Bastille returns with an impressive second studio album

 

Indie pop acts like the British band Bastille lay at a crossroads between disparate genres — indie, like brazenly alternative acts such asModest Mouse who attract cult followings, and pop, as exemplified by more commercially-oriented bands like Maroon 5. With its 2013 debut album Bad Blood, Bastille appeared to be having trouble finding their footing in a schizophrenic genre; their struggle to have both an alternative sound and widespread appeal resulted in an overly conventional, semi-alternative album that did not showcase the band’s full potential. Thankfully, in their latest offering, Wild World, Bastille more fully realizes its artistic vision and has a much more confident and distinct sound.

Continuing on the groundwork set in Bad Blood, Wild World is resplendent with upbeat electropop and soaring, arena- and radio-friendly choruses. Producer, songwriter and lead vocalist Dan Smith has a knack for writing powerful hooks, and his considerable talent is on display in offerings such as “Good Grief” and “Send Them Off!” These tracks are almost certain radio smashes and conform to the buoyant beats Bastille fans have come to expect, but they are also imbued with just enough experimentation and inspiration to remain fresh and interesting.

However, to prevent falling into a homogenous sound, Wild World also takes a much-needed dive into darker material, such as in the moodier, violin-heavy tracks of “Glory” and “Oil On Water.” Not only do these songs provide the record with a more diverse palette of moods and sounds, but also its slower, slightly more minimalistic production is a breath of fresh air on an otherwise maximalist album. Songs such as “Shame,” “An Act of Kindness” and “Fake It” rely on heavy backbeats and a darker electronic sound, reflecting Smith’s range as a producer. Occasionally, however, it still feels as if Bastille is restrained in its experimentation by its desire to be commercially appealing; “Campus,” for instance, contains an interesting, eerie EDM break but then abruptly transitions back to the expected upbeat Bastille sound, as if Smith wanted to experiment but felt pressured to conform to fan and radio expectations.

Furthermore, a serious weakness that carries over from Bad Blood is the band’s propensity to be overly maximalist; Smith frequently layers so many sounds together that the melody is lost and the track dissolves into confused noise. He most often succumbs to this flaw during his choruses in his effort to make them as powerful as possible, as exemplified in “Blame,” “The Anchor” and “The Currents.” Wild World’s overproduction also makes it hard for the instruments to breathe, and the listener loses the well-conceived guitar riffs of “Power” and “Winter of Our Youth” due to the excess of background instrumentation.

The overproduction of Wild World makes Smith’s singing talents absolutely crucial to making Bastille’s songs work. Instead of adding personality, his vocals are mostly utilized to meet the difficult task of carrying the melody in the fast-paced hubbub of instrumentals. And though his considerable range and polished delivery help him do just that in tracks like “Lethargy,” there is also the sense that his talents are not being used to their full potential. The one exception is in the standout track “Two Evils,” which showcases Smith’s considerable skills by pairing him with the ghostly, eerie strumming of a single acoustic guitar. With the more minimalistic, intimate production, Smith’s voice comes to the forefront and he is able to show off his range and even an intriguing rasp absent from the rest of the album.

The area in which Smith is truly able to shine throughout the album, however, is in his unique and thoughtful songwriting. One of Bastille’s strengths is its lyrical distinctiveness, and Wild World reflects Smith’s nerdy and introspective personality well. Songs like the aforementioned “Send Them Off!” reference Shakespeare and Italian science-fiction movies, revealing little tidbits of Smith’s character as a lover of film and English literature. Smith even gets political in “Four Walls (The Ballad of Perry Smith),” which recounts the 1959 execution of a murderer to discuss Smith’s attitudes on capital punishment (“now we’re faced with two wrongs”). The timeliest track, “Warmth,” also contains the album’s name to describe the current state of global political upheaval that drives Smith to escape through music.

Wild World is a successful album because it allows Bastille’s sound to mature; it is also more open to experimentation, displaying Bastille’s greater confidence in its own musical identity. Though the band still seems somewhat tentative in its exploration of new styles and is prone to overproduction, Bastille is energized, musically gifted and has something interesting and fairly original to say. In Wild World, they managed to craft an album that will cement their place in the public conscience while promising innovative things to come.