A duller artist would have reacted to the death of his mother and the loss of his girlfriend with a slew of saccharine ballads. Instead, urban magpie Kanye West has forsaken the rococo hip hop of his last album and embraced a hermetically sealed electro so minimal it hardly sounds like West. Effects-laden vocals and ancient drum machines abound on this mesmerising album. Sadness informs 808s & Heartbreak but it is shrink-wrapped into pristine nuggets like 'Love Lockdown', purposely playing emotion off against robotics. Lyrically, West isn't up to his College Dropout best but his musical audacity makes up for it.