ALBUM – Bombay Bicycle Club – 'I Had The Blues But I Shook Them Loose'
This band got a major rocket up their asses with an track inclusion on the Eclipse soundtrack. Yay!
Bombay Bicycle Club have had a pretty charmed career to date. Despite only just kissing their teenage years goodbye, they’ve already picked up an NME Best New Band award, released a near-universally loved debut and played to increasingly gigantic crowds, moving from midday to sunset in the summer festival slots over the course of 12 months. They just landed a slot on the Eclipse soundtrack too, which is about the biggest rocket up your career’s ass any band could wish for.
Now their acclaimed debut is getting a US release as the band attempt to break America. Produced by Jim Abbiss (the man you can thank for Arctic Monkeys’ Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not), it’s a highly accomplished work of introspective yet danceable indie that demonstrates a melancholic maturity that belies their tender years (check the mellow Jack Penate-esque Always Like This for evidence of this in action).
Give the album a listen on Spotify. As its 10 tracks unfold — from What If’s rigid angular strut to the more melodramatic Foals-gone-gothic-country Dust On The Ground — you’ll see why critics were slavering over these boys. The US edition comes with three bonus tracks the UK didn’t get as a reward for your patience too.
The band have actually just released their second album in Britain, Flaws, and it’s more of the same, albeit somewhat quieter and more acoustic so if you’re heading over the pond any time soon be sure to pick it up.
I Had The Blues But I Shook Them Loose is out today Arena Rock Records
Download a free track, Lamplight, at RCRD LBL
Bombay Bicycle Club at MySpace
Tim Chester is assistant editor at NME.com