Bombay Bicycle Club burst onto the scene and into our hearts in the late noughties with their heralded debut album I Had The Blues But I Shook Them Loose, and kept churning out hits year after year as their sound evolved. Roughly two years after the release of their 2014 synth-pop odyssey So Long, See You Tomorrow, the band announced an indefinite hiatus.
Now, after five years of silence, Bombay Bicycle Club have returned, going back to their guitar-driven roots with one of their most addictive songs yet. With invigorating hooks, infectious melodies and a carefree attitude, Eat, Sleep, Wake (Nothing But You) is everything we’ve all been waiting for.
Bombay Bicycle Club have returned after a five-year hiatus with a tantalising, infectious new tune Eat, Sleep, Wake (Nothing But You).
Appearing on BBC Radio 1 – Annie Mac’s Hottest Record In The World last night, the band premiered the new track, saying that Eat, Sleep, Wake… contains “one of the best riffs” they’ve ever written and signalled a “back-to-basics” approach to creating new material, and it shows. The new single is scaled back from the sky-scraping synth-pop of their fourth album, making it all the more effective. It encapsulates all the ingredients that made the world fall in love with this British band over 10 years ago.
Eat, Sleep, Wake is driven with infectious melodies the whole way through, it feels euphoric and carefree, like riding a bike down a hill with the wind