Florence + The Machine is a relatively rare and interesting type of multi-million selling global superstar to be found in this or even the past decade. She is more suited to the mid-eighties/nineties stretch of pop stars that included Kate Bush, Prince and Bjork – artists that used idiosyncratic and sometimes iconoclastic imagery that was key to their success but didn’t define it and whose music was frequently strange and brilliant but sold by the shed load. Where Florence Welch differs from her idols though is that her musical choices so far have found the singer already approaching what could be regarded as caricature of herself. Her debut album “Lungs” was a rag-tag but solid collection of goth-pop which established her eclectic eccentricity and 2011’s highly polished “Ceremonials” had some fantastic songs which were often marooned in a samey, shouty and exhaustingly one-note soundscape. “How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful” sees Florence set out to actively change this, to breath nuance and restraint and personal experiences into an album’s worth of songs.

Markus Dravs has taken over almost all production duties from Paul Epworth (who still co-produces one track here) and has laid down the law, it seems, telling Welsh that certain well-worn subjects are off-limits, such as water metaphors (a few still slip through the net, excuse the pun) and an early song called “Which Witch” bought to him by Welch was rejected because of song title only (and that too still appears, but as a bonus track only). He wanted to put her voice up front and to be more exposed and vulnerable, less multi-tracked, and for the music to also have space to breathe. Will Gregory, the introvert half of Goldfrapp, was bought on board as Welch wanted lots of brass and she’s certainly got her wish. It seems that there was some compromise on both sides, as this is a different Florence album in part, but it is not to be considered as any real, radical departure in sound. With the strength of songwriting on display here and a successful transition to more interesting and diverse soundscapes this is not important, it’s the most balanced and cohesive album that Welch has made thus far.

The first song to be heard from “How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful” was the striking “What Kind of Man”. With Welch’s voice manipulated to echo that of Karin Andersson from The Knife, she sounds genderless and possessed and it’s something of a shame that guitars and drums crash in all too soon. The mania and panic associated with Welch and evidenced here again is offset beautifully by a return to the coolness of this initial refrain though and “Ship to Wreck”, with its soaring near gospel middle-eight, continues with the indie rock motifs . The title track’s opening line ‘between a crucifix and the Hollywood sign’ is not the only thing that sounds like you might hope a Madonna track would in 2015; it has a spaciness and warmth that is designed to be heart- swelling and it is. The long instrumental play-out is the most optimistic that a Florence track has ever sounded, assertive trumpets and forthright strings herald a new dawn with all of its possibilities. Sounds cheesy perhaps but it’s sincere and as gorgeous as hell.

“Various Storms & Saints” and “Long & Lost” continue with an acoustic, bare bones but lush instrumentation and “Caught” is a mid-tempo r’n’b song with an unexpected country sway and is swoonsomely heartbroken. Over a plaintive organ and understated orchestration it is “St Jude” which cements absolute melodic perfection with Welch’s forever fallen angel, compulsively drawn to chaos. “Delilah” and “Third Eye” will delight the Florence diehards with both tracks pulling across the established, bombastic and commercial sound from her previous two albums and turning the dial up even further to not-quite ludicrous settings. Album closer “Mother” incorporates all of these ingredients but stirs them about with a 1970’s blues-rocker shtick that creates something altogether more strange and the final, thrashing fifty seconds genuinely excite. Florence + The Machine may never be able to do subtle but with “How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful”, Welch has made considerable progress with making music that is more complex, satisfying and timeless sounding than before, never alienating her current fan base and undoubtedly attracting many more new ones in the process.

Over the course of five albums, Goldfrapp have always depended on their plush, dreamy, slowed-down side. Although they have never had massive single success with this sound, public recognition coming instead from their exhibitionist, Schaffel-glam persona, it’s the one thing that is expected and can be depended upon whenever the duo release new material. A new track like the haunting, smoky “Ulla” for example could have also featured on their startling 2002 debut “Felt Mountain” without sounding out of place. “Tales of Us”, then, is an album full of these types of songs and arrangements; from start to finish the emphasis is on a quiet, wholly seductive and insidious power with only one track containing something resembling a ‘beat’. Because of this it may scare of a certain type of selective Goldfrapp fan; maybe a brave move on their part, then, but they can afford to take a risk when the quality is such that many more who may still have been undecided could now start to take notice.

