English Indie band Bombay Bicycle Club chases the winter blahs with their ebullient EP Fantasies. The four-track release follows on the heels of their acclaimed October 2023 release, My Big Day. Both releases are characterized as a celebration of the band’s decade and a half of music-making. Each of the recent recordings examines the band’s past, present and future.
Bombay Bicycle Club was founded in 2005 in Crouch End, London, UK and came through the ranks with British bands like Elbow, Foals, Starsailor and Doves. The guitar-fronted ensemble has blended Folk, Electronica, World Music and Indie stylings, making them their own over six studio LPs. On Fantasies, the band collaborates with female songstresses, familiar and new, to produce four engaging tracks. The running list features longtime collaborator Lucy Rose on the released single “Willow”, Matilda Mann joins in on “Fantasneeze”, Liz Laurence contributes on “Blindfold”, and Rae Morris rounds out the collaborators on “Better Now.”
Fantasies open with the clean and crisp “Fantasneeze”, which delivers a healthy dose of pop psychedelia over a Bombay Bicycle Club signature bass line. The track is the kind of song that raises your spirits no matter how bad your day, with lyrics like “I promise you we’ll be okay … waking up like someone new.” “Fantasneeze” is a brilliantly crafted opening track.
“Blindfold” delves into a motorik sonic married to a Sufjan Stevens vibe. The lyrics point out that it might seem easier to blindfold ourselves in our current world situation, but if you blindfold yourself completely, you will see nothing at all. Bitter and sweet are what make up the human condition and have to be taken as a whole.
“Willow” relays all the classic sonic motifs of Bombay Bicycle Club. Giving off hints of XTC mixed with repetitive percussive effect and vapour wave. It is a jaunty love poem about both childhood and romantic relationships. Emphasized by lyrics like, “Lucky to find you… I’ve never met someone quieter than me.” After a listen, it is understandable that the band selected “Willow” as the first release from the EP.
The EP ends with “Better Now”, which is loaded with gleaming pop goodness. The song is best described as jumpy post-punk with a heavy bass line, making it very addictive. The lyrics enthuse “From here on only up” as an antidote to negative people and surroundings and finishes the release as sun-filled as it starts.
Bombay Bicycle Club with Fantasies provides a boost of positive pop in the grey of winter. The exuberance of each of the four songs delivers an impressive pop booster for the psyche. Fantasies does exactly what an EP should do for the artists; it leaves you wanting more and acts like a great recruiting tract for the band’s current and past work.
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