in the east end of Glasgow.

“We’ve witnessed huge changes in the way that people engage with music, and at times it does feel like a total decline,” she said.

“When the label started in 1995, CD sales were still buoyant, the internet was in its infancy and companies were still investing in bands.

“But for the last 15 years, with the ebb and flow of the formats where people can access music for free, it is all the more remarkable that we’re still here.”

However, she added: “But now vinyl, after all but disappearing, has surprised everyone by returning with a vengeance, which I’m so heartened by.”

Pollock says playing Cloudspotting Festival will prove one of the highlights of her summer.

“I’ve heard so much about this amazing festival in the forest, and festivals like Cloudspotting bring a sense of wonder to the summer months because they embrace so much of what is special about music and the arts.”

The Cloudspotting Festival, Slaidburn, runs from Friday, July 29 to Saturday, July 31. Weekend and day tickets days are available from 01200 421599.