Bastille Announce Debut Album ‘Bad Blood’

The story of Bastille, so far, really has been a remarkable one. Beginning his career as a solo artist with a handful of tracks written and recorded in his bedroom, no one would have predicted that he’d be scheduled to headline two sold out shows at Shepherds Bush Empire before having even released his debut album.

However, at the dawning of 2013, that’s exactly the case. Having expanded to a four-piece band in 2011, Dan Smith has shown no signs of slowing down creatively, releasing an EP, a handful of singles and two mixtape collections all before even considering his full-length. The list of their achievements so far seems unbelievable. They’ve signed a major label deal and graced the charts; they’ve secured a main support slot alongside Two Door Cinema Club and plotted a full - and completely sold out - UK headline tour. Oh, and appeared in DIY’s Class of 2013 (wink). So, now would, undoubtedly, be the time to release their anticipated first record.
“I wanted to off-set epic sounding instrumentation with lyrics that combine intimate stories or conversation.”
Seems as though Bastille agree with us there, and have confirmed that ‘Bad Blood’ is due for release on 4th March.

The twelve-track album was originally recorded, like all of their previous material, in Smith’s bedroom, before taking to a tiny studio to rework it with producer Mark Crew. In fact, the only big change of scenery happened when they juxtaposed the experience entirely by spending a day in - of all places - Abbey Road Studios to record strings for the album. Not too shabby, ey?

“We basically made the album in a studio the size of a cupboard, so it was one extreme to the other,” says Smith, in a statement. “Producing the record, I wanted to off-set epic sounding instrumentation with lyrics that combine intimate stories or conversation. The contrast was something that appealed to me.”

Explaining a little more about the album itself, Smith says the aim of it was to “approach each song differently. I wanted each to be its own story with its own atmosphere which brings in different sounds and elements of production, incorporating aspects of the different genres and styles that I love; Hip hop, indie, pop and folk. Film soundtracks can be broad and varied but tied together by the film itself – and I hope the album will be something like that, but held together by my voice and my songwriting, each song a scene or part of a bigger picture.”

With their debut record set to land on shelves on 4th March, they’ll preview it through the release of new single ‘Pompeii’, the album’s opener, on 25th February, following on from their stint with Two Door.

The full tracklisting of ‘Bad Blood’ can be found below.

1. Pompeii
2. Things We Lost In The Fire
3. Bad Blood
4. Overjoyed
5. These Streets
6. Weight of Living, PT.II
7. Icarus
8. Oblivion
9. Flaws
10. Daniel in the Den
11. Laura Palmer
12. Get Home