Bombay
Bicycle Club never release the same record twice, which is a
testament to just how talented they are.
Personally, I prefer the slightly more driven direction of 2011’s A Different Kind of Fix (which topped my
list that year), or the rockier I Had the
Blues But I Shook them Loose from 2009, to the grander and yet more
introspective So Long, See You Tomorrow. Nonetheless, I appreciate their
chameleon-like ability to change and create.
Plus, of course, it’s not as though So
Long, See You Tomorrow is anything other than another superb record by one
of the best bands around right now.
Transcending the current indie
scene with which they are commonly associated, in terms of its composition,
layering and scope this record always reminds me of Radiohead. There is
experimentation throughout, but everything also feels fully within their
control. Additionally, there’s a
previously hidden melancholy to Bombay
Bicycle Club on So Long, See You Tomorrow, which again
calls to mind Oxford’s greatest musical misanthropes. I’m not entirely convinced by the ‘let’s try
to mix in some Indian influences and see what happens’ diversion of ‘Feeling’
(which is good but out of place here), but otherwise this is top notch stuff. Another deserved Mercury Music Prize nominee.
sample
track: Overdone