Bombay Bicycle Club - Flaws
Review by Jack Foley
A LITTLE over 12 months since Bombay Bicycle Club’s last album, I Had The Blues But I Shook Them Loose, the band now release Flaws and it’s very much a case of all change please.
Whereas the former album thrived on an electric guitar sound, Flaws is characterised by a more delicate, stripped down, acoustic sound.
It’s markedly different from the majority of their debut LP… but not such a departure from the sound that accompanies all of the B-sides to their singles thus far. As such, it’s an album fans should warm to easily, while opening them up to folk followers as well as the new indie movement.
Lead singer-songwriter Jack Steadman describes his dad playing him Harry Smith’s Anthology of American Folk Music for the first time as a “huge moment” both creatively and for the album itself. Similarly, delving into his Dad’s record collection introduced him to the likes of Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, John Martyn and Nick Drake – all of whose influences can be heard here.
Intricate, finger-picked guitar lines and ethereal melodies pull at the heart strings on new songs such as My God, Leaving Blues and title track Flaws (a lovely duet with Lucy Rose), while the same ethos is applied to a stunning cover version of John Martyn’s Fairytale Lullaby.
There’s also a nice mix of paces… with tracks such as album opener Rinse Me Down and lead single Ivy & Gold skittering drum rhythms and distant banjo lines, and displaying a breezy melody to offset some of the more naked intimacy surrounding the more stripped back songs.
The album’s final track, Swansea, meanwhile even hints at where Bombay Bicycle Club might take their sound next. All the music for Swansea was written by Jack, but uses some of the lyrics from a Joanna Newsom track of the same name.
It’s a simple folk ballad that opens with plaintive guitar and vocals, swells and morphs into something altogether different, as a synth counter melody slowly floats into reverb-rich vocals and echo chamber drum rhythms… offering a beguiling, distinct and really memorable finale to a really enriching listen.
As for this reviewer, his heart was captured by the warmer likes of Rinse Me Down and Ivy & Gold, as well as the brooding intimacy of Fairytale Lullaby, the melancholy, banjo-infused Word By Word and the boy-girl duet that is Flaws.
But Bombay Bicycle Club seldom put a foot wrong, in truth… serving notice of their diversity en route to creating a masterful folk-based album.
Download picks: Rinse Me Down, Ivy & Gold, Fairytale Lullaby, Word By Word, Flaws, Swansea
Track listing: