Features Tracks: Wild Beasts, Bombay Bicycle Club & More

Never fear, dear readers, Tracks is back after an ever so fleeting Christmas hiatus. The DIY writers have been busy quaffing eggnog and mince pies galore, but we’ve rallied the troops once again with more style than a Spice Girls reunion. These aren’t just any old leftover Christmas crackers here, these are the picks of the week! So sit back, relax, and enjoy the feature - starting on those New Year’s resolutions can wait just a bit longer.

Wild Beasts – Wanderlust

‘Wanderlust’ begins with its first foot forward, blood behind the eyes. There’s an intense, biting backdrop to this song - those dark, awakening synths are there to serve a purpose, after all. Singing from the perspective of someone “decadent beyond our means,” Hayden’s essentially delving into the mind of a passive, unhurried member of an upper class. They don’t care about those below them - “don’t confuse me with someone who gives a fuck” is the first time Hayden’s ever sworn on record - and they don’t intend for anything to change. Even if they witness someone else’s struggle first-hand, there’s nothing they feel obliged to do.If this is indeed an attack on the superrich, then this is also the sound of Wild Beasts showing their political skin; maybe not for the first time, but never before like this. It renders the ‘Present Tense’ an ugly time to be alive, but it expresses this through the band’s customary, skewed beauty. Above anything else, it’s a swarm of a song, a wash of synths that enlivens and kicks aside any sense of slumber. There’s never been a better time for Wild Beasts to return. (Jamie Milton)

Bombay Bicycle Club – Luna

Bombay Bicycle Club are ‘gearing up’ (excuse the punnery) to release their fourth album - and in terms of fast-paced music nowadays, number 4 is a bit of a veteran landmark. So far the sneak previews we’ve heard have been bustling polyphonic affairs, filled with endless glitching samples whizzing around like a gang of shoaling little fishies. ‘Luna’ feels looser limbed, groover, and - fittingly considering its title - transient in nature, never quite settling on one state. Listening to this, I feel a bit like the bemused kid in the armbands watching the synchronized swimmers in the song’s video. Bombay Bicycle Club, like the fictional swimming club of the same name, make it all look so bafflingly effortless.(El Hunt)

Sky Ferreira and Ariel Pink – My Molly

An unexpected early Christmas present came in the form of a revamped version of Ariel Pink’s 1999 understated lo-fi pop song ‘My Molly’ - with the new addition of Sky Ferreira. Ferreira has been burning all the evidence that originally cemented her reputation as a pop star this year and has brilliantly showed all her detractors that she’s making music on her own terms. ‘My Molly’s heavily amplified bass, crunchy shoegaze guitars and Ferreira’s piercing vocals make for an arresting listen. You almost forget Ariel Pink’s there at points as his backing vocals are overshadowed by her presence commanding all of your attention– spitting into the microphone defiantly about “boyfriend stealing my molly, hair cutting, hate fucking”. Ferreira using songwriting as a way of catharsis has brought out the best in her musically this year and adding Ariel Pink takes it that step further, here’s hoping for more from this very suiting collaboration. (Aurora Mitchell)

Cemetery Family Band - The Berries

2014 will be Woozy Tribe’s year. From Body Cheetah’s upcoming ‘The Dead That Dance’ to all the littler mysteries along the way, they’re making music deemed unimaginable. Cemetery Family Band, perhaps one of the more mysterious acts on the tiny label, are finally gearing up to release more material. Featuring voices familiar to those that have checked out Woozy’s material before, the musty new track ‘The Berries’ recalls the long-forgotten outsider folk vibe their debut evoked. The lo-fi production only further serves to shroud the track in mystique, adding an overwhelming sense of character to the band. They don’t deserve to be a mystery anymore, and ‘The Berries’ proves that. (Joe Price)

St Vincent – Digital Witness

Welcome to Annie Clark’s dystopia. You’ve saved up every penny to buy a whitewashed shoebox in a distant sub-suburb of London. Windows are a relic of the pre-virtual age when all we had was dial-up, and the only furniture is a compulsory standard-issue TV in one corner, looping ‘Bound 2’ landscapes taken from Windows ’95. In order to eat, you have to Instagram it, and only the super rich – people like David Beckham who can afford to document the whole thing on film – get to sleep. These days memories are stored on Dropbox instead. If it’s not online, it never happened. ‘Digital Witness’ sees St. Vincent mashing Don DeLillo’s ‘White Noise’ with a Black Mirror world and a cut-throat critique of the internet age. It’s all brought to life perfectly against a haze of Clark’s trademark distorted guitar, and a mad, hyperactive muddle of brass licks. ‘Digital Witness’ serves as yet another strong indication that St. Vincent’s forthcoming self-titled album is going to reach massive heights of pop-weirdness.(El Hunt)