This is the second time that Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory have made what can be lazily referred to as a ‘quiet album’, “Felt Mountain” being too eclectic and bizarre to truly fall into that category (yodelling anyone?). 2008’s “Seventh Tree” was a predominantly acoustic and gentle collection and, like “Tales of Us”, it followed an album that was more turntable than coffee table. It had its moments but was overwhelmingly dull, descended into musical pastiche on occasion and was two dimensional both lyrically and musically. It seemed to be pitching for a commercial equivalent of an electro-folk “Ooh La La” and, as may be expected, failed. It did include a couple of more uptempo synth pop songs (“Happiness” and, one of their best songs, “A&E”) which, interestingly, were the singles released during this era but “Tales of Us” does away with all of that completely and concessions to pop are entirely absent.

Ten tracks, all one-word titles and with the exception of one (the brilliant “Stranger” , the other track with a direct sonic reference to “Felt Mountain”), all are the first names of the person that the song is about. “Jo” opens the album in a widescreen, full-bodied manner; strings quiver and a double bass gently throbs with two repeated piano notes underscoring Alison Goldfrapp’s gorgeous mumbling, breathy vocal which suggest ominous circumstances and a circular threat of ‘run, you’d better run for your life’. With “Jo” it is immediately apparent that Gregory and Goldfrapp have expanded their vision and honed their craft. The songwriting in particular is supremely confident and intricate and has reached the point where, instead of lining up their influences for all to hear, Goldfrapp are finally sounding like themselves.

Many of the songs here and the characters that they represent are nocturnal and suggest dread and violence. “Laurel”, which is surprisingly and at first shockingly sung in a far lower register than Alison Goldfrapp’s usual impressive soprano ( at first I thought the vocal had been slowed down), talks about an angry man and a woman with red, red hair and almond eyes. You fear that this union is not a healthy one but no real outcome is suggested; like everything here, it does not concede to the melodramatic. The rhythmic, marching foot stomps of “Thea” refers to tiny knives cutting which describes the sound of the sampled string loop constantly threatening to rip the track to shreds but which never quite does. “Annabel” is simple and soars delicately, based on the book of the same name by Kathleen Winter about an intersex child, not that you could necessarily make that out from the lyrics as Goldfrapp’s words often blend together and form one long, sometimes indecipherable, sentence. This could be a problem with an album which is, albeit loosely, lyrically conceptual but moods are firmly established and in the songs where it is hard to work out what is being said the melody and Alison’s capacity to suggest more than adequately compensate.

“Drew”, the first single with a video full of joyful, naked ghosts, and “Clay”, the best song here, are in some ways the biggest departure for the duo, and two of the most compelling moments here. The only two male names are big, full songs, technically brilliant and both romantically tragic, incorporating the full orchestra used throughout the album in a very straightforward, traditional way. There could be a fear then that the two are going soft, politely polished with any kind of edge being thoroughly rubbed away, one of the most appropriate criticisms of “Seventh Tree” certainly. But a song like “Clay”, allegedly about two male soldiers’ secret love affair during the First World War (‘We fought them on grey wet sand…we wanted only to love, how will I find you again, fate or chance?’) is so thoroughly bold and vivid but also incredibly tender and moving. These are emotions rarely experienced whilst listening to their substantial back catalogue; it’s too self-possessed to ever be considered background.

Maybe the pair have matured then; “Tales of Us” is their sixth album after all and many (successful) flamboyant and playful musical styles and accompanying images have proceeded it. This album cover shows Alison dressed in black, head down; she doesn’t want to be seen. This is probably not the case; I would be surprised if Alison has hung up Studio 54 glitter platforms and cape for good, but it does seem that following their publicly admitted dissatisfaction with their last full length album, the crushingly self-aware “Head First”, that the irony and sometimes clunky visual tricks have been dispensed with and replaced by something that is altogether more pure. Of course one of the most interesting and exciting things about Goldfrapp is always to see what they will do next and at this point it would impossible to predict, for the moment though it is a joy to hear them at their most accomplished; sincere and full of soul.