Bombay Bicycle Club - My Big Day Album Review

Bombay Bicycle Club are an indie rock band from Crouch End, London, formed of Jack Steadman (Vocals & Guitar), Jamie MacColl (Guitar), Ed Nash (Bass), and Suren de Saram (Drums). The band won Virgin Mobile's Road to V competition on Channel 4 in 2006, which gave them the opening slot of the 2006 V Festival. Their first album I Had the Blues But I Shook Them Loose was released in 2009 to high critical acclaim. The band announced a hiatus in January 2016, from which they returned three years later.

Perhaps playing it safe on their post-hiatus return ‘Everything Else Has Gone Wrong’, Bombay Bicycle Club have followed up- and with a fantastically eclectic cast of features.

The north London band are no strangers to genre-hopping. Starting out with energetic indie dancefloor inspired driven guitar riffs in their debut I Had the Blues But I Shook Them Loose (2009), then shocking the scene with a far more mellow fully acoustic album in Flaws a year later.

The band went on to combine their existing sound with more electronic and synthesised elements in later efforts A Different Kind of Fix (2011) and So Long, See You Tomorrow (2014) - cementing their signature folk rock style. Their previous album Everything Else Has Gone Wrong (2020) saw a return to classic Bombay Bicycle Club, but perhaps lacked the creative innovation for which they are known.

My Big Day is a dramatically different album to its more cautious predecessor, showing that Bombay are still capable of directional change-ups between albums, akin to that of their earliest two. Their newest record is almost certainly their boldest and most daring to date. The album includes an eclectic mix of genres, from the hip hop vibes of the title track, to the psychedelic rock guitar riffs in I Want To Be Your Only Pet, the funky instrumentation in Tekken 2, the Flaws inspired folk sounds of Turn The World On, and of course the signature Bombay indie rock goodness smattered throughout.

Both Lead singer Jack Steadman and Bass player Ed Nash pursued solo careers during their band's six year long hiatus, and on this newest offering from the now-reformed band, both bring elements of their own music to the collective. Mr Jukes’ (Steadman’s alter ego) influence can be seen all over the record, with R&B and hip hop beats noticeably appearing on Just A Little More Time and Rural Radio Predicts The Rapture.

A brave new musical direction may have excited existing Bombay fans, but a lengthy, and wonderfully bizarre collection of features caught the ear of neutrals. American bedroom/dream pop artist Jay Som added some sweet vocals to Sleepless, giving the tune a real upbeat inflection. Holly Humberstone duets on vocals with Steadman on Diving, forming a vocal partnership similar to that of Steadman and Liz Lawrence on previous records. Nilüfer Yanya delivers a perfectly deadpan vocal delivery on Meditate.

The other two features represent something of a coup for Bombay, as the indie outfit punched well above their weight to draw in some giants of the industry. Chaka Khan- ‘The Queen of Funk’ makes a guest vocal appearance on Tekken 2, very much confirming the funk-like direction of the song. The ten-time Grammy Award winner added her trademark high pitched vocals to the track- showing that she still has it at the age of 70! Damon Albarn of Blur and Gorillaz co-wrote Heaven, also appearing as a vocalist in a dreamy stripped back verse in the song.

My Big Day takes Bombay Bicycle Club’s discography to places it’s never been before, yet finding the space to showcase their trademark sound crafted over the course of their previous five albums. Despite not containing any instant indie classics such as Always Like This or Shuffle, the record contains a few strong inclusions which remind us of their beginnings, like I Want To Be Your Only Pet with its huge bassy riff work. Onward is a classic Bombay tune. Some lovely folk-y guitar work slowly builds into a louder, but just as lucious driven electric sound- eluding to sounds of 2009. Meditate, Tekken 2 and Rural Radio Predicts The Rapture are all welcome editions, pushing the Bombay tone into a new dimension, without straying too far from what they are.

A healthy dose of nostalgia, coupled with the correct amount of change. I am excited to see what stems the indie incumbents will follow up on their next record.

7.5/10