Bombay Bicycle Club are cursed by the same, er, curse as Foals: everything they do is good, but you expect that, so it’s hard to assess.Their quality control is just really high. We’ve long thought Foals and Bombay Bicycle are the best bands in the UK so we were doubly pleased when both released new albums, or at least Foals’ second of 2019 came out just before this.

This new one follows the band taking a rest — presumably this is what the joking title refers to — and happily it’s just more Bicycle Club. The band is dominated by Jack Steadman’s vocals — if you don’t like them you’re in trouble — a tuneful, slightly husky voice that somehow combines feeling good with nostalgia, as if he’s always singing about a happy time you can’t quite remember. The music is clever and layered indie, never dull and never overcooked.

This new one is perhaps slicker and poppier — nothing approaches the turn-up-loud joy of say Overdone on So Long See You Tomorrow, but it’s all quality.

Like Foals you can only ruin it by analysis, but perhaps they’ve concentrated more on the choruses this time round and some of the interesting jerkiness has been ironed out.

 

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