Poland-born and Glasgow-based, Ela Orleans has released a good few solo albums over the years.

At a broad sweep, they're lo-fi, experimental and decidedly niche, packed with atmospheric soundscapes often topped with a semi-distant, psychedelic diva vocal. All of that is here to various degrees, but as Orleans's history of split releases also shows, she's a collaborator at heart, and I feel that producer Howie B has had a lot of say in making Upper Hell her most approachable record to date. Taking Dante's Inferno as her unifying theme, Orleans is on familiar territory with the tolling bells, haunted house keyboard chords and spoken word performance of River Acheron, but elsewhere she broadens out with a brittle brand of electro-pop. Back to back tracks City Of Dis and Upon The Abysses could soundtrack the closing credits of the coolest movies; an electro pulse and click-clack rhythms turn Dark Floor into a gothic opera for the disco-noir dancefloor; and We Are One is retro-pop chic from an art-school Lana Del Rey.

Alan Morrison