On “Halcyon” Goulding marries thoughtful ruminations on young love to whooshing synth riffs and hard-edged machine beats; the album claims electronic dance music as the natural province of sensitive singer-songwriters.

With incomparable flair, the pop diva returns to her dance-pop days with a fabulously fun and deeply personal album that is at turns bizarre, theatrical, and ambitious.

Drastic Fantastic moves from the jangly guitar, vocal harmonies and power pop of 'Little Favours' to unashamed indie love song 'Funnyman' and the kd lang simplicity of 'Hopeless'. By 'Beauty of Uncertainty', which runs at just over five minutes, Tunstall has turned to sultry, intimate vocals set against simple bluesy guitar-picking. But you can't keep a great voice down: folky bit out of the way, KT soars and swoops to the finale.

Drastic Fantastic is bursting with so many hits that you'll see why Tunstall's comic-book life went stratospheric.

While the album is by no means overtly political, there is a sense that Faith (who was pregnant with her first child while recording The Architect) was deeply moved by the state of the world and how events like political uprisings and military oppression affect individuals.

Featured are several spoken word tracks beginning with the motivational opener by actor Samuel L. Jackson, and including writer Owen Jones' mid-album speech, "The Politics of Hope," in which he discusses how to effect positive societal change in the face of monolithic fear mongering.

Thankfully, none of these moments slow the album's flow and only work to underpin Faith's overall message of overcoming adversity.

The fluorescent-haired star, who long transcended her talent show beginnings, explores the darker side of hedonism with this pulsating debut