David Gray climbs off his "White Ladder"

David Gray says he knew something was amiss with his career when "the best job you could ever wish for" - that of a successful singer-songwriter - left him feeling "a bit jaded."

"I needed to make some massive changes," Gray, 41, said by phone recently. "I had to take a wrecking ball to what was there and start again."

Despite the financial and creative freedom that came in the wake of his recorded-at-home breakthrough album, 2001's White Ladder, Gray said he found himself in a psychological "hall of mirrors."

"I had to find a way to make my life simple again," Gray said. "Ultimately, the music has put me back on track."

Last month, the London-based musician released Draw the Line, his first album of new material in nearly four years. The self-produced disc - a polished yet edgy effort - entered the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart at No. 12, the highest ranking of Gray's 15-plus-year recording career.

The album was preceded by "massive changes behind the scenes," as Gray put it, including moving longtime collaborators Craig "Clune" McClune, Tim Bradshaw, and David Nolte out of the fold, and bringing in guitarist Neill MacColl, drummer Keith Pryor, and a few others.

"It was like stepping off into a void, not knowing what to replace everything with - but it was a leap I needed to make," Gray said, adding that, sonically, he went "backward to go forward."

"We got back to the basics; pared it down to a live sound, using old gear and old mikes in the studio. The process of making this record delighted every facet of me as a singer and a writer. I was firing on all cylinders again."

Draw the Line - which Gray called "big music with an outward perspective" - takes its title from his hard-earned sense of assuredness and creative potency.

"Where I'm at now has allowed me to be more bullish and outward in everything I do. I feel set free from the complexities of success, so I'm just enjoying life now and not overanalyzing it."