Currently on the UK’s official single’s chart, Fountains of Wayne’s 2003 ode to the mothers “Stacey’s Mom” is perched at the 88 spot. And in the last week, R. Kelly’s “Ignition Remix” and Yeezus’ “Gold Digger” have reentered the Top 100 chart.
America’s older sibling’s iTunes is a decade behind in some spots, but the culture that gave us The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and Boy George is beginning to churn out another comet.
Bastille has been marking up England’s charts for the past year and their success is beginning to seep across the pond. Their debut album “Bad Blood” was released this week armed with the catchy single “Pompeii,” and it sounds as though Bastille is brewing a little storm.
The band’s brainchild is singer and keyboardist Dan Smith who began writing and recording songs while attending university in Leeds, England. Named after the French Independence Day, which is also Smith’s birthday, Bastille came to formation in 2010 after one of Smith’s college roommates persuaded him to enter his music in a contest that eventually won him studio time and his first live gig.
His songs began attracting attention on the Internet and Bastille was signed to Virgin Records who released their debut single “Overjoyed” in 2012. The single was met with little success but Bastille trudged forward and soon found redemption in a little song about the famed Roman city that was destroyed by the Gods, or Mount Vesuvius.
The juicy ear kernels that make “Pompeii” stick like ash are the “Eh-Oh Eh-Oh” chants that line the song. Sounding like a mix between something left on the cutting room floor of The Lion King soundtrack and Florence + the Machine’s anxious younger brother, “Pompeii” is a hit just asking to be placed on an end-of-the-summer 2013 mix.
Swirling around like a plastic bag caught in the wind of an electronic renaissance is the mellow “Flaws.” Aimed to prove that Bastille can show range, “Flaws” gives insight to Smith’s introverted music style and persona. “You have always worn your flaws upon your sleeve/ And I have always buried them deep beneath the ground.”
“Pompeii” and “Flaws” shine, but a majority of “Bad Blood” lacks other notable hooks and reasons to return. The record flows as though the highs are short and the doldrums are a little long.
Bastille is the band for the introvert who dreams of mustering the courage to sing into the microphone. The music swoons with emotional release but never amounts to sounding too heavy. The drums pound and the synths jingle while Smith’s lyrics are succumbed by their own tragedy.
While speaking with Rooms Magazine, Smith discussed his way of songwriting. “I don’t really like to make stuff that personal, probably it sounds a lot more personal than it really is. I often use characters from popular culture or history or whatever, as a kind of way to deflect from myself a bit.”
The music ranges from personal to distant while using clever deflective devices, though in the end, Bastille is only singing in the shadows.