A Calmer Collision was born from the studio-life of US Gold Record-winning producer/engineer, Ryan McCambridge (Rush, Metric, Birds Of Tokyo), and holds the faint melancholy of McCambridge's previous musical projects. The former writer and frontman of Recovery Child, which saw success on radio, international tours, and in a devoted fanbase, consciously breaks away from guitar-driven, alt-rock to enter into the lineage of the darker side of 80s new wave. 

After hearing early demos, Grammy Award-winning producer, David Bottrill (Muse, Tool, Peter Gabriel), signed on to collaborate on A Calmer Collision and contribute as a creative influence on the project. With a mutual respect for each other, Bottrill’s experience with electronic-infused rock elevated A Calmer Collision past the validation it had received in its infancy when it won a finalist spot in the highly-acclaimed John Lennon Songwriting Contest. 

A Calmer Collision’s cover of Depeche Mode’s “Strangelove” attracted attention from publications like Canadian Musician Magazine who called the eerie take on the classic alluring and “as uniquely strange and lovely as the original.” The poignancy of music also attracted contributions from the music community. Erik Alcock, who’s voice and writing can be found on songs from Kanye West, Nas and Eminem, lent haunting vocals to A Calmer Collision’s “Higher Laws”, while Jeff Schroeder of The Smashing Pumpkins elevates the epic finale of A Calmer Collision’s first EP with his guitar mastery.  


There is a thread of familiarity that runs through McCambridge’s music though. It cleverly balances the popular with the introspective, where radiant melodies define lyrics with a clear emotional struggle, leaving us to believe that the world can be both uplifting and forlorn in the same breath. But if Recovery Child was music made for the masses, A Calmer Collision is music made as a personal catharsis, and it’s difficult to ignore the universality of that journey.