Artist: Bombay Bicycle Club
Title: Flaws
Label: Island
Genre: Indie
Bitrate: 181kbit av.
Time: 00:33:50
Size: 46.38 mb
Rip Date: 2010-07-12
Str Date: 2010-07-12
01. Rinse Me Down 3:12
02. Many Ways 2:44
03. Dust On The Ground 4:05
04. Ivy & Gold 2:58
05. Leaving Blues 2:58
06. Fairytale Lullaby 2:22
07. Word By Word 2:40
08. Jewel 3:06
09. My God 2:29
10. Flaws 3:02
11. Swansea 4:14
Release Notes:
Calling æFlawsÆ a Bombay Bicycle Club record is misleading. It isnÆt;
not in that sort of way. We probably would have gone with Jack Steadman
and Bombay Bicycle Club, because thereÆs a real sense that the new
album makes him the star. His acoustic guitar is the albumÆs anchor,
with very little in the way of contribution from the other band members
- but this is entirely a good thing.
In fact, we can see this shift in sound doing the band a considerable
amount of good. People who had them pegged as middle-of-the-road
indie-pop upstarts will need to think again, for a start. They probably
werenÆt paying close enough attention to last yearÆs æI Had The Blues
But I Shook Them LooseÆ, anyway. True, there were a number of songs on
that album that came across as filler on initial listens, but it was
these tracks that had the greatest impact when they finally clicked.
æFlawsÆ has been in the pipeline for quite a while, too. One of its
highlights, æThe GiantessÆ, indicated this new direction they would
eventually take. Anyone thinking that the whole idea was, æOh hey guys,
letÆs make an acoustic album for shits and giggles!Æ would be mistaken.
There was an almost imperceptible gap between the debut being finished
and the start of the sessions for æFlawsÆ.
Bombay Bicycle Club are treating it as far more as a diversion before
LP3, and so they should, because æFlawsÆ displays confidence beyond the
groupÆs years, well able to stand up on its own, yet also capable of
avoiding comparisons to the debut because of its very nature; thereÆs
another reason why this was a good move.
Like the debut, the melodies contained on the new album are its
strongest point. Even the reworkings of a selection of older tracks
sound fresh, their immediacy shining through even more clearly due to
their bare-bones makeup.
Intimacy is here in spades as well. Some of these songs are so brittle
they seem almost at the point of shattering even as theyÆre heard, like
the impossibly tender duo of æLeaving BluesÆ and the John Martyn cover
æFairy Tale LullabyÆ.
The highlight is æIvy and GoldÆ, a song that can sit comfortably
amongst the groupÆs finest work, its gentle percussion intertwining
with a perfect melody to produce something majestic.
Closing with SteadmanÆs take on Joanna NewsomÆs stunning æSwanseaÆ,
rejigged with an entirely new hook, and showcasing the frontmanÆs
breathless vocals very well indeed, æFlawsÆ is a gentle rebuke for
those who had written Bombay Bicycle Club off after just one record.
TheyÆre just as comfortable with creating torch songs like these, as
they are writing powerful, stadium-sized tracks. With sessions for the
next album already underway, we can see that they simply do not want to
keep still, or stay in the same musical territory for too long. Is
there another reinvention on the cards? LetÆs hope so.
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