Top Ten Albums of 2011
1. The Horrors - Skying
2. Florence + the Machine - Ceremonials
3. Laura Marling - A Creature I Don’t Know
4. St. Vincent - Strange Mercy
5. Bon Iver - Bon Iver
6. Bombay Bicycle Club - A Different Kind of Fix
7. Wild Beasts - Smother
8. The Antlers - Burst Apart
9. Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost
10. PJ Harvey - Let England Shake
Review: Bombay Bicycle Club - A Different Kind of Fix
After the electric-based sounds of I Had the Blues But I Shook Them Loose and the soft-rock emotionalness of Flaws, Bombay Bicycle Club return with a mixed up collection - the eclectic, dymanic and innovative A Different Kind of Fix: an album that benefits from its inherit hard-to-define twang.
Recruiting producer Ben Allen, who worked on Animal Collective’s award winning and critically acclaimed eight album Merriweather Post Pavilion, they’ve ushered a more textualised and layered sound via loops and coated vocals. While their rockier, more electric vibe is still noticeable through Shuffle, Bad Timing and Beg, it’s the enhanced upon rhythmics and stripped-back acoustics – namely Fracture, Still and Leave it - that are more palatable and evident of their collective growth as a bad and of Jack Steadman’s maturation as a lyricist.
Despite their heightened popularity, Bombay Bicycle Club haven’t evolved beyond their roots, which is none the more noticeable than in their fumbled, DIY-esque resonance which adds an extra, tender layer to A Different Kind of Fix’s non-conforming whole. It may suffer from a little over-production in parts and a mismatched assembly, but this is an album full of range, emotional depth and a lively, uninhibited aplomb.
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- 37 Plays
Track Of The Day // Bombay Bicycle Club // ‘Leaving Blues’.
