Mexicana '80's rock? YES!

The cover art to ‘Bits’ is like a smorgasbord of weirdly wonderful influences; the cover is a glittered, collaged, diorama of the letters B.I.T.S underneath which play plastercene semi-Mexican dead men, which sort of only just blends into the back cover which features black and white photographs of south American dudes chilling in the sun and on their farms with their bulls.

And this is kind of like the album itself; heaps of disparate parts interlock to create a whole, in both each individual song, and the album as a whole. There’s a binding theme, in the sleeves case Mexicana, in the album’s case, unwavering ‘80’s rock, that for the most part makes the record work. ‘Men and Their Idea’s’ stomps out it’s 1 minute 51 seconds of full on three chorded-ness whereas tracks like ‘A Wedding’ employ violin breakdowns mid-song that sort-of make you feel like you’re suddenly in the middle of a pantomime with the words “she is ridiculous” being repeatedly sung out at you from the stage in the shadows of some theatric dive by men wearing tights.

Overall some of the more creative attempts on the album leave Oxford Collapse sounding as confused as their lyrics make their love lives out to be, but on the whole they so vehementely purport the ‘80’s rock (note: not ‘80’s synth, ‘80’s rock) aspect that when the final power chords of closer “I Hate Nobody” fade, you’re left anxiously unsure of how the last 35 minutes went down, but certainly not hating it, and more likely assuming you probably had a pretty good time; it is the ‘80’s after all, right?