CD CHOICE: MayhemUniversal ****

The Dublin singer's previous album, Love Tattoo, was put together on a wing and a prayer and presented to an unsuspecting public. In contrast, the follow-up is getting the major label red carpet treatment. May's stock has increased considerably since a well-received turn at this year's Grammys. With the buying public nicely warmed up, a lot is riding on the quality.

Mayhemis a fantastic album, a magical mystery tour with May as a sassy and exuberant tour guide. It's not as strictly rockabilly-flavoured as expected, as May goes walkabout from her core sound and finds beguiling fresh ground.

Pulling the Rug, the opener, showcases May's new, ultra- confident vocal delivery; you can imagine it blaring out of Memphis's Sun Studios a few decades back. The summer single, Psycho, is more psychobilly than anything else – although, given its slightly Dick Dale feel, it's probably more correctly described as "surfabilly".

Things take a funny turn by track four, where, on the stand-out Kentish Town Waltz, May slips into something more comfortable: a poignant autobiographical ballad about past bedsit days that doubles up as the sweetest song The Pogues never released.

It's here and elsewhere that you can really appreciate the lyrical strides taken since Love Tattoo. May gets all kitchen-sink drama without descending into mawkish sentimentality. In a similar style, on I'm Aliveshe brings the volume and tempo down to produce a dreamy/floaty love song that is expertly underpinned by some steel guitar flourishes.

So, the rock'n'roll is still in evidence, but here it's more viscerally delivered by a tour- hardened band who keep up a masterful pace. But when May comes over all Billie Holliday on Too Sad to Cry, you release just how much the rockabilly sticker doesn't fit her anymore.

Mayhemsounds like it's three albums on from Love Tattoo, and not its sequel. The music, the playing, the lyrics, the delivery have all gone up a gear, and May is motoring away at full speed. See imelda may.com

Download tracks: Pulling the Rug, Kentish Town Waltz, Too Sad to Cry