How can you not be an optimist about New Bastille
Who hurt you, Bastille? You used to be a good-time band; the purveyors of the kind of music that you’d put on if you were in the mood for something cinematic and yet relentlessly chipper, and the sound-trackers of countless indie discos up and down our fair ol’ isle. Your new album, however, is a narrative-driven breakdown of a night out gone amiss whose lead single arrived packed with more Dystopian misery than the entire canon of George Orwell. What gives?
Fear not, however, dear reader: for, it’s not all doom and gloom. Sure, based on what we’ve heard, it’s probably fair to say that it’s not going to be a barrel of laughs – yet, the fact that it ends with this track shows that there may well be a light at the end of that tunnel. It’s called Joy, and it’s precisely the kind of meticulously crafted pop banger that made us fall in love with Dan Smith and co. in the first place. Sit back, relax, and enjoy: