While she may not be a household name, American Jes Brieden has carved out a niche for herself in the world of trance as one of the genre’s key vocalists. Having collaborated with artists such as Tiesto, BT and Airscape, her gorgeous vocals have graced a number of classic tracks. Alongside regular Above & Beyond collaborator Justine Suissa, she has, arguably, one of the most perfectly suited voices for trance music. For proof, just look back to 2004 and her partnership with Gabriel & Dresden on As The Rush Comes.

Trance features in her solo work, but as part of a wider spectrum of styles, rather than being the dominant sound. On High Glow, she glides between rock, electro, chill-out, acoustic ballads and dance, although ultimately it’s a pop album. So, in a pop music world currently saturated with female electro divas, Jes has to turn in something special to stand out from the crowd.

With a total of15 tracks, you get the feeling that the album is somewhat overlong, the impact of the stronger tracks neutralised by quite a few dull moments of filler. Jes powers out of the blocks with the fantastic dance-rock workout Awaken, which, with its driving rhythmic structure and rolling guitar licks, tips its hat to The Killers’ Human. Following this, Closer is an enjoyable slice of electro-pop, and the dark sonic hues of Such A Long Time wrap perfectly around a Jes trademark delicately restrained vocal.

The first questionable moment appears with Fame, which seems to be Jes attempting a critique of celebrity culture, with lines like, “All your life’s for sale, cause it’s fame, it’s a game”. With a fairly pedestrian electro-pop backing, and occasional picture-taking sound effects, it’s a little bit cringe-worthy, and I’m pretty sure Lady Gaga did a far better job of this on Paparazzi. Similarly, while I love a good ballad, Half Way Gone fails in its representation of emotional sincerity.

While it’s probably tantamount to sacrilege for Robert Smith lovers out there, Jes turns in a rather fine cover of The Cure’s Lovesong, transforming it into a shimmering synth-pop gem that oozes a luscious sensuality. Other highlights include the guitar-driven Do You Love Me, which allows Jes to indulge in her rock-chick persona, and the energetic It’s Too Late, on which she focuses squarely on the dance floor. The album’s title track sees Jes exploring ballad territory again, but this time she comes up with the goods, the gradually building layers of piano and guitar on High Glow forming the delicate centrepiece of the entire album.

A few more tracks fall a bit short of the mark, mainly because they sound like half-baked, characterless electro-pop songs that bring nothing new to the table, so you may be employing the services of the skip button in places, which is never a good sign. Despite that, there are some great moments on here, and this is certainly worth investigating if you like your electronic music song-based and pop-heavy, but I get a niggling little feeling that Jes has simply tried to cover too many bases.

I’m all for mixing things up with stylistic diversity, but that always needs to be balanced with some degree of focus. She clearly has her sights set on an audience beyond dance music, but in a world of Lady Gaga, Little Boots, Ladyhawke, and La Roux, Jes is a couple of letters behind the competition.

High Glow is out now on Black Hole Recordings/Stomp.