The Lemon Kittens became a two-piece, Danielle and Karl Blake. They released the acclaimed 'We Buy A Hammer For Daddy' and the relatively unnoticed 'The Big Dentist' LPs. In between, they undertook a series of gigs, monumental affairs incorporating body painting and other engaging visuals although it was, as Danielle admits, often "difficult music".

She has recently released an entirely solo album called 'Pop Eyes', issued by Initial Records.

'Pop-Eyes'. I like the intriguing ambiguity of that title. A host of meanings spring to mind. Somewhere deep down it could all be to do with spinach and pipe smoking...

"I hope people get the humour in it. I was trying to combine my odd influences and my pop influences and not be obscure like the Lemon Kittens. It's called 'Pop-Eyes' because the music has been Pop-ised! Also it is a description of the eyes on the cover."

The covers shows a distorted human face created out of photos from gore-intensive medical magazines.

"It was done in 1981 as a send up of the Piece Of Meat Syndrome. When I first came up to London and met people in the music business I was very upset with the way I was treated. The age old female problem of being treated like a brainless nurd. I also wanted something that would stand out and upset people.

"I used the photographs to create something, it wasn't just a case of cutting them out and sticking them on the cover. It doesn't take thought or talent to do that. At that point my whole family were ill for various reasons, I was visiting my mother in hospital quite a lot so it tied in with that."

Danielle first began working musically on her own about a year ago. 'Pop-Eyes' was wholly recorded on four-track.

"I'm not particularly interested in virtuosity – I'm more interested in dexterity of choice. I feel the most important part of music or art or literature or whatever is the unstated, what people chose to leave out.

"I wanted to do everything myself, from the cover through to the production. In the whole history of rock and pop I don't know of another woman who has done a record in this way. Mo Tucker plays everything but uses other people's songs, others write their own songs but just use acoustic guitar and voice.

"I wanted something that had the feel of a complete band and a variety of instrument. Apart from doing the album for musical satisfaction, I felt it was an important statement for other women – showing you don't have to rely on other people to do things for you."

THROUGH THE interview Danielle's words pour out in rapid, nervous and not always perfectly lucid streams. She stares at a point in space as if seeing her quotes come up on an imaginary, mid-air Visual Display Unit. Here and there she pauses not only for breath but, presumably, to make mental adjustments to the punctuation.

The songs (and they are very definitely songs as opposed to the Lemon Kittens' "abstractions") on 'Pop-Eyes' are sharp and concise both in length and content. Oblique and not obvious perhaps, but never overtly obscure.

"Obscure' music is, in many cases, at the same level as contemporary art. People have become so obsessed with the theories that they forget the important part is how people view or relate to the finished piece of work. All the good theories in the world don't make up for something being crap.

"It was a new thing for me to work within certain time limits, the Lemon Kittens stuff tended to meander on and on. I still haven't come to terms with the structures that are necessary to make certain things accessible in pop terms. That's probably a good thing. When people anticipate a bridge or a chorus, I might put something else in."

Like the title, the lyrics of the album are often brief but effective image-triggers. My favourite is the opener, 'Bed Caves':

'Today's not the same as before/Starting with a clean slate/Promises of new rewards/Doo-da-doo-,da-doo-da-,doo-da-daal' (Repeat both bits four times).

The succinct allusiveness somehow bestows sloganistic qualities upon the piece. A breakfast time anthem!

"I want to suggest a feeling. It's ridiculous to assume you can state an opinion. Somebody else can never relate to the lyric in the same way because their whole experience is different. You can only suggest, then people add their own history and experience to the lyrics.

"One track, 'The Shamemen', came about after reading one of the books on Jim Morrison. He was going on about Shamen. It made me think of Israel and all the bickering that's constantly going on in those countries. I changed it to Shamemen and it was basically about how pathetic it all is. On a different level, though, it's about conquest. The kind of conquest in a party or disco situation – the macho image crap that people go through which is all so pointless.

"It's a form of exorcism. I don't get upset by certain situations if I can rid myself of these feelings via music or a piece of artwork.

"But if your ideas are too clear cut it frightens people. I think a lot of A&R men like to see themselves as Svengali figures, they like to feel they've discovered you. There is a process which, it's a very feminine thing too – Oh God! I sound like a bloody feminist – which is doing what you want but making other people think that they thought of it."

It would be optimistic dreaming to imagine 'Pop-Eyes' reverberating through the gold disc lined corridors of power. Agonisingly, it seems condemned to remain 'obscure' in the sense of being undiscovered.

"Yeah. It's depressing when people won't give it a chance because of what I've done before. I think it would be a healthy thing for the music industry if John Peel died next week (apparently he won't play 'Pop-Eyes' and didn't care much for the Lemon Kittens either). It's depressing that one person can have so much control over a vast area of music which the public doesn't otherwise have access to.

"It'd be better to have someone younger and more in touch doing John Peel's job. He's been doing it for so long he's become too cynical and image conscious. He's got a weird kind of inverted snobbery.

"I don't care much for the street-credibility thing either. I think it's a load of waffle. The psychology of gigs is really odd. People want to watch or look at something and, in a way, be entertained. But there is a definite gap between the audience and performer. You can't really bridge that, otherwise the audience would be performing and not watching.

"I find it strange the way human nature wants heroes and yet wants to destroy their heroes. It's a kind of mass insecurity people want something to look up to and get a buzz off but, at the same time, want to destroy it because it makes them feel insecure."

DANIELLE DAX (the Danielle is real, the Dax isn't) did her second gig in a tent. Her next will be a benefit for the London Collective Of Prostitutes at the B2 gallery. She originates from Southend. She likes the Belle Stars' new single. I think she'll make a good pop star.