However, in February 2012, Moyet wrote on Twitter: "I appear to have forfeited my recording deal because I won't do reality TV.
"[2] In a June 2012 interview with Touchbase Magazine, Moyet confirmed that she was still recording her album and that she was not rushing it, stating she could not envisage it being released before January 2013.
When describing its sound and theme, Moyet said, "It's quite dark and definitely not aimed at the charts... it has an electronic bias, but isn't retro.
"[3] On 22 January 2013, it was announced via Moyet's official Facebook page that she had signed a worldwide deal with the London-based record label Cooking Vinyl.
[5] On 18 February 2013, it was revealed via Facebook that the new album would be titled The Minutes along with one of its tracks "Changeling" made available as a free download via Moyet's newly relaunched website.
[6] The Minutes is described as "a unique collection of captivating songs that incorporate elements of high-end modern pop, club sounds, R&B and electronic experimentation.
"[7] "I avoided listening to anything during the process of writing and recording this album, choosing instead to be led by my own melodic voice, the one I now find myself with 30-years-in.
We have made an album mindless of industry mores that apply to middle-aged women and have shunned all talk of audiences, demographics and advert jazz covers.
In an interview with Graham Norton during his BBC Radio 2 show on 23 March 2013, Moyet explained the meaning behind the album's title: "Basically, we all feel slightly cheated when our life does not end up being this stream of joy and one thing that you do understand when you come middle aged is that it was never about that, it was always a lie, that it was always about fantastic minutes that are suspended in years, and that's what this is about... all the years of fighting to make a creative record for myself rather than do a covers album.
"[10] Moyet also states that she wrote the song "Filigree" after watching the 2011 film The Tree of Life and that that is where the reference to "the minutes" derives.
"[10] "Rung by the Tide" resulted from researching the Middle Ages where "great swathes of the English coastline fell into the sea and priories and monasteries and their bell towers were lost.
[20] Because an amateur shot live performance of the song "Rung by the Tide" from her Bush Hall gig failed to appear on YouTube, Moyet held off on releasing a clip of the eleventh and final track on the album.
[21] Moyet announced "Taking the Minutes", a one-off gig at London's Bush Hall to be held 18 April 2013 to launch the album.
The gig was described as 'the single opportunity to hear every track of the album – live and in order – by the three people who made it.
Fans were made aware of the possibility of a few Yazoo tracks, reworked by Sigsworth, making the set list.
This tour, highlighting my new material, will take advantage of the altered line-up to approach again songs from Yazoo, my early solo synth years and Hometime, I reckon.
Sounds like a top plan xxx"[24] The Minutes received generally positive reviews from music critics.
"[30] Jeremy Williams of The Yorkshire Times referred to Moyet's work with producer Guy Sigsworth as "essentially a rather captivating meeting of two creative minds, who together have crafted a near perfect contemporary masterpiece that could soon be hailed a classic.
"[35] John Aizlewood of Q magazine viewed Sigsworth as Moyet's "musical soulmate" and said of The Minutes: "this is her best LP in decades.
"[34] Ian D. Hall of Liverpool Sound and Vision described the album as "...going back to the house you were born in and seeing that it has irrevocably changed but has all the old pleasant memories running around its corridors.
"[33] In the United States, Billy Manes of Orlando Weekly called The Minutes a "triumph" and that the album "towers above almost everything before it in the Moyet oeuvre.