Paul Mac recently ended his self-imposed exile in the Blue Mountains and returned to his hometown of Sydney in a bid to find fresh inspiration for his new album.

He moved into an inner-city house with underground rooms that he converted into a music studio. With the addition of a security system which allowed him to see who was outside the front door from down in his little bunker, Mac realised he had created something of a panic room, an idea which gave rise to the title of the album.

The songs on Panic Room are mostly about falling in and out of love, something he admitted is a direct reflection of his life over the last few years.

?Yeah, most of my relationships get a song, however short or long they are,? he said. ?I tend to write from personal experience. The music always comes to me first and then I try to find out what that song is about. Nine times out of 10 it falls back into the relationship angle.

Mac said he felt comfortable writing such personal songs only because he didn't have to sing them. On this album he enlisted the vocal talents of Peta Morris, Sarah McLeod, Lenka from Decoder Ring and Luke Steele of Sleepy Jackson, to name a few.

Following the success of his debut solo album 3,000 Feet High and his collaboration with Daniel Johns on The Dissociatives (the pair plan to start work on their next album soon), Mac has found himself recognised everywhere he goes, something he has found pretty hard to handle. As a private person, he said he hated being in the public eye but conceded it was a necessary evil.

?It has changed everything,? he said. ?It's changed the going out experience. It's nowhere near as fun not being anonymous any more. I was out on Friday night at Manacle and the Shift, and there's always someone coming over and wanting to talk or take a photo or whatever.

He's wanted to be a musician ever since he was a child and attended the Conservatorium of Music. The Con, he said, made him employable enough to do all sorts of jobs including a stint playing piano on Play School and as music director on Good News Week. Success didn't come overnight for Mac. In fact he was on the dole until the age of 30.

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