Fake Four founder Ceschi Ramos has returned to the fold with his first solo effort in four years by way of the gloomy, conceptual The One Man Band Broke Up. Not only does Ceschi seamlessly fuse hip hop, folk and psychedelia on the new record, he does it with panache. In an industry flooded with artists deluded into seeing themselves as jacks-of-all-trades, Ceschi is the real deal. He can transition from a straight folk ballad ("Lament For Captain Julius") to rapid-fire, tongue-twisting flows on the next track without missing a beat. The One Man Band Broke Up tells the story of a well-traveled musician at odds with the industry and himself. Ceschi speaks through the character of Julius & the Bearded Saviour as he weaves narratives about the perils of the road, failure and self-destruction. "Bad Jokes" is a gut-wrenching anthem of defeat set to an exquisite composition by Germany's DJ Scientist, who produced the entire album. While it is a concept record and thus prone to recurring themes, it bears mentioning that The One Man Band Broke Up is engulfed by suicide and death. And there is little offered to remedy the fatalistic polemics as Ceschi declares "When they reminisce over you and speak as if your life is through, it just might be true." Even the album-closing "Julius' Final Song," with its warm and uber-infectious chorus, speaks of the musician meeting his end in a hotel room.