In a recent interview with theartsdesk Bombay Bicycle Club talked about jamming together in their kitchen in Covent Garden in central London, but listening to A Different Kind of Fix it sounds as if they had their sights set further afield at the time. Their third album boasts an epic ambition that was absent from their more intimate second album, Flaws. This is a set of tunes that is big but never overblown, confident but never boastful. There are some lovely, grand chunks of rhythm that should make Fix a fixture in halls of residence up and down the country this autumn and could even finally break BBC in America.
There is a very smart, collegiate feel here from the quartet led by impossibly youthful frontman Jack Steadman. It largely follows a 1980s alt-rock template, all excitable rhythms and itchy pop hooks. “Favourite Day” has a propulsive, militaristic beat – banish all those thoughts of Coldplay, even though Steadman's top-register vocals on the eggy next track “Still” are very Chris Martin – while the stand-out track, “Lights Out, Words Gone", benefits from a reggae-fied funk sensibility.
If the music feels purposeful the lyrics remain wriggly and oblique. Phrases such as “My heart is breaking” and "You give to me all I know" jump out, but meanings are hard to pin down. And there are moments that are a little too derivative. "Beggars" starts off with a folk tilt, rocks out and then comes over all Mumford & Sons and the Byrds-flavoured "Take the Right One" could easily pass itself off as a lost track from the The Stone Roses’ debut. But let’s not forget BBC's members are still in their early twenties. That's not much older than Jedward. A Different Kind of Fix is a pretty formidable album from a band that is getting better all the time.
Watch Bombay Bicycle Club perform "Shuffle"
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