Over the course of the past year, London band, Bastille have released four singles and two mixtapes, in a calculated lead up to the release of their debut album, ‘Bad Blood’. Originally a solo project of front man by Dan Smith, the band play what can only be described as ‘pure 21st century pop’. Where many artists who use electronica and sample elements rely on them too much, Smith & Co. have subtly brought their songwriting and the strength of his vocals to the fore to produce radio friendly tracks which are a million miles away from the overproduced manufactured pap of today.
Kicking off the album is the current single ‘Pompeii’, layers of vocals open the track before stripping back to Smith’s voice before a sonic explosion of vocals, instrumentation and percussion lines run around your head like a prized fighter. Alongside this title, it seems the writer maybe influenced by history and myth with names like ‘Daniel In The Den’ and ‘Icarus’ and the latter having an Renaissance style a capella intro. Wherever it is Smith gets his inspiration from works and throughout he shows he has cleverly developed an accessible, storytelling writing style.
Bastille have carved out their own sound, fueled by the vocals and harmony lines but the instrumentation hasn’t been neglected. Throughout the album clever arrangements bring different instruments to the fore, strings on ‘Things we lost in the Fire’ and old analogue synth sound on ‘The Weight of Living’. The wall of sound created gives your ears a little party in your headphones.
With the singles, ‘Pompeii’, ‘Flaws’ , ‘Overjoyed’ and the title track ‘Bad Blood’, the album instantly packs punch and the majority is seriously danceable. ‘Oblivion’ though, gives a chance to show a more tender side to Bastille and without overpowering reaches the high notes with believable vulnerability. This is a definite contender for a future single. Indeed, the same could be said for ‘Icarus’ or ‘Laura Palmer’, a positively dramatic song which rises and falls before coming to an orchestrated conclusion.
Bastille have achieved quite a feat with this debut. They’ve produced songs with memorable hooks and refrains and incorporated classic production techniques to bring the out the best in each track. They’ve also shown us good songwriting shines though. Bastille have produced a classic pop album for a new generation.
This was also published on Goldenplec.com
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