Adrian Sherwood – The Collapse Of Everything

Adrian Sherwood comes out of a 13-year solo break with ‘The Collapse of Everything’. The dub master expresses the pain of losing friends Mark Stewart and Keith LeBlanc in his fourth solo album, remembering them through ten tracks that range from desert blues to ambient sounds and his well-known dub ideas.

Where other producers would take cover in familiar surroundings, Sherwood goes forward. He combines vintage gear with contemporary plugins to create a soundtrack that encompasses everything he loves about music. The tuned percussion concepts from his previous work have evolved here, supported by collaborators who helped him realise his vision: Doug Wimbish, Alex White, and Mark Bandola, bringing their expertise in guitar, woodwinds, and rhythmic foundations.

This widescreen album runs like a film score, with mood shifts that track the creator’s journey through loss and renewal. Processed sound effects—which seem to pirouette across the stereo field—gradually reveal delicate piano motifs, emerging from layers of dub techniques. It is sonically challenging work, finding Sherwood comfortable stepping out front, finally ready to tour as a solo artist after decades behind the mixing desk.

This is not just nostalgia from a genre pioneer – it is an artist who refuses to settle, using environmental and political collapse as fuel for their creativity. The title track incorporates Stewart’s hidden lyric about everything falling apart, making personal and global anxiety something that approaches transcendence.

Tracklist:

1. The Collapse Of Everything
2. Dub Inspector
3. The Well Is Poisoned (Dub)
4. Body Roll
5. Battles Without Honour And Humanity
6. Spaghetti Best Western
7. The Great Rewilding
8. Spirits (Further Education)
9. Hiroshima Dub Match
10. The Grand Designer