Recently, James William Hindle moved from the bustling metropolis of London to the more subdued city of Sheffield so that his whole existence would not be devoted to music. In London, Hindle worked at the legendary record store the Music and Video Exchange, wrote for a music magazine called Comes With a Smile and pursued a music career as a folky singer/songwriter.

In Sheffield, Hindle managed to broaden his field of expertise by pursuing a master’s degree in film at Sheffield Hallan University. Even though he believes that studying documentary filmmaking has not changed the way he writes a song, the art form has gotten him in touch with his muse. “I can get inspired by film and then go out and do something creative,” he says by phone from a tour stop in Portland, Oregon.

Listening to Hindle’s third album, Town Feeling, makes it apparent that the documentary filmmaking scholar should not let his music career whither in favor of academia. All of the CD’s 10 originals are finely-crafted British folk songs. Though every track doesn’t deviate far from an introspective acoustic sound, there are small revelations from song to song. The opener “Dog & Boy” features lazy steel guitar and twinkling bells, while “Silence” has a surprising trumpet solo.

Hindle says a lot of those beautiful touches were added to his songs in the studio by musicians like Gary Olson of The Ladybug Transistor and Kevin Barker of Currituck Co.

“I am into people putting their own mark on my things,” he says of the process. “Each record, I have been amazed that they end up like they do.”

After returning from his United States tour, Hindle will be adding some guitar work to another artist’s album. The singer/songwriter will play on a few songs for an upcoming release by Current 93—a group fronted by former Psychic TV bandmember David Tibet that Hindle describes as “gothic folk.”

Also, in addition to his solo career and work on Current 93’s CD, Hindle has recorded a new album with James Green of the Sheffield acoustic group Big Eyes titled The Goat. Hindle describes the CD, which was recorded in one day, as “improvised folk tunes without singing.”

James William Hindle plays Fernwood Bar, 24 miles south of Carmel on Highway 1 in Big Sur, on Friday at 9pm with co-headliner Bart Davenport of berkeley. $8. 667-2422.