Almost a year to the day since the release of their debut album, North London-based outfit Bombay Bicycle Club have returned with their second offering; the all acoustic Flaws.
An assimilation of completely new material, cover versions and an acoustic reworking of an old track, Flaws has attempted to move in a new direction while maintaining a certain level of familiarity, and it does so with rewarding results.
For the most part, the band makes a successful transition to an acoustic sound. The trap that musically, many acoustic albums and performances fall into, is that they attempt to be so stripped back and reduced that they end up with no depth at all. Thankfully this is not the case here.
‘Dust on the Ground’, taken and adapted from the band’s debut album, demonstrates their maturity. Stripping back the original song, the acoustic version surpasses the original in that rather than losing the whole essence of the song, the soft strumming of the lead guitar is punctuated by the soft melodic accompaniments supplied by the rest of the band. Another highlight is ‘Fairytale Lullaby’, a cover of John Martyn which benefits from the softness of the lead vocals of Jack Steadman, whose heartfelt delivery is excellent throughout Flaws and is not overly exposed by the more docile musical backing. Neither does it dominate – a good balance is achieved.
It can be said that on a few occasions, notably ‘Many Ways’ and ‘Word by Word’, the acoustics do not pack enough of a punch, or make an intense enough impression. However, new single ‘Ivy and Gold’, which has already gained substantial radio airplay, is a terrifically worked song which retains the acoustic care free attitude whilst still carrying some definite weight.
As far as acoustic albums go, Flaws is a very measured offering. The delicate and unforgiving nature of creating this type of music should not be underestimated. To retain the interest of the listener throughout is not an easy feat.
A few tracks do fall by the wayside, however, for the most part this newly crowned NME ‘Best New Band’ has succeeded in producing a mature and polished effort. Although not quite Mumford and Sons more consistently catchy Sigh No More, this record still offers enough to be ranked as an extremely exciting acoustic album.
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