Bastille firmly wedging themselves into my nostalgia in my final year of school, blasted every lunchtime from someone’s speakers. They managed to find that nice cosy spot of pleasing club-goers who just want to scream along to a collection of vowels as well as lyrics about Icarus that could be edited onto every gifset Tumblr could conceive.
Their ubiquity has been both a blessing and a curse. In one swoop it means they can blend all types of music to create something new. At the same time it is obvious they are often pressured into trying to please many people at once. Wild World manages to deliver. Electronic, clubby style, not quite committing to dubstep, and beats meeting pop-indie vocals. Often this blends to make something interesting and catchy. Occasionally however, the mood changes feel jerky, especially when listening to the album straight through.
In 2013 Bad Blood was ruthlessly critiqued by my mother (Isabel, 56), who claimed “every song sounded the same.” Wild World is vastly the opposite. Covering a variety of themes, from political in ‘Currents’ which says: “We’re sinking in the pool of your mistakes / So stub it out, your podium awaits” to more standard breakup songs, reflections on jealousy, as well as motivational songs about overcoming obstacles.
Bastille’s true talent is in their wide range of unusual influences and references. From Truman Capote, B.B. King, Shakespeare, and sampled dialogue from sci-fi films, this is not what you would normally expect to dance along to at The Big Cheese. This has always been the beauty of Bastille. They know their fans are either people who love relaxed rainy days and a happy trumpet-packed song about ‘Othello’, or people who are more than happy to just enjoy the tune blasting in a beer garden. Wherever it is heard, Wild World is guaranteed to maintain Bastille’s charm as a crowd-pleaser across genres.
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Image: Bastille