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A carbon copy jangly indie band Bombay Bicycle Club are not - they've long since proved that. Not with defiant hollow statements claiming to be the latest musical messiahs, but with pure longevity brought about by keeping their heads down and doing things the way they want to do them. So when Bombay Bicycle Club wanted to make their fourth album a melting pot of sounds and experimentations from around the world they did just that.
Admittedly the notion of frontman Jack Steadman's romantic voyage, travelling across the globe to dig out exotic sounds and influences sells a bit of a false promise. The record still sounds like a Bombay Bicycle Club record, it’s just there’s a newfound spirit and revelry in the band’s chequering of experimentation. 'Feel' sees the band pay homage to their name's Indian roots with a Bollywood sample fervently driving the track in an unlikely album highlight. 'Whenever, Wherever' is sadly not an ode to Shakira's early noughties hit of the same name but at the complete opposite end of the spectrum, with Steadman's voice so delicately and perfectly controlled it's like blowing glass and amongst his strongest vocal performances.
The imperfections and occasional misses in Bombay Bicycle Club's experimentation with different loops and samples only goes to show the ambition and credibility of the album. Bombay Bicycle Club produced 'So Long See you Tomorrow' themselves, and it shows. 'Overdone' slowly swells into a wall of sound as the vocals oscillate and navigate the track with a newly imbued confidence uncharacteristic of Bombay Bicycle Club, but characteristic of this record – a confidence that was perhaps lacking in their previous attempts.
'So Long See you Tomorrow' as an album is like an episode of the Great British Bake Off. In the TV show some aspiring baker with a degree in astrophysics and a love of Vietnamese Whirls throws together an unusual amalgamation of ingredients and shapes it into a cake. It might not turn out like the 6-tiered object of wonder they hoped for, but it can be smoothed over with a nice bit of butter cream and no one will criticise (except a discerning Mary Berry). The ambition and experimentation of Bombay Bicycle Club’s fourth album is commendable, and when there are occasional misses Steadman’s remedying vocals are there to smooth over the cracks.
