Dub originator Adrian Sherwood has some discography. He has brought his unique touch to recordings by the likes of The Slits and The Fall. Add to that, helming the seminal On-U Sound label through 40+ years of releases by the likes of New Age Steppas and African Head Charge. For someone so prolific, it’s a bit of a surprise to learn that this is his first solo music since 2012, but it’s worth the wait. Taking its title from recent personal experiences and the current, broader global situation, it’s a wide angle, cinemascopic feast of a record.

Slight, jazz-inflected flutes draw the ear on opener and title track, ‘The Collapse of Everything’. Its lightness of touch and deft way with melody show off a different side to Sherwood’s sound from the beginning. ‘Dub Inspector’ rolls in the horns and skanks in a more rockers style with some out there sounds that swing between the extreme influences of Mariachi and Roy Budd. And that’s a feel, a theme, that gets picked up later on the more obviously named ‘Spaghetti Best Western’.

The drama gets upped with the eerie swirls of ‘The Well is Poisoned (Dub)’ a killer sax hook is sparingly deployed to maximum effect over groans and echoing drums and bass. Jazz textures pop back on the lounging sound of ‘Body Roll’, with an easy piano break that’s counterpointed with more angularity, an odd combination on paper that just somehow works.

Horizons broaden into wider spaces via ‘The Great Rewilding’ a cinematic masterpiece for a film that never was, or maybe should be. Space and room to breathe are a touchstone for the music here, and ‘Spirits (Further Education)’ is a case in point, giving as much depth and emotion from what’s not there as what is. The darkly titled ‘Hiroshima Dub Match’ evokes a creeping sense of foreboding and dread that the subject matter requires. Despite the serious overtones and message the music carries forth, the closing track provides an uplifting coda with its more rapid beat and high note keys. With this record, Adrian Sherwood has managed to make something ambitious but also measured and often very beautifully moving in its texture and timing.

Available now via On-U Sound’s Bandcamp page and the On-U website.