James Boyle, better known as Breakage, is a producer’s producer. He is the kind of artist revered for his ability to reinvent sound in a way that feels effortless. From the cavernous depths of dub and bass to the heavyweight low-end of dubstep and even the edges of electronic pop, his music exists in the tension between subtlety and brute force. It’s atmospheric yet devastating, restrained but lethal when it needs to be, and it's coming to Bucharest on March 29 at Control Club.
Thanks to a childhood spent absorbing sounds ranging from classical to reggae to electronic, Boyle’s fascination with music began early. Born in Slough in 1982, he moved to London as a teenager and was consumed by the city’s thriving jungle scene like many of his generation. It was an era where drum and bass pioneers like LTJ Bukem, Photek, and Goldie reshaped dance music in real time, and Boyle was an eager pupil. By 17, he had made his mark with a remix of Doc Scott/Nasty Habits’ Here Come the Drumz, released in 2000. It was a rework of a hardcore classic, signaling the arrival of a significant artist who understood the past but had no interest in being shackled to it.
From the start, Breakage was drawn toward the more spacious corners of drum and bass. While his peers chased frenetic energy, he leaned into dub influences. His debut album, This Too Shall Pass, arriving in 2006 on Bassbin Records, was a masterclass in restraint. Instead of the in-your-face chaos of the genre’s mainstream, the record rolled breakbeats swathed in echo with basslines stretching into bottomless chasms.
The following year, he signed with Shy FX’s Digital Soundboy imprint, which would see him pivot into the nascent world of dubstep. The connection made sense—the half-time rhythms of the genre gave him more room to push into murkier places. Releases like Clarendon and The Shroud were eerie exercises in negative space, while his remix of Benga & Coki’s anthemic Night (w. SHY FX as Digital Soundboy) engulfed the original in a vortex of bass pressure and spectral echoes, making it one of the defining remixes of the era.
In 2010, he dropped Foundation, a collision of dubstep, drum and bass, dancehall, and grime. The collaborations were a who’s who of UK underground royalty: Burial, Skream, Roots Manuva, Newham Generals, Donae’o, and David Rodigan. Tracks like Hard with Newham Generals and Rodigan carried the swagger of classic grime, while Run 'Em Out featuring Roots Manuva rode the confidence of an artist entirely in his element. Then there was Over, a surprising pivot into more melodic terrain. The album was met with universal acclaim, with DJ Mag, Mixmag, IDJ, and NME all naming it Album of the Month. Zane Lowe and Pete Tong championed it heavily (the latter having curated a 2010 Essential Mix from Breakage), and suddenly, Breakage was a mainstay of UK electronic music’s upper echelons. If Foundation was Breakage at his most expansive, 2011’s Fighting Fire edged toward the mainstream. A collaboration with Jess Mills, the track landed him heavy BBC Radio 1 rotation and a UK Top 40 hit.
This newfound visibility led to a slew of remix opportunities. His reworks of Massive Attack, Florence & The Machine, Plan B, Ellie Goulding, Magnetic Man, Underworld, and Claire Maguire were textbook examples of his ability to find emotional depth in his productions, whether working within the heaviest bass frameworks or the most delicate vocal-led compositions.
After a few years, he returned in 2015 with When the Night Comes. Written and recorded exclusively at night, the album had a distinct sense of after-hours tension. Tracks like To Be Around You were drenched in melancholy, while Revelation, featuring Liam Bailey, showcased his ongoing ability to combine dub and vocal-led songwriting. Treading Water blurred the lines between electronic, R&B, and experimental bass music, pushing Boyle’s sound deeper into storytelling.
In the years since Breakage has released a string of EPs that return to his bass-heavy roots. 2018's At the Controls and its 2021 sequel stripped things back for high impact, while 2021’s Darker Than Blue saw him reconnect with dub, collaborating with longtime inspirations like SHY FX and Craig David. At the same time, he has remained one of the most respected engineers and producers in the game, quietly working behind the scenes with some of the biggest names in UK music. In November 2023, he unveiled the two-track single Style & Pattern, followed by a reconnection with SHY FX, the eponymous track from the EP Shebeen.
Breakage’s career proves that bass music can be re (and de) constructed and rebuilt from its own echoes and that the best artists don’t just move with the times; they stay ahead of them. Throughout his career, Breakage has effortlessly navigated drum and bass, dubstep, grime, dancehall, and electronic pop, finding beauty in the tension between impact and decay.
