IT is fair to say that Sade Amu - better known to me, you and a few million others as simply Sade - does not exactly like to rush herself when it comes to matters of her career.

Since the singer released her first album way back in 1984, it has taken her until now to reach album number six and, ‘Soldier Of Love’ (Sony) is her first new record in a decade since 2000’s ‘Lovers Rock’ which sold in excess of four million copies in America alone.

Despite her long hiatus, the market and demand for Sade’s music is still very much alive, especially ‘across the pond’, where she is currently holding off the opposition atop the Billboard album chart.

Many an artist in the past who has returned to the music scene after a lengthy absence has found that at least a proportion of their previous fanbase have ‘moved on’, having grown tired of the long wait but that is clearly not so with respect to Sade, who seems to have managed to retain all of her loyal following throughout the period she has been away.

And those fans who have already purchased ‘Soldier Of Love’ are no doubt delighted to have found that Sade’s musical style has changed very little over the years. The Sade ‘brand’, and it is very much a music brand, such is its consistent nature, is all about ultra slick and sophisticated, understated soul, defined by Sade’s rich, languid and sensuous vocals.

The Sade sound is still a perfect backdrop to any dinner party and hotel lobby environment and, to her detractors and yes, despite her huge following there are still plenty of them, Sade’s music remains the very essence of ersatz, contrived soul, devoid of the real feeling and passion they believe is a pre-requisite for the genre.

In their eyes it is nothing more than muzak, which is a ‘dagger through the heart’ kind of insult.

Sade’s soul is certainly a million miles away from the type served up in the past by the acknowledged ‘Queen of Soul’ Aretha Franklin and the likes of Etta James and Gladys Knight but that does not render Sade’s variety bad or imitation soul, hers is simply a more modern, lush, jazzy, silky and laid back, construct of the original but there is no denying its soulfulness, it’s just that this is what is perhaps best termed, ‘quiet-storm’ soul.

On ‘Soldier Of Love’, Sade is reunited with the same trio of musicians she has always worked with, Stuart Mattewman(guitar/saxophone), Paul Denman(bass) and Andrew Hale(keyboards), as well as teaming up again with her long-time producer Mike Pela and the result is a collection of songs that sounds both classic Sade and at times, very current.

The nod to the present comes in the form of some electronic beats, particularly on the title track, elsewhere there is a reggae tinge to the gorgeous ‘Babyfather’, a starkness to the ballad ‘Long Hard Road’, a country lilt on ‘Be That Easy’ and all the familiar Sade vocal poise and sophistication on ‘In Another Time’.

‘Soldier Of Love’ is an album that has been crafted and chiselled to perfection and listening to it, like all previous Sade records, is the aural equivalent of soaking in a hot bath.

A smooth operator Sade most definitely remains.