Britpop

His signature dreamscapes still melt through his softer, acoustic melodies on tracks like ‘Serenade’ and the crooning riff of ‘Greatly’. The beauty of his work lies in his ability to create something completely unlike anything else, yet still it pulls from universal experiences. Take a track like ‘Nice To Meet You’ – a song about yearning – or the twinkling ‘The Weave’, and see how he elevates these regular emotions to ethereal heights.

Unrestricted to any interpretation, the record leaves enormous space for thought experiments and imagination (the closer “Out of Time” suggests just as much). Step back a few paces to look at it in full, and you’ll find something that celebrates freedom of opinion and individualism.

Here, Cook examines minimalism from all angles, embracing its ethos while not being scared to keep pushing the boundaries of his sonic experimentation.

The trio of discs add up to a surprisingly tight record, a superb summary of Cook’s work to date, and a thrilling pointer to where the future may lead.

If Cook’s career is defined by one thing, it’s pushing the boundaries of the genre to their limits. With that in mind, Britpop is some kind of culmination of that effort, challenging the listener’s assumptions about what pop is, and offering an exciting glimpse of what it could be.

Britpop at its best turns Cook’s sometimes inscrutable playbook into a public playground, accessible to the greenest of heads and the most brain-fried of hyperpop vets.