Flaws [VINYL]

First of all, let me say that this album is very different from the first but brilliantly so.

The acoustic sounds running throughout give it a beautifully relaxed and chilled feel with the lyrics and melodies just flowing. There is no single weak song on the album with my favourite being 'Fairytale Lullaby.'

I've read the previous review saying how different it is to the first and I agree but I only see this as a positive thing. The band have clearly tried something new and aren't going for the normal same Indie kind of approach. I loved their first album and I love this one too.

I would recommend it highly.

It's hard not to like Bombay Bicycle Club. I retain a strong
affection for their 2009 debut 'I Had The Blues but I shook Them
Loose'. It was a confident and thoroughly enjoyable first showing.

Their new album 'Flaws' follows closely in its footsteps and is
destined to be one of the year's unassuming lo-fi highlights.
There are eleven songs in the collection (two of them not their own)
which creep up on you quietly and make their mark without resort to
fanciful gestures and unnecessary braggadocio.
Simple music; simply performed; simply lovely.

Jack Steadman's gentle vibrato is still present and correct.
His voice defines the band's sound . Warm, nicely wobbly
and with the capacity to make us sit up, listen and feel
something nice going on inside ourselves.

There are some truly lovely songs here.

'Leaving Blues' is one of the loveliest of them. A magical
folk-tinged ballad shot though with gentle harmonies and a
plaintive and affecting vocal performance from Mr Steadman.
Loss and longing have rarely been so well articulated.

Opening track 'Rinse Me Down' is another fine composition.
The splendid guitar interplay and economical percussion propel
the arrangement forward with laconically upbeat determination.
The melody works its way into memory after a couple of listens
and won't go away. (I found myself humming it on more than one
occasion this week).

For my money, however, the stunning 'Many Ways' is the album's
highpoint. The lilting country rhythm (Kenny Rogers' 1969 hit
'Ruby Don't Take Your Love To Town' came to mind for more than
a moment) , craftily constructed tune and breathily fragile vocal
performance are hypnotically captivating. A jewel of understatement!

Stripped down to the bone 'Word By Word' comes in
over the finishing line a very close second!

Renditions of John Martyn's 1967 composition 'Fairytale Lullaby'
and Joanna Newsom's haunting 'Swansea' are both given affectionate
and convincing interpretations. The almost spectral ostinato of
the latter brings the album to an especially enchanting close.

In these difficult, unpredictable and troubling
times 'Flaws' is an album to cherish.

Essential.

I like Bombay Bicycle Club, but when I read an interview that admitted they were releasing an acoustic album at least partly to show that they weren't just "another indie filler", I thought it was probably going to be bad. When bands release albums for the sake of proving people wrong, or changing their sound or for sustaining the success they managed with their last albums it's not unlikely for them to just be bad, or at least not as good, because I think they stop concentrating on releasing some decent music and focus everything on one of those other goals. So I didn't anxiously anticipate the album, but I noticed it had been released this week and gave it a listen.

The album begins with a driving rhythm and an immediately catchy melody. Another reviewer didn't like Rinse Me Down's machine gun drum rolls, but I do - it's a little different and you don't expect them. Rhythm's an important part of music, since a bad rhythm can seriously bring a song down; for the most part Flaws is driving and gladly bouncy and smooth at times. Thanks in part to the percussion it's an acoustic album that avoids utter misery.

That said, Jack Steadman's voice could be said to suit a miserable feel as it does on Jewel, which isn't a personal favourite, since I'm not sure the lyrics hold my interest throughout its quiet despair, but on the whole, the album's lyrics keep away from being cliché, but their subjects aren't new and the lyrics don't give them a particularly fresh feel. And when it comes to feel the album can seem a little much like a dirge at times, but a song like Ivy & Gold, which I think is slightly self-mocking, helps make up for that.

A nice thing about Flaws is that it plays like an album, rather than a compilation. The songs follow a calm, sailing on by kind of theme, which makes it good bedroom music, quiet background dinner party music or driving along the countryside in a car music. The clean production helps support that as do the precise sounding performances by the each member. However, I will mention that I was disappointed with the final track, Swansea, the "oh well, there you go" closer that could've either been worked on a little more or replaced with a proper final track.

Acoustic albums are things that a lot of bands like to have a go at, and there's a chance that all they'll do is show off how much the band depends on distortion and some shouting, but Bombay Bicycle Club have managed to avoid that by putting some well written songs into a perfectly listenable album. There are better albums of the kind out there, sure, but this is a good one, and if you're already into this band then I have no problem recommending a listen of Flaws.