Featured: Bitmap's Four Year 48-Track Odyssey Reaches Brilliant Conclusion


Bitmap, aka Luke Barwell to those in the know, has been peeling something of a musical orange in his pocket - writing, producing and releasing a new track every single month for the past four years straight - and has left a 48-track skin of unfurled musical brilliance, spanning folk to indietronica, in his wake with breaking the peel even once. 

The latest and final release of this sequence - Safety in Numbers - was released on December 31st, 2023 and brings to a conclusion an epic feat of creativity, variety, consistency and perseverance that started back in January 2020 with the release of "Everything Lost Will Be Found". 


Bitmap completed his 48-track sequence without missing a single beat and managed to maintain an astounding level of quality in both song-writing and production throughout. You can find all 48 tracks available on Bandcamp with a pay-what-you-like purchase price. 

Barwell is from the UK's North-eastern musical hotbed of Kingston upon Hull, which counts such musical talents as Fat Boy Slim, Paul Heaton (Housemartins & Beautiful South) and Tracey Thorn (Massive Attack & Everything But The Girl) as alumni. 

Luke started out as a founder member of Hull band Salako, who were label mates of Belle & Sebastian and Snow Patrol, and were firm favourites of the legendary "champion of the underdog" John Peel. Salako's DIY indie ethos and penchant for fusing electronic beats, sounds, natural instruments and real world sampling from an eclectic range of sources (the sampling of a children's Speak and Spell toy in 1998's Go On Then! Enlighten Me Why Doncha? being the most brilliant example) into tunes that packed an indelible melodic punch has remained a key facet of Luke's solo work as Bitmap.

Luke has also not lost the knack of finding some of the most brilliantly inspired track titles (see below), and fitting them with both the melody and lyrical quirkiness to stand out as an original voice in his genre. In fact, through his career he has been more of a defining father figure of the indietronica world than merely a member. His acclaimed 2005 album "Micro / Macro" set a high bar which has seldom been bettered by anyone making this genre of music, and all the more impressive that is has been entirely self-produced in his home studio. 


Bitmap's music blends the bleeps, bloops and boings of electronica with swirling, growling synths, punchy basslines, soaring high end synth and electric guitar riffs with Beach Boy harmonies dancing round a collection of sublime melodies portraying a world of strange characters, stranger stories, cynicism, cultural comment, robots gone haywire and incredibly down to earth human relationships.  

I cannot recommend taking a deep dive into his work more sincerely as there really will be something for everyone. Here are just a few choice picks from the 48-track collection of single releases: 

The Machine That Destroyed The World - July 2023


Supernatural - November 2023


Can't Get Over It - August 2021


The JPEG That Erased Itself - November 2022


Nothing To Be Afraid Of - October 2020


Science Will Save Us From Ourselves - August 2020 


Now I Am A Ghost - April 2021


I Will Give You The Moon - August 2022


Colours In The Rain - April 2020





Location: Lisbon, Portugal

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