This is the third album from indie rock/folk act Bombay Bicycle Club, the band unsurprisingly isn't from Bombay but instead London England. Again this has been a strong year for Folk albums and while this isn't a direct folk album per se theres some high standards in the folk albums this year. The band's first two releases are mixed for me, the first album I Had the Blues But I Shook Them Loose was pretty cool, Flaws not so much so this was almost a make or break for me.
The first reaction I had about this album while listening to it for the first time was that the album was pleasant. The vocals of Jack Steadman are the main reason for this, his voice isn't the most powerful but its definitely nice to listen to in this kind of music. The minimal guitars during the verses particularly on the song Your Eyes really does allow his voice to shine through. Your Eyes is one of the best on this album the way it builds up late in the song "Your eeeyes, your eeeyes, your eeeyes".
Theres some definitely generic English indie rock moments in this album, Take The Right Ones reminding me of English bands of the past few years. The song was still good but perhaps just a little whatever for this album. The more up beat tracks on this album are what keeps this album from becoming tired and boring, tracks like Bad Timing and Shuffle are definitely different to this album.
This album is weird, like theres Indie rock tunes and then some Indie folk stuff, like the album start with the track How Can You Swallow So Much Sleep its more of a folk track and then after this we only get small moments throughout the album. You could say the track Fracture has and to a lesser extent as does Favourite Day which really does include some cool as fuck drumming. The album ends with Still a track that brings the whole album down to sadness, the slow piano notes the soothing voice with emotion pouring from it. Kind of like that track on its own but don't like the way it ends the album, just doesn't work for me.
I kind of feel like the band is in two minds Indie rock or folk, the album certainly touches on both and they have the ability to do both reasonably well but I wish they'd stick to one sound over the other. Its kind of start with a folk track then bam we ain't playing anymore folk songs. Its a shame I'm sure there could be some way of balance but on this album it isn't there for me.
(Overall this is still a solid album, most of the songs I like as songs but the album at times is a little messy for my liking. One thing is for sure though the album is just pleasant as fuck so nice to listen to some of these tracks particularly Still and Your Eyes.
Overall Rating: 7.5/10
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