British soul-pop singer Des?ree has returned after a four-year break with a light and fluffy affirmation on contemporary life and love, that has listeners tapping along to her feel-good melodies.

Although ?Dream Soldier? probably won?t do as well as her previous two offerings, and doesn?t feature tracks of the chart-topping calibre of ?Life? or ?You Gotta Be?, it?s an infectious, easy-listening compilation which will please all Des?ree fans, but probably won?t go far in wining her fresh ones.

But that said, the album is charming in a bright, breezy and very infectious way, combining R&B, soul, funk, folk and pop influences to give an easy-on-the-ears and-soul-kinda CD. And unless you?re offended by the pure silliness of her lyrics, you can?t help but sing along.

Speaking of silly lyrics, Des?ree clearly needs help in this department, as anyone who has the nerve to rhyme 'On a beach/out of reach/ooh life's a peach', or 'On my own/answerphone/Toblerone' clearly needs to swallow a Thesaurus, to slip into Des?ree?s unfortunate use of cliche.

But don?t let that put you off, because you?re not really supposed to notice such lyrical crimes, but instead be caught up in the happy, soulful mood of her self-penned songs, which she positively purrs over with her richly decadent voice.

The music isn?t over-synthesised, and the producers have employed such novelties as choirs, banjo and bagpipe to complement the mainly strings backing, with interesting and positive effects.

Top tracks include the opening ?It?s Okay?, a happy, sing-a-long piece, although the second version at the end of the album is a better one, I felt. The catchy ?Righteous Night? and ?Nothing to Lose?, as well as ?Love Beautiful? are also worth a listen.

Her life-affirming, positive philosophy happily asserts that life is going to be okay, no matter how tough things are. Nice, feel-good stuff. And what can be wrong with that?