After seeing Richard Thompson’s barnstorming turn curating and performing at this year’s Meltdown on the South Bank, the return of one of the UK’s most prolific folk artists will no doubt be eagerly awaited.

Opening track ‘Money Shuffle’ starts off in familiar Thompson style, but covers an unfamiliar topic – providing hints and tips for financial management. This track highlights all three of Richard’s major talents – his ability to write interesting and engaging lyrics about almost any subject, his ability to match them to a variety of different musical styles, and his ability to perform them either ‘solo acoustically’ or with electric guitar backed by a full band.

Track two, ‘Among The Gorse, Among The Grey’, has a much more traditional folk feel, with haunting fiddle and mandolin blending with guitars to great effect. However, straight after, there’s a turn towards a more skiffle based sound, but with Thompson’s trademark mean guitar work in the “middle eight” (more like eighty) where the band jam for while before the vocal resumes.

The album showcases Thompson’s broad range of sounds, but all of which ultimately have their roots in folk. There are some elements of his time in Fairport Convention, a classic break-up track, with unhappy fiddling and sad guitar noises, and carefully crafted lyrics about love and life.

All in all Dream Attic is a very well put together collection of songs – written in a fairly short space of time, and recorded live during a tour of the West Coast of the USA back in February. Although broadly similar to his previous few offerings, it will no doubt be warmly received by his loyal and diverse fan base (including a large percentage of my family).

Recorded live, there is surprisingly little evidence of audience participation apart from polite applause after each track – clearly the audience had been briefed or ‘specially invited’ as the clinking of glasses or shuffling of feet can be distracting on ‘live’ albums. The quality of the recording is excellent, and the flawless performance of Richard and the band is a testament to their excellent musicianship. No retakes required.

If you’ve got the extra cash, the deluxe CD set features acoustic versions of all the tracks. The contrast between the electric and acoustic versions is more marked in some tracks than others, but you can argue forever about which version is better.

Another stellar effort from one of the finest musicians around.