The very chirpy Bic Runga doesn't mind at all that I've never heard any of her songs, and that 20 minutes ago I didn't even know I was doing this interview. "No worries, it's pretty straight forward at the moment," she says. "I can just run you through it." Okay.

"Well, I'm moving to Paris," she proclaims, "semi-permanently. My second record, Beautiful Collision, is coming out in Europe. So these shows coming up in Australia will be the last ones for a while." Last time she was here she sold out about six shows in a row in Melbourne, and at the time of speaking has already sold out the Sydney shows on this tour. "It's been like that for me in Australia lately, which is cool because it feels like things are growing for me there even though we haven't had much radio play. I'm really pleased with the way things have happened," she says. "Because it's still relatively unknown, and underground. It's still a secret," she laughs. That might explain my ignorance.

So is her relatively phenomenal success mostly just word of mouth?

"I think so, and also my audience doesn't care too much for the radio." She's not insinuating that her fans are luddites from a previous era, simply that they're more discerning than to believe what a faceless marketing machine tells them. "They're like me," Bic surmises, "and personally all the music I find and get into is through word of mouth from my friends, whom I trust."

Obviously it's a different story back home in the land of the long white cloud, where she has twice won the Tui Award (the Kiwi equivalents to the ARIAs) for Best Female Vocalist, and picked up countless others including Best Songwriter, Album Of The Year (for her first, self-produced, record Drive), Single Of The Year (Sway), Best Songwriter, Best Solo Artist and Best Producer. She also has the honour of recording the highest selling local album of all time in New Zealand.

"Actually I have the two biggest selling records in NZ. Drive is the biggest selling and Beautiful Collision is the second biggest selling. I only found that out this week," she laughs. "It's pretty amazing, though it's not that big a deal because it's kind of a random thing. It could have happened to anyone."

Her mother sings, and Bic worked in a record store but other than that she doesn't really have any training to explain this success. She played the drums from an early age, and got into production when she was about 20. And this is what she seems most passionate about. As much as she loves writing and singing, and as successful at that as she is, it's producing that she wants to do more of. She is proudest of her Tui for producing.

"I think there's a real shortage of women producers. Surely musicians want their records produced by women. I mean, everyone likes having women around and in the studio in particular, it's kind of like having your sister around. It's not so boys-y. And boys in bands, at the end of the day they're really only trying to please girls.

"I'm actually producing for a Melbourne artist called Tim Guy, who's on my label," she adds. The label has only just started, so there's nothing out there yet. But give it time. This is the future of Bic Runga. "It all goes in with what I do," she says. "I just want to help someone else with their music for a change. I get so much support from my record label, and my career is going so well, and I just want to help someone else experience that."

Paying it forward. That's a good sign for Bic's future career, cos her karma's obviously well stocked. Whether she'll need it for Paris or not is probably moot. "I've been learning French," she mentions. "And I didn't want to live in London. I could probably do a respectable show there, based on Drive, but that's because there's so many ex pats there. So I'd rather be in Paris, where I can focus on Beautiful Collision."

She's choosing to focus on Europe, rather than America – where she was based for a while after the release of Drive ­and where parts of Beautiful Collision were recorded – because she feels she has a more European sound. "My music doesn't really lend itself to the US market. It's kind of commercial but it's not overly obvious. It's a bit more subtle than that." And yet her song Good Morning Baby was featured in that epitome of American commercial – and lowest common denominator – culture, American Pie. "Yeah," she says, slightly underwhelmed. "Maybe soundtracks are the only vehicle there that will be helpful to me there." Having said that, she does reveal that next month she'll be meeting up with Beck's drummer Joey Waronker in LA to "have a go at a few songs and see if it works out.” Given the story so far, it’s hard to imagine it won’t.

Bic Runga will play a handful of intimate shows at the Prince Of Wales on June 22, 23, 24 and 25