It’s been a whirlwind journey for Bombay Bicycle Club since the release of ‘I had the blues but I shook them off’ in 2009,followed by a then effortless movement leading them on to the release of critically acclaimed acoustic album ‘Flaws’ shortly after. Winners of the best new band 2010 at the NME awards and multiple festival appearances to boot, They return in the August of 2011 with the long awaited album ‘A different kind of fix’.
Album opener ‘How can you swallow so much sleep’ speaks volumes on the Bombay movement, launched in by haunting vocals of ‘Can I wake you up’ sweetly accompanied by the obvious acoustic guitar and the snare drum beat to match. ‘Bad timing’ swallows the shoe gaze sound that is all so imminent within current indie chart albums most notably The Horrors recent release ’Skying’ then back above the water with added cowbell ’Your Eyes’ plays nice to the ears and gasconaded bass line to make you’re chest tight.
Sunday afternoons are what ‘A different kind of fix’ are made of, Imagine a turbulent Saturday night plagued by unwanted text messages, unwanted attention and too much G and T then pop on some headphones within seconds all of that seems to disappear into ’Lights out, Words gone’. A New Order meets Stone Roses type song follows in ‘Take the right one’ with an early 90s kick and synth combo. Zane Lowes record of the week and most recent release ‘Shuffle’ is an invigorating 3 minutes and 54 seconds with a build up sure to build dance floors across the nation and world.
Bombay Bicycle Club's obvious strong point is there folk roots, ‘Beggars’ feels like it a countryside car ride with the window wide open and wind blowing in you’re face, catch you’re breath and listen in closely to magnificent vocal harmonies and hypnotising guitar riffs. The echo vocals become too much 8 tracks in though but then next track ‘Leave it’ brings more to the table with a rockier side to the band quite possibly being the ‘Evening/Morning’ of the album. From here the rest of the album seamlessly fades from track to track without effort until ‘Still’ which is the end to the start, a bare track with piano and vocals leaving the hairs on the back of your neck on end.
Bombay Bicycle Club fans will be happy with the release, a confident one at that with a shoe gaze twist that you could sit and play in the conservatory whilst it rains or on a summers day by the seaside. The positives we take are that this won’t be the last release from the successful folk band though the negatives will be that there are still improvements to be made.
Released : August 29th 2011
