Having preceded this album with a trio of download-only singles (the most recent of which is the excellent Hanningfield Window), the irrepressible Tom Jenkinson is back with his tenth studio album to date, and at last it seems he’s willing to make some compromises.

Squarepusher's last album, Ultravisitor (2004), was an introspective work that received platitudes far above its station in my opinion. The problem with the popular press is that, as usual, they came to Jenkinson’s work far too late and didn’t understand the destination, never mind the journey. They called Squarepusher a phenomenon just when Jenkinson was showing the first signs of disappearing up his own backside. If you asked the man on the street – the man who knows, Jenkinson’s work can make for highly frustrating listening, his seemingly purposeful refusal to embrace what he does best was not only beginning to alienate his audience, but seemed utterly counter-productive. Every now and then he’d throw a scrap of meat on the table in the form of truly remarkable singles such as My Red Hot Car or Do You Know Squarepusher, but otherwise his albums were beginning to float out to sea.

On Hello Everything, Jenkinson has at last lightened up and got the balance right. It has its dark moments, its abstract moments, its downright bizarre moments, and thankfully its playful moments – but it’s not forced in any particular direction. It’s his most coherent, unpretentious and enjoyable work since the early days of Big Loada and Hard Normal Daddy, whilst also incorporating what useful progression appeared on later albums.

Hello Meow sees the bearded wonder open with some infectious computer game melodics; a part of me is still suspicious of the motives for recording this type of song – but I’ll try not to be cynical and over-analyse. Theme From Sprite then sees Jenkinson weld his love of bass guitar with shrill electronic tones and live percussion, a delightfully downbeat slab of blues – oozing with twinkling melodies and far more adeptly arranged than is at first apparent. Bubble Life, meanwhile, sounds like a homage to Jenkinson’s earliest works, as it quirkily, restlessly and whimsically positions hi-brow electronics alongside flippant bass tumbles to recreate the famous Squarepusher blueprint.

There’s something here for all comers. Planetarium and Rotate Electrolyte combine drum’n’bass breaks with squelched, atmospheric sci-fi melody tones, whilst The Modern Bass Guitar takes the madcap, My Red Hot Car, shit-faced programming route. Elsewhere, Circlewave 2 finds Jenkinson deeply submerged in bustling, earthy jazz introspection, the 6-minute atonal drones of Vacuum Garden infuriate as usual - or make a welcome break however you want to look at it, and Plotinus throws the whole damn lot into the melting pot.

This is an artist that no one dares plagiarise for fear of making an idiot out of themselves – and in the world of cheapskate bandwagon jumpers known as modern electronic music, that's really saying something. So be grateful that Jenkinson has had the wisdom and decency to throw his public an olive branch, whilst remaining as forward thinking, relevant and as predictably unpredictable as ever.