Bombay Bicycle Club - A Different Kind Of Fix

There’s a lot to be said for literal descriptions. While the title ‘A Different Kind Of Fix’ most likely wasn’t conceived in a Ronseal like ‘does what it says on the tin’ fashion, Bombay Bicycle Club’s latest full length is summed up pretty damn well by it’s given name.

Debut full length ‘I Had The Blues But I Shook Them Loose’ was often shoe-gazingly indie - not a brash affair by any means - while follow up ‘Flaws’, originally planned as simply a bit on the side, was an acoustic folksy effort. Peaking in the Top 10 of the UK Album Charts, the London four piece would be forgiven for consolidating their style, but with their third LP in three years, a change is more than as good as a rest.

‘A Different Kind Of Fix’ is an all together more assertive affair. Not scared of the sweeping (‘Take The Right One’), or indeed a good groove (‘Lights Out, Words Gone’), this is a Bombay Bicycle Club standing proud. Confidence is always a good look.

Animal Collective producer Ben Allen has brought with him something of the beat. Infectiously brilliant lead single ‘Shuffle’ matches a pleasingly plinky-plonk piano refrain to the a bass line that marks the sound of a good band finding another level. ‘How Can You Swallow So Much Sleep’ might have appeared on the soundtrack to the last Twilight film, but don’t hold that against it. As an album opener it provides a perfect appetiser to the delightfully brilliant ‘Bad Timing’ - a wonderfully hazy yet claustrophobically tense big game player blessed with gorgeous swathes of fuzzed out feedback.

It’s closer ‘Still’ that really shows the scope Bombay Bicycle Club can deliver, however. As frontman Jack Steadman’s vocal audibly crackles with emotion a single haunting piano only serves to add to the impression that, given half a chance, this exactly the kind of track most Radiohead fans would have parachuted on to ‘The King Of Limbs’. As a hint of what might follow, the next fix might just be the best of all.