It’s not an easy act to follow up a ten-year career with perhaps the greatest rock band of all time.

Robert Plant, former lead singer of Led Zeppelin, has done just that, releasing yet another remarkable single LP since the band parted ways in 1980. With his 11th solo album, Carry Fire, Plant continues to build on his unique sound.

The album, like Plant’s Grammy-award winning collaboration with Alison Krauss, Raising Sand (2007), and solo album Band of Joy (2010), utilizes folk-rock sounds vaguely similar to the ones he popularized alongside guitarist Jimmy Page in Led Zeppelin.

But the similarities to his former band end there, as the 69 year-old clearly doesn’t opt to perform his trademark sky-high vocals. Instead he sings more comfortably in his range, producing a calming and emotion-filled voice, shown especially in the songs “A Way With Words” and “Bluebirds Over the Mountain.”  

From the hypnotizing drum beats to the ominous guitar riffs, the eclectic album incorporates a variety of influences.

Unlike Zeppelin’s heavy sound, backed by Plant’s powerful vocals and Page’s adrenaline pumping guitar, Carry Fire explores “bluegrass and Appalachian folk… rural blues, and the intricate polyrhythms of music from the Middle East and India,” as NPR’s Tom Moon put it.

Plant told Entertainment Weekly about his process for writing Carry Fire’s 11 tracks, saying “there’s a track on the album called “Keep it Hid,” which was basically a keyboard loop and I just started singing the melody to it. It’s such a naked track. So you can do that, build it up, in a very short space of time. Some of the greatest songs on the planet — nothing to do with my life and times, but other people — can arrive in four minutes.”

Plant’s comments are replicated in Carry Fire, as his tracks range from simple loops like in “Keep it Hid” and “New World…” two intricate and beautifully sounding melodies involving many different sounds in “Heaven Sent” and “A Way With Words.”

“Some pieces can be played as a group there and then on the spot with all the recording and the sound committed in one move. Other pieces you can construct and create beds [of] cello and viola. I have no particular favorite way of doing it. If you’ve got something really spontaneous, great!” Plant said.

Carry Fire represents yet another step in Plant’s long career, showing his ability to perform a wide variety of music genres.

Carry Fire is available on iTunes, Spotify, and Google Play Music. Streaming is also free on NPR.