ristol-based bedroom production virtuoso SJ Esau's Anticon debut is a masterful balance of songcraft and sonic manipulation. Spanning twelve alternately expansive and explosive tracks, Wrong Faced Cat Feed Collapse treads the common ground between Slint, Arab Strap, Fog, Sonic Youth and Mogwai (with Fennesz and Jim ORourke lurking in the shadows), which is to say, its an album that successfully integrates genre-less exploration, detailed composition, inspired collaboration, and a sense of humor.

Sandwiched between homemade loops, Esaus compositions gradually unfold into sprawling epics , remain quiet and composed or begin calmly, then blast wide open in a hail of distortion,squelching strings or triumphant horns. With the able assistance of long-time collaborator and multi-instrumentalist Max Milton, Esau has crafted an album that moves with ease from the decidedly dark to the blithely buoyant. Lyrically he stands alone, singing unlikely anthems for the unsung and uneasy hero in each of us.