In 1998 David Belcher met the composer from Shettleston who was partying with Bjork, dining with Madonna, and had the odd hit

WE must invent a new word in order to do justice to the multifarious flowerings of Scotland's verra ain globe-shrinking, genre-busting composing laddie, Craig Armstrong. Perhaps it would be best to call his musical niche symphobient hip beat, reflecting his work's blend of formal orchestral harmony, atmospheric swathes of found sound, and modern urban rhythms.

Then again, Craig's recent work-load has encompassed scoring Hollywood mega-hit movie Romeo And Juliet and Orphans, the as-yet-unreleased feature debut by Scottish director Peter Mullen; composing a violin concerto for the BT Scottish Ensemble (due for performance in April); collaborating with funky chart songbird Shola Ama on a new version of a Noel Coward song; and hanging out with Madonna in a studio in Los Angeles, working up nascent sonic textures for Maddie's next album. How in heck do you come up with a handy pigeon-hole for someone who can do all that?

Additionally, Craig has in the not-so-distant past conducted the unlikely stage partnership of Pavarotti, Brian Eno, an orchestra, and U2 in a live performance of Miss Sarajevo, the song which all the parties composed for the Bosnian peace charity Warchild. Craig has also collaborated on disparate songs with U2 and Tina Turner, plus his long-time chums Massive Attack, as well as having scored the stage adaptation of Janice Galloway's novel The Trick Is To Keep Breathing, and the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy.

Oh, and Craig recently had news about the title track he and Massive Attack created for the movie Welcome To Sarajevo: it's up for an Oscar. Craig Armstrong: a talent to confound all categorisation.

Really, though, there's only one word for the Glasgow-based multi-disciplinarian's forthcoming debut solo album, The Space Between Us, due for release on February 2 on Massive Attack's own Melankolic label: it's fan-flipping-tastic!

Read More: Composer Paul-Leonard Morgan on working with Philip Glass

Of course, it does help that the two songs on the otherwise all-instrumental album employ Caledonia's King and Queen of Emotive Warbling - Paul Buchanan of the Blue Nile has never sounded more wan and affecting than on Craig's sparse re-working of the Nilies' own contemporary classic Let's Go Out Tonight, while Liz Fraser, of the Cocteau Twins, surpasses herself on This Love, a new song Craig co-composed with another native chanteuse, Jerry Burns.

Another highlight of The Space Between Us is the track Glasgow, a Shettleston boy's evocation of his home town. Deploying the recurring patterns of Glasgow rain alongside the shuffling, clanking ghosts of the city's long-lost heavy industries, Craig paints a portrait of a place which can occasionally menace but which is enduringly vital, too.

In addition, the album re-draws two of Craig's contributions to Massive Attack's Protection album, Sly and Weather Storm, the latter having incidentally won a fan in Bjork, who used it as a form of overture to her live show throughout her recent UK tour. What was the creative impulse behind The Space Between Us?

''Mayfest commissioned me to write a piece for the Scottish Chamber Orchestra in 1996 after which I decided I wanted to concentrate on pure music - no more string-arranging; no-one telling me what to do,'' says Craig. ''Coincidentally, Massive Attack offered me the chance to do my own LP, with no restrictions on whom I might want to work with. I started recording, but then got sidetracked for months working on Romeo And Juliet.

''Paul Buchanan was a must from the start, though. I've known him on and off for ages - the Blue Nile were the first folk I ever borrowed a synthesiser from, in fact, and Paul Moore is one of my favourite musicians - and I helped them with Family Life, a track on their Peace At Last album. It's my ultimate plan to unite Paul Buchanan with an orchestra . . . live maybe, or for a wee record.

''Massive Attack suggested Liz. They're all still based in Bristol, which is where she's moved to. Funnily enough, Bjork was involved in a roundabout way, too. Paul Buchanan and I took a break from recording in London by going to this massive party Bjork's record company staged.

''There was what I reckon was a very Blue Nile kind of moment amid this crush of millions of people - I caught a glimpse of Paul deep in thought, separated from the crowd, looking back at them through a window . . . and then suddenly the crowd parted for Bjork's entrance, and she ignored everyone and went straight up to Paul and embraced him like a long-lost brother.''

Aye. He's the guardian of all our hearts, is Mr B. And where will your own heart lead you in 1998, Mr A?

''Neil Tennent of the Pet Shop Boys phoned and asked me to do a Noel Coward track with Shola Ama for an Aids benefit LP. There'll also be a gig, featuring, among others, Annie Lennox and Bryan Ferry, to be filmed by TV later this month. I prefer music to be practical like that - 'Can we have music for this film scene or that charity concert?'

''I've begun work on my next LP, and if this first one was intended to be mellow and beautiful, then the next one will be future mad stuff to scare kids with! It'll be totally right out there.'' In this respect, Craig admires the energy of proto-junglist pioneers Photek. ''I'd like to get an orchestra doing what they do. I've already asked Photek to work on re-mixes of this first album, alongside dub legend the Mad Professor, Massive Attack, and hopefully the Blue Nile.''

In the most non-specific terms, Scottish Ballet have specifically asked Craig to do something. The RSC have requested that he dip his toe into the dangerous waters of a full-scale musical. He hopes to continue a profitable liaison with Talvin Singh by studying music in India. Movie-makers keep sending him scripts. (Most aren't up to much.)

Happily, the day-to-day operation of Craig's creative life is becoming less of a struggle, bringing him nearer to his ultimate goal: ''I'd like to do a film, an LP, and a classical piece every year, spending most of my time at home in Scotstoun with my wife and three young sons. I always look forward to travelling, but the buzz of being away usually wears off after two days.''

Craig's global schedule for '98 so far includes album-launching trips to the US and Japan. He awaits Madonna's call. ''She's got real star-quality. We went to a Mexican restaurant guarded by huge armed doormen in south central LA, which is like a war zone. I remember thinking: 'I'm in a stretch limo sitting next to the Queen of America! This is a long way from Shettleston!' ''

So's Paris. Craig will perform some of The Space Between Us there in May with an orchestra, the album having been a big hit in France in both pop and classical circles. It has also been a hit with the operators of a Parisian shop called Colete, a bunch of cool Gallic style-arbiters who offer a unique one-stop lifestyle retailing experience.

''The Space Between Us was a fixture there for two months,'' says Craig Armstrong proudly. Don't remove his LP from your hi-fi for ages, mes braves.