More new music! I feel like bands I like have been feeding me new albums for the past several weeks! It’s almost too much to keep up with, but I don’t want these releases slowing down at all. To me, this is a sign that things may be morphing slightly back to normal. Or, at least I hope so.
Anyway, on Bastille’s latest release, Give Me the Future, I’d say the band fully embraces the future. In the past they’ve always played with samples and synth sounds, but in this chunk of songs, it’s hard for me to make out an authentic sounding instrument at all. In fact, real instruments that I was able to easily pick out throughout the whole thing were some strings and a saxophone…things that no one in the band plays. I don’t really like that. It makes it feel like it’s a true pop radio album, and that kind of makes me sad. At least I’ve got their old stuff to look forward to when I see them on tour this summer.
With that critique, I will say that I liked more of this album the first time through than I did with their previous release, Doom Days. For instance, “Distorted Light Beam,” “Thelma & Louise,” and “Club 57” all shared a really catchy beat and chorus. I would go so far as to say that they kind of sounded like they were channeling Daft Punk a little bit! I also really enjoyed “No Bad Days” as it did remind me a lot of their old style of playing. I do remember that this single came with a music video that lead singer, Dan Smith, directed, and it was creepy as hell! Most songs off the record did deliver classic Bastille staples, such as the tunes seeming fairly upbeat with lyrics that are seriously morbid. Look no further than “Stay Awake?” and “Plug In…” Another cool thing making an appearance on the album was Riz Ahmed! He contributed some spoken word verses to the short song, “Promises.” Very cool.
I would say half the album passes the test the first listen through, but everything else off the record came across to shiny and ready for radio. Not that all radio tunes are bad, but I just know that Bastille can do better. Perhaps this new sound is courtesy of One Republic’s Ryan Tedder, who produced the record? I may never know. Either way, something else that I deeply missed on this record were movie soundbites! I feel like that is a Bastille staple! I suppose in order to make up for its absence, they instead referenced old films by name in “Back to the Future.” Still not the same, but I appreciate the effort.
Sadly, Bastille has sort of stayed in this mediocre rut since their debut, Bad Blood, almost a decade ago. I can appreciate bands wanting to make changes and explore new sounds, but to me, this is nothing new or all that creative and exciting. I’ll be interested to see what makes the setlist on tour, and regardless of how I feel about this new album as a whole, I’m still very excited to see them live.