He later used those songwriting skills to launch a solo career. A second Razorlight album arrived in summer 2006 and went multi-platinum in Europe, thanks in part to a chart-topping single, “America,” penned by Burrows himself. Burrows also wrote songs for a bedroom solo project and used his free time to record the material, playing all the instruments and basing the songs around a book of poetry by an old family friend. The resulting album, Colour of My Dreams, was released by Razorlight’s label, Mercury Records, in 2008.
One year later, he left Razorlight’s lineup and joined We Are Scientists instead. His solo projects continued, though, and he unveiled his latest band — the quirky pop outfit I Am Arrows — in 2010. Burrows teamed up with Editors frontman Tom Smith — as Smith & Burrows — in 2011 to release the winter-themed album Funny Looking Angels. A second proper solo release, Company, came in 2012 and saw Burrows once again taking on all instrumentation duties. Later that year he also contributed to the soundtrack of the short film The Snowman and the Snowdog, a sequel to the 1982 animated children’s film The Snowman. In 2014 Burrows headed to Snowdonia to record his third solo album, Fall Together Again.