CD: Siouxsie, Mantaray

The former Susan Ballion has had a lot to deal with lately: her 50th birthday, the collapse of her bands the Banshees and Creatures, and divorce from Budgie, drummer with both groups. However, her first solo album after 30 years in the business is a mostly uplifting affair summed up by Into a Swan's confident, stomping beats and lines such as: "I feel a force I've never felt before."

Indeed, Sioux has never sounded quite like this, a strutting cross between her old self, Shirley Bassey, Marlene Dietrich and Sioux fan PJ Harvey. There are jagged rock riffs, timps and dancefloor beats. Lyrically, Mantaray divides between anti-suburban rants about "manicured lawns" that echo her days in punk's Bromley contingent and more emotional outpourings. Something for everybody, then.