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Bastille is one of the few bands in recent memory that has the ability to make me sit up and pay attention when one of their songs comes on the radio. Whether it’s the Gregorian chanting on “Pompeii” or the synth-tastic “Flaws,” I always stop what I’m doing to really drink in their songs and enjoy them. Their first album, 2013’s Bad Blood, was a great album (which my co-host and I will be discussing soon), and it only heightened my excitement and expectations for whatever they were going to do next. Does Wild World live up to that hype? Let’s find out.
Right out of the gate, with the synth-pop sounding “Good Grief,” Bastille lets you know that they are reaching for the stars with this album. The sounds are more varied (from synths to harder rock to soft alternative rock), the lyrics are bolder and more poignant, and Dan Smith outdoes himself as a singer again and again. Every song sounds like it should be played loud and in a stadium, even the softer ones, and it would be hard for me to even say which ones should be selected as singles and which ones shouldn’t. I think each and every one of these songs is excellent in some way, shape, or form, and it’ll be very hard to pick my top three.
The main focus of this album is the craziness of the modern world and how people try to live in it, tackling things like recent political events (“The Current” is totally about the Brexit), relationships (“Fake It”), and how some people cope with the darkness that exists on our planet (“An Act of Kindness”). These are all very heady themes, yet somehow Dan Smith (the writer of all these songs) makes them all fit together into one package, for the most part. That’s a huge accomplishment for a second album, which in all honesty can either make or break a band, and if this is the track that Bastille is going down it could be one of those bands we talk about for a long time, guys.
One thing I’ve always loved about Bastille is that the lyrics are incredibly evocative, be it the ruinous imagery of "Pompeii" or the Twin Peaks-inspired "Laura Palmer," and Wild World is no different on that front. “Snakes” uses a clever metaphor of, well, snakes, to illustrate Smith’s growing anxieties with the world and how much they’re threatening to consume him. “Lethargy” is about a relationship that is currently cratering towards an end, with the lyrics putting you in that conflicted headspace immediately, making his struggle very identifiable. The one I keep coming back to in my mind is “Two Evils,” which is incredibly dark and reflective, but is also open to interpretation. Is it about two men vying for a girl? Is it about a man at war with himself? We may never really know, but we’ll never really know what “American Pie” was all about either, and that’s still a great song.
I did want to make a note that these songs are also littered with literary and pop culture references, but in a good way. Voice recordings from movies like Weird Science (which is featured in the first track, “Good Grief”) and more obscure ones like the one quoted for “Fake It” (a short film from 1971 called Changing) are scattered throughout the album, either providing some context or helping enhance the mood of the song. The literary references are more explicit, with “Four Walls (The Ballad of Perry Smith)” taking from one of the murderers in Truman Capote's In Cold Blood to discuss the morality of the death penalty. Another one is “Send Them Off!” which is filled with references to Othello, to the point where one could argue it is the old Shakespeare play’s tragic romance told from Othello’s point of view. There’s some more throughout, but those are more subtle and not worth discussing here.
As I mentioned before, Bastille employs a wide variety of sounds and beats in this album, to the point where I wasn’t even sure what genre they’re supposed to fit in. They use synths quite a bit, fitting with music you’d associate with pop, in songs like “Snakes” and “Lethargy.” However, hard rock also comes in a lot in “Blame” and “Power.” After the success of Bad Blood I figured they were somewhere in the alternative rock genre, which is what I’d classify “Warmth” and “Two Evils” (which sounds like a Damien Rice song) as, but they are officially classified as “indie pop.” Maybe that’s different over in the UK, but I’m going to call them an alternative rock band because I find that more accurate.
Something I’ve been discussing with my dear co-host Jonathan about Weezer (on our podcast, found here) is how they can create lyrics that are dark and sad while making a sound that is upbeat and fast-moving, and Bastille is no different. While a good number of these songs have a matching set of beat and lyrics, it’s songs like “Glory,” “Good Grief,” and “Warmth” that are more impressive to me because of this contrast. “Warmth,” in particular, is about how numb Smith is feeling to the world and how he just wants someone to comfort him, but the sound is more upbeat alt-rock, providing an interesting contradiction. Certain songs also have an evolving sound, like the last track “Winter of Our Youth,” which goes from something Weezer might have done back in the day to a synth-laden sound towards the end of it. It’s certainly an eclectic and creative set of songs production-wise, and I’d love to see what led them to make these choices.
I’ve been saying a bunch of positive things, and that’s because I can’t really think of anything too negative about this album. “Blame” is the only song that feels slightly out of place, being more of a gangster-style story, but arguments have been made for its inclusion that make sense, so it doesn’t register as much of a complaint now. In light of two of my favorite albums this year, Blackstar and Blonde, Wild World doesn’t seem as ambitious or interesting in construction, but does that really matter? Not every album has to be experimental art, especially if it has great music on it like this one does. Plus, Bastille is doing more interesting things with their music than any artist in any genre (maybe minus pop, hip-hop, and EDM, the only genres that seem to be growing) are at the moment, making their work more satisfying on that front.
With Wild World, Bastille has solidified their place as one of the best bands working today. Each and every one of these songs is an enjoyable one, whether it's trying to pump you up or making you reflect on some important themes about life. This is an album I recommend anyone who remotely enjoys music listen to, and it is without a doubt one of the best albums of the year for me. I really hope that this is a sign of what’s to come from this band, and that I won’t have to wait as long to get another album!
Top Three:
- Glory
- Two Evils
- Four Walls (The Ballad of Perry Smith)
My Rating: 5 stars out of 5
Wild World is available now.
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