I was admittedly a touch underwhelmed by Boy On A Beach, finding it altogether too even-toned in places. But to a large extent Steve seems to have taken note of these points for his fourth album, and he’s made a more conscious effort to vary the tone and texture of his compositions, especially in terms of the more considered nature of the melodic input on this new set. And the guitarwork is more crisply defined, ringing out attractively through the textures with just the right amount of intricacy to maintain a lively interest.

The observational focus on each individual song is arguably sharper now too, and thus more impressive. And although there’s still a feeling that some songs remain slightly elusive in the context of making a lasting impact, giving the album extra plays definitely reaps greater rewards once again.

Steve employs a fuller backing this time too, with a larger corpus of musicians to draw from –although the core lineup is The What Allan Band (Ian Catchpole, Simon Ambrose and George Horler), we also find Steve bringing in half-a-dozen more instrumentalists, a couple of extra backing vocalists, and even a gospel choiron one track.

Vocally, Steve is as confident as ever, perhaps more so, and especially convincing on the more introspective songs like Take This Love, where his attractive way of phrasing the melodic lines recalls that of Gerry Rafferty. The disc’s opener Molly In The Garden has a kind of easy-rolling Eagles feel to it, which the more reflective nature of the lyric partially counters, especially in the altered-tempo interruptions.

Interestingly, Steve’s very introspection can also embrace and project a quality of immediacy that other songwriters don’t quite manage to achieve (Song For Elle is a stand out in this regard, helped along by its relatively uncluttered arrangement with its distinctive and clearly defined colourings).

Call Of Duty builds well from a tentative reggae-styled opening into a powerful roots-gospel groove.

Elsewhere, Steve gives us a classy British spin on the open-hearted roots-rock template, exemplified by the honest stylings of (say) Tom Petty, but makes it his own and his sound is less easy to define. I’m not entirely sure that Steve’s new-found penchant for fuller textures always works at the service of the songs, and there are times where I feel Steve’s desire to pump up the energy level and vary the musical settings by way of extra augmentation gets in the way of direct expression of his lyrics, but all this is only relative. And I did feel that after the title track the quality of invention tailed off just for a while – though he certainly redeems himself with Blue and Not In My Name.

But cutting to the chase, taken as a whole and as a considered artistic statement, Ungodly Hour is actually very good indeed: an intelligent, appealing and stimulating collection that’s blessed with an admirably clear and fresh recording full of believable presence and energy.