Yung Gud - Fall In Love? ft. blisse

Enough has been said of the ‘Sadboys’ and their endearingly eccentric appeal; but Yung Gud, the group’s most promising member, continues to prove why they deserve to be taken seriously. The Swedish producer Yung Gud, is making some quietly innovative music under his own terms. Providing much of Yung Lean’s backdrops, his sobbing soundscapes are practically divine. But, his latest production finds him working with fellow underground producer Blisse. ‘Fall In Love?’ won’t sound like anything new to anyone that’s heard a Yung Lean track before - but as soon as it ‘drops’, it shoots off in a more surprising direction. Making the Swedish House Mafia look like a poorly organised gang of pre-schoolers, the stuttering house rhythm thuds with a unwavering sense of pride. (Joe Price)

SBTRKT –Runaway (Feat. Jessie Ware and Sampha)

Closing out 2013 in Mexico at a Young Turks NYE show, SBTRKT took the ending of his set as a chance to play an unreleased song which features regular collaborators Jessie Ware and Sampha. SBTRKT was very quiet last year, not releasing any new material - along with the setback of having his production rejected for Drake’s ‘Nothing Was The Same’. This track, however, is a sign that he’ll be very much back in our consciousness in 2014. At only 1.15, ‘Runaway’ serves as a teaser of things to come. Plucking strings and celestial synths are an orchestral background for Ware’s understated vocals, swirling into echoes eerily as she answers her own question, “My heart is broke, what is this? Runaway”. Sampha interjects with his rich vocals to call out “Oh Jerome”. Starting the year as he means to go on, SBTRKT now has everyone anticipating new material and wishing that there was more material than a tinsy 1 minute 15 second helping(Aurora Mitchell)

Nina Nesbitt - 18 Candles

2014 is looking to be the year Nina Nesbitt sweeps the singer-songwriter world in a blaze of peroxide glory, should she continue to so splendidly remind us of her knack for penning songs that sit slightly left-field of the genre’s customary workings. New album track ‘18 Candles’ is imprinted with the same signature folk-rock stomp that drove last year’s single ‘Boy’, but drops the focus on harmonious flourishes in favour of an empowered vocal delivery that flaunts Nesbitt’s impressive singing chops. The youthful Scot’s quirky lyrical charm continually refuses to become passé, with the line “emotions like a Pic n’ Mix, don’t know what you’re gonna get,” coming off as a delightfully modern derivative of the old ‘life is a box of chocolates’ adage. It’s certain to resound with a teen demographic enamored with their own adolescence. (Joshua Pauley)

Cleft - Hostage

With more support slots than you could shake a Fender Stratocaster at in 2013 - as well as a full tent at ArcTanGent Festival - Cleft may well have summited their niche. That out of the way, bow down before the kings of two-piece band mathy post-rock. Phew, good to have that resolved at last. ‘Hostage’ marks the first material on record from their crowd funded debut LP ‘Bosh’, due in February. Hinting at influences like The Mars Volta and Oceansize, its main sonic comparison will be ‘classic’ math bands like Don Caballero, as well as perhaps more recent proponents such as Brontide. Either way, it’s heavy hitting, groovy and catchy as hell, which bodes well for the full album. (Alex Lynham)

A Sunny Day In Glasgow - In Love With Useless (The Timeless Geometry In The Tradition Of Passing)

Oh, shoegaze. Considering it is a word referring to one of the more niche trends in music - gazing at shoes whilst performing - it is over used almost beyond belief, strapped as a tagline to any band that owns a reverb pedal. Here’s a band doing something different with the idea, though, managing to make something we recognise instantly for its influences sound innovative and exciting. Poppy and coy, with a slightly bitter tinge, there’s a backdrop of guitar and vocal mashing together before wailing out into a solid wall. Then, of course there’s the borderline ridiculous song title, which wouldn’t look out of place naming a piece of postmodern poetry. It reminds me of bands like Hot Club De Paris who liked to let their song titles spill out into sardonic great essays. That is an entirely good thing, by the way. (El Hunt)