Bombay Bicycle Club – A Different Kind Of Fix

Posted on September 13, 2011 by 6foot9

Since their indisputably awesome song ‘Always Like This’ I’ve been closely following and admiring Bombay Bicycle Club. So it was with great excitement that I stumbled upon their latest album ‘A Different Kind of Fix’, their third in as many years.

Unlike The Drums, BBCs frequency of albums has not resulted in a replication of songs, but instead a journey of sound. Working with producer Ben Allen who’s previously helped out Animal Collective in the studio, this album could have gone one of two ways, a bicycle clash of conflicting sounds and influences or a succinct and masterful ensemble of songs. Fortunately only the latter has appeared with the most relaxed sound that Bombay Bicycle Club have released to date. Their first album explored upbeat indie rock that had crossover appeal to the pop masses. Follow up ‘Flaws’ explored the folk aspect of music, but was done before the whole Mumford & Sons thing became cool and popular to do.

There’s alot to enjoy on ‘A Different Kind Of Fix’ – ‘Your Eyes’ is a wonderfully simple yet adorable ensemble of repetitive guitar riffs and the mediating voice of singer Jack Steadman. In a similar upbeat style ‘Shuffle’ starts out with a quirky piano jingle which resonates throughout the song, accompanied by great supporting vocals and a try-not-to-clap-your-hands drum sequence.

There are some softer parts to the album with ‘Fracture’ and ‘What You Want’ that if anything show the versatility of the band – although not my favourite BBC sound it breaks down the album nicely.
Overall I’m impressed with this new album from Bombay Bicycle Club – they’ve managed to stay fresh and surprisingly un-mainstream in all their musical endeavors to date, and that’s always admirable. Cats out of the bag now though, with the 1 million views a week Primo! gets i’m sure we’ll be hearing these guys on Nova by Friday. If anyone asks, I didn’t tell you.