CDs of the week: Florence, Professor Green and Bonnie Prince Billy

FLORENCE +
THE MACHINE
Ceremonials
(Island)
****

It's typical of Florence Welch to make her grand return on Halloween, meeting a ghost on the first song, being joined by seven devils later. Though her second album might overplay her status as chief spook of the hit parade, it's definitely more treat than trick.

Despite the Brit Awards and quadruple platinum sales figures, Welch's return isn't as much of a sure thing as it might first appear. Her 2009 ubiquity was powered mainly by an overblown cover of Candi Staton's You've Got the Love, a hit that was so radio-friendly that it and radio should have got a room. Her own material may have slimmer appeal but existing fans will find she refines and improves her Gothic melodrama here and even tones down that wind tunnel voice of hers occasionally.

There's melody from strings, harp, piano and choral female backing vocals, while tribal drums give power and thrust to songs that could otherwise be too vaporous. Heartlines and the recent single Shake it Out are particularly fiery, while Only if for a Night is a tremendous scene setter with its bold strings, massed vocals and lines about being "in the graveyard doing handstands". It's what she does best - when she strays deeper into Adele's gospel soul territory on Lover to Lover she can't quite match up.

Equally, the Twilight Zone eeriness of Seven Devils is too close to self-parody. All told, though, she's growing into her role as the wild woman of pop, and the charts would be significantly more ordinary without her. DAVID SMYTH

BONNIE PRINCE BILLY
Wolfroy Goes To Town
(Domino)
****

Will Oldham's (aka Billy) latest venture into the enigmatic features a list of collaborators but is basically the balding and bearded one, his delicate wisp of a voice and an acoustic guitar. The songs are slow and considered, the lyrics delicate and obtuse, dealing sometimes with God, at others with the beastly doings of man. Sometimes both in the same song. Sadness resonates in these downbeat country ballads. If you put in the time there are beautiful moments, particularly on New Whaling, New Tibet and Black Captain, when the lead voice finds a counterpoint in sweet female backing vocals. By comparison, Quail and Dumplings is a raucous rock-out, while the electric guitar on Cows sets the nerves jangling. It will require patience. PETE CLARK

PROFESSOR GREEN
At Your Inconvenience
(Virgin)
**

For artists such as Professor Green, whose appeal lies in their gritty, real-life narratives, fame poses a unique problem: it leaves them with nothing to say. Where his debut, Alive Till I'm Dead, chronicled his tough Hackney upbringing, the erstwhile Stephen Manderson now bemoans the notoriously hard lot of the pampered pop star - a subject of limited sympathy. At his best, as on the vitriolic Read All About It, he can still sound like the English Eminem. When the acoustic guitars come out, though, he's closer to Just Jack. The good news is that if fame really is so tough Manderson won't have to suffer for long: another album like this and nobody will be listening. RICK PEARSON

RIZZLE KICKS
Stereo Typical
(Island)
***

From Brighton via south London's Adele-spawning BRIT School, Jordan "Rizzle" Stephens and Harley "Sylvester" Alexander-Sule have already enjoyed a Top 10 hit with Down With the Trumpets, which cleverly merged Tropicana brass with thumping bass and cheekily louche, unmistakably English delivery. It's a handy template for their irrepressible debut album which expertly samples The Clash's Revolution Rock on When I Was a Youngster and invents hip-hop skiffle on the Fatboy-Slim-produced Mama Do the Hump, while Travellers Chant shows they can do a convincing epic too. If summer hadn't already sauntered into autumn, Stereo Typical would surely have soundtracked it: instead, it's an exuberant slab of unseasonal warmth. JOHN AIZLEWOOD

STANLEY JORDAN
Friends
(Mack Avenue)
****

What happens to boy wonders when they grow up? Stanley Jordan was an unknown whiz-kid who shot to international fame from a busking pitch outside Carnegie Hall. He's now 52 and still unchallenged master of his amazing self-developed two-handed guitar-tapping technique. He has also picked up excellent piano and a string of famous fans including guitarists Mike Stern, Russell Malone, Bucky Pizzarelli and Charlie Hunter. Each of them, plus trumpeter Nicholas Payton, violinist Regina Carter and saxmen Ronnie Laws and Kenny Garrett, guests on his latest album, a brilliant patchwork of classy standards and originals. He plays Soho's Pizza Express jazz club this Sunday. JACK MASSARIK

SEVARA NAZARKHAN
Tortadur
(Sevara Music)
****

Sevara's debut album, Yol Bolsin, was made for Peter Gabriel's Real World records in 2003. It tastefully took songs from her native Uzbekistan and added electronics and new instrumentations. Its successor, Sen, was much more Western in style and less successful but here she is working with half a dozen Uzbek instrumentalists in traditional repertoire and it's lovely. It is low-key, slightly melancholy but delicate and captivating. These are yearning love songs, backed by gently plucking lutes, spike fiddle and flute. Sevara's soft voice is warm and caressing. It is not music that hooks you instantly, you have to go some way to meet it. But its soft intensity and shimmering textures grow on you and seem like a purification. SIMON BROUGHTON