Collapse

Bitcrush has always had a knack of making something as intangible as emotion seem somehow within reach, and on Collapse Mike Cadoo has taken this project to a new level and managed to create the most human and powerful record of his career to date. While this is beyond doubt a Bitcrush record and still invokes a feeling of a desperate nostalgic hope like a crack of sunlight through parting clouds, this time the clouds are much blacker and tempestuous, the viewing platform less stable. Bitcrush has changed, adding almost JK Broaderick-esque detuned guitars and fragile yet distressed guitar parts, he weaves these new elements into his work effortlessly and somehow manages to make Collapse feel like a living breathing entity.

As Bitcrush has always been the sleeve on which Cadoo wears his heart, the fact that he puts this stylistic shift down to, as he puts it, "emotionally exhausting events in my life", is hardly a surprise and can be felt in every note. More expressive and emotional than ever - pain, hope, slivers of broken joy - Collapse is not a safe record, but somehow manages to take the emotions that created it and make them yours in a journey you're unlikely to forget.