THE only people likely to be disappointed by the new Robert Plant album are those who detected rare moments of personal revelation in its predecessor, Lullaby and the Ceaseless Roar. With those two releases, Plant surpassed the total of studio releases by the legendary band he fronted, Led Zeppelin. If he makes no attempt to recreate the hard rock screaming he was capable of in his youth, there is nonetheless a remarkable range to both his music and his vocals.

With Seth Lakeman joining his Sensational Shapeshifters band, alongside Albanian cellist Redi Hasa, there is a folk feel to some of the tracks, but opener The May Queen is patently a nod to his Zep past, while others have clear kinship with the T-Bone Burnett-produced duo album with Alison Krauss. His female foil here, on a cover of Ersel Hickey’s Bluebirds Over the Mountain that is about as far from the Beach Boys version as possible, is Chrissie Hynde, while elsewhere he duets with himself, sounding ludicrously youthful on Dance with You Tonight.

The title track continues Plant’s fascination with Eastern instruments and rhythms, while the bluesy Keep It Hid marries an odd synthesiser pulse with funk guitar and closer Heaven Sent (not the Paul Haig song) is Melody Gardot meets Massive Attack.

There is even some socio-political commentary on Carving Up the World Again and, probably, on Bones of Saints, the set’s most forthright rocker. Plant brings his band and back catalogue to Glasgow and Perth next month.