"I think it is [my best], but it sounds arrogant when the person that made the album says that, so I'm always cautious about it," the Sydney songwriter says.

"But every album that I've done I thought was better than the one prior, and that has been my aim.

"I don't want to put something out that I don't stand by 100 per cent and don't feel is my best work."

Pyke has built a loyal, organic following since his 2005 breakthrough single Middle of the Hill, carving a songbook rich in melody and lush textures, tied together with thought-provoking lyrics and literary metaphors.

His fifth album, But For All These Shrinking Hearts, is now different, and adds an even broader array of folk influences and studio techniques to his impressive canon.

"It's been by far the most immediately positive response that I've ever had [to a record]," Pyke says.

"Other albums have been slow burners and people love them, but it's taken time for them to build.

"But the response to this one has been nuts."

Pyke brings his But For All The Shrinking Hearts regional tour with acoustic performer Jack Carty to the Kinross Woolshed, Thurgoona, on August 5

Despite positive public feedback, he remains his harshest critic.

"My barometer for whether or not I think a song is good is basically just if I complete it,” he says.

"Then I know my instincts are telling me it was worth completing."

Pyke's songwriting does not stop when it is time to tour.

When a new record comes out, the Sydney native already has a collection of songs together for the following release.

"I just write all the time, I was writing on the road for this album," he recalls.

"Then I come back [from tour] to my home studio and refine my ideas there."

While Pyke's recording and touring schedule seems like one long seamless cycle, the songwriter concedes that he sometimes endures a creative dry spell.

But he always manages to find a way out.

"It has been an album every two years, but within those two-year periods there will be months and months where I don't write anything and won't feel creatively inspired at all," he says.

"I've just learned to weather those periods and have faith that they'll end.

And when the muse does return, Pyke finds the songwriting process extremely cathartic.

"For me, writing has been the one real way I know to work the demons out of my system," he explains.

"The things I need to process as a person, to remain a fairly well-balanced person, happens through songwriting.

"If it wasn't my job I would be doing it anyway.”