Solfest returns this weekend with arguably its strongest line-up in recent years, and the name at the top of the posters could be its most fitting headliner to date.

Since it started up in 2004, the event on the Solway Coast has prided itself on its eclectic and wide-ranging line-up - Newton Faulkner is set to release his most diverse album to date. It's the perfect match-up.

Having shot to prominence with his early singles, including Dream Catch Me, more than a decade ago, and now, six albums later, his career has evolved from acoustic-led folk to pop rock, and on to this latest "uncategorisable" release, which lands on September 1.

He says: "It covers a huge amount of styles, so I think it will suit all kinds of audiences, and I really believe that it's the strongest album I've done so far in terms of live material.

"Every album I've made, I've learnt something new about playing guitar or production, but this time it was all about space and making it work for performance."

Tracks from Hit The Ground Running are set to feature prominently in his Solfest headline set on Friday, and Newton is clearly excited to bring the new material - and new style - to Cumbria for the first time.

"Most people seem to have been picking up on the vocal delivery, which is intrinsically soully and quite technical as vocals go.

"I don't really know what happened to my voice, but I can do things now that I never could have done a few years ago.

"I did eight gigs in one week and my voice didn't even waver for a second.

"I changed my warm-up and maybe chilled out more, but I worked it hard for a long time and kept pushing, pushing, pushing. Since the last album, I've done some library music, the songs for a film that's not out yet, and also the Green Day musical, so I've really taken myself out of my comfort zone.

"The new album also needed to work just as well with just me and a guitar, so that I know it will sound good live, and so far the four, five, six songs I've played so far have been really popular. There have been gigs where I've been heckled by people shouting "play more new stuff!" - I doubt that's happened to anyone, ever."

The Solfest appearance comes towards the end of a busy summer of festival dates, but also just ahead of his huge promotional push for the new record, which takes in one of his longest tours of his career so far.

Aged only 32, it's hard to believe that 10 years have passed since Hand Built by Robots hit the top of the UK album charts, and set him up as one of British music's leading lights of the past decade.

And despite the clear shift in style since that break-through record, he's still as enthusiastic about playing it live.

"I've never stopped playing stuff from that album," he says.

"It would be unfair. People pay money to see me play certain songs, and I'm there to provide a service.

"I did want to do something to mark the 10th anniversary, but I thought about live-streaming a show, and it just cut out too many people who might want to be there.

"In the end, we made a video of all the songs from the album played acoustically, and it was shot so freaking well. It was like shooting 15 music videos in one go. There wasn't much time to prepare for it, so there's some songs on there that you can 100 per cent tell that I'm making it up as I go along.

"I think people enjoy that about my shows, that I can change things up and play things differently - not a lot of styles lend themselves to that, but with it just being me up there, I can play about with things."

While the Solfest bill is as eclectic as ever - dance DJ duo Stanton Warriors sitting side-by-side with punk acts such as Ferocious Dog, for example - Newton has no qualms about his first trip to the Solway coast.

"I love festivals to bits; you have the hardcore fans down the front who are there just to see you, and then further back you have people who don't know who you are - probably don't care - and I see that as a challenge. In terms of reaching new fans it's great, and it's like when I was starting out supporting people who had just broke before I did, like Paolo Nutini and James Morrison - it's great because there's no pressure and you're playing to all these new people.

"I've learnt what I do well and adapted to it - I think even up to 4,000 people I can make feel kind of intimate. The guy in the burger van at the back of the crowd at Isle of Wight, which is about 55,000 people, said that I made that seem intimate!"

Newton Faulkner headlines the opening night of Solfest. The event runs at Tarns, near Aspatria, between Friday August 25 and Sunday 27. For the full line-up and ticket details, visit www.solfest.org.uk