‘Broken Circuit’ is the meeting of minds between Max Wheeler and Victoria Port AKA Anushka. The results are one of the most enjoyable, unpretentious hybrid dance soul records you’ll hear all year. Meeting in Brighton, with Victoria studying music at Sussex University and Max moving in from Yorkshire, the duo have put together an emotionally satisfying electronic music album, with Max’s slinky beats animated by Victoria’s heartbreak, disillusionment, frustrations, sweetness and longing.
After spending 12 tracks with Anushka, you feel you have travelled these post-recessionary times with the duo. Working together they hit a creative sweet spot – with Victoria, a singer who has featured on various drum & bass tunes as well as developing her live performances, and Max, whose day job is teaching young offenders how to use music production software. And the songs kept flowing out.