Bombay Bicycle Club: A Different Kind of Fix

    The Bombay Bicycle Club is another, to me, in a growing contribution to the trendy "club" name list. Others would be Tokyo Police Club and Two Door Cinema Club, but maybe they followed the leader a bit more as Bombay Bicycle Club already has this their third full LP released, A Different Kind of Fix (August 26, 2011), since their formation in 2005. Jack Steadman, Jamie MacColl and Suren de Saram were only 15 when they started playing together, as The Canals, until their unit was completed with the addition of a permanent fourth member, guitarist Ed Nash. Hailing from London, they won the "Road to V" competition held by Virgin Mobile in 2006, and released a few EPs in 2007-08 before officially completing their college education. At the time these were self-released under Mmm...Records, but they also had a short stint with the Young and Lost Club label--yet another "club". In 2010 Bombay Bicycle Club was named Best New Band by NME (New Musical Express, an annual music awards in the UK). They are now on the Island Record label.
    Bombay Bicycle Club is a mix of styles album to album, but I think they have hit their stride with A Different Kind of Fix. As with the other "clubs", you might expect a post-punk sound; however, they have really carved out perhaps something more original. A little folk and acoustic, especially with their second album, Flaws (2010) and debut I Had the Blues But I Shook Them Loose (2009), mostly they are straight up indie rock. A typical beat is "bum bum bum chick" or some related variation of more continuous ostinato instead of "boom chick, boom chick" too (hopefully that makes sense), which is actually something I actually really dig. A Different Kind of Fix is more of a sublime electro dream pop, a sensation that everyone grabbed a hold of it seems at least in part in the last two years (you can't miss the reverb effect), but also has song intro notes (to borrow a wine colloquialism...pun intended) of math rock as well as more intimate acoustic moments. OK, loops would probably be a better description than math rock, but the openings of songs just makes me think of bands like Fang Island or This Town Needs Guns; perhaps a better comparison is Animal Collective. I also think that fans of Arcade Fire would appreciate Bombay Bicycle Club, expect the latter is less bombastic/alternative.
    The first single from the album, "Shuffle" is a nice track, very upbeat and syncopated, but much different than most of the rest of the album it almost doesn't make sense. Another nice track is "Fracture", which starts off really dreamy with a folky melody and broken chord guitar all blending together, then the drums come in with the steady "bum bum bum chick"--a nice color change. Finally, the last song, "Still" has that Radiohead-esque acoustic sound, with the out-of-tune grandparents old piano and falsetto vocals. It doesn't quite have the harmonic depth/scope of Radiohead, but it is a nice fix (maybe, pun intended again!).
    The entire album, including their debut, is on MySpace here. The song "Fracture" is over under the 'Monthly Sample Tracks'. I hope you enjoy!