Cerys Matthews’s previous career move was pretty clear. She withdrew from the pop madness of Catatonia and reinvented herself as a singer-songwriter in a shack just outside Nashville, which resulted in the rootsy 2003 album Cockahoop. This, her second solo album, is a lot harder to get your head round. It begins with a pretty song, Streets of New York, rudely interrupted by a drum part that appears to have wandered in from a Nine Inch Nails session. Then you get the best song, A Bird in Hand. The stupid drums return on Oxygen, but the juxtaposition almost works this time. The album drifts through several aimless tracks before Morning Sunshine offers some late-period Monkees pop and Ruby hints at Matthews’s old group. The quality of the songs varies hugely, then, but Matthews’s voice is consistently amazing.

Rough Trade

Editor's choice

• Are Glasvegas the new Oasis?
• Proms Podcast with Stephen Hough
• Vote for musical perfection