A dark album holding a mirror up to our dark times, Unravelling, the second record from Channel D, makes for a wholly intoxicating listening experience. Reflecting an age where to switch on the news is to dare ourselves to face the scariest parts of a horror film, resulting in for an increasing number of us a state of high anxiety, these are 11 songs which speak of acute turmoil, whether personal or universal.

From Kurdish Iraqi photographer Zewar Fadhil’s dramatic cover image of a distorted, featureless individual, to the often claustrophobic music contained within, Unravelling is an album which explores the shadiest corners of the human psyche, with its themes of alienation, fear, loneliness, insomnia, panic, madness, and ultimately dying and death itself.

Channel D is writer-singer, visual artist and film-maker Nick de Grunwald, whose debut 2013 album Mosaic Of Disarray was described by Q magazine as offering ‘worldly lyrics, no little panache and a gritty edge’ and by Uncut as ‘dark baritone story-telling’. While that album was much-praised, Unravelling is a giant step forwards, being less a collection of songs and more a cohesive album-length statement.

Unravelling was recorded at the fittingly-named Situation Room in Hammersmith, west London, with de Grunwald co-producing with Tim Wills (Ian Brown, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, The Cure). In addition, it features a supporting cast which includes backing vocalist Yvonne John-Lewis, saxophonist/flautist Andy Ross, guitarist Patrick Murdoch, drummer Geoff Holroyde and violin and mandolin player Bobby Valentino.