South
London group Bastille’s new song might sound familiar to some. Flaws was the first thing Dan Smith and
company released - a 7” double A-side vinyl with Icarus, back in June 2011 - the home-made video to which landed
them over a quarter of a million hits on YouTube. As seems to be the trend for
bands these days, they rode their acclaim and eventually decided to remove all
trace of the single ever having existed so they could release it a second time.
Which is fair enough.
Flaws, then, kicks things off with a
clean, downward staccato from the very right end of the keyboard, before
slicing into the melody with a low, booming bass which drags it immediately
through the mud. Smith’s voice is unsettled and indecisive as he warbles the
verse in a half-falsetto, half-Southwark twang over the top of a neat and tidy
drum line. It’s very pleasant, but as far as verses go, there’s nothing
particularly special or memorable here.
The
pre-chorus, however, sees Bastille push the envelope slightly on vocals - Smith’s
rhymes are joined by an undercurrent of harmonious a cappella, dipping into a
different key altogether for two lines of the song. The words themselves are
rather uninspired, but given that this is in reality quite an early piece of work by
the group perhaps we can let this slide.
Smith
yelps the chorus with karaoke-esque aplomb, while the spine of the song remains
almost completely unchanged. While this creates a sense of unity in the track,
it simultaneously feels rather monotonous; it sounds as though it's trying to be
heartfelt, but the synth is far too soft, the words unexceptional, and even the
oohs and aahs from the backing vocals can’t hammer it into shape. Still, the
song is at least chopped up towards the end with some different dynamics and
some quite lovely hooks.
Flaws is a genuinely likeable, catchy
song, one that is very easy to play ad infinitum, but it lacks a certain spark
to make it stand out from the crowd. If Bastille are truly the ones to break
the mould in the world of pop music, they will need to craft music with more
variety, more vitality, and most importantly, some kind of edge. Otherwise,
while far from terrible, it’s just the same old, same old.
Flaws by Bastille is out on 21 October via Virgin Records.
JS
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