Bombay Bicycle Club - I Had the Blues But I Shook Them Loose *** (From This Is Local London)

Bombay Bicycle Club - I Had the Blues But I Shook Them Loose ***

7:30pm Thursday 9th July 2009 in

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It’s three years since BBC played V festival a few days after finishing their GCSEs and the time has been well spent if this debut album is anything to go by. Musically ambitious, sonically precocious and lyrically astute, it makes a slew of cool references without ever really sounding like anyone else.

Dipping into a musical grab bag that includes Joy Division, Echo & the Bunnymen, Pavement, Dinosaur Jr, Bloc Party and Vampire Weekend, BBC have conjured a sound that invokes rather than duplicates its influences on folk-punk-pop like Always Like This, The Hill and Lamplight.

If there’s a criticism it’s only that sometimes its singular voice sounds a little contrived, but its sheer depth of ambition augers well for BBC’s future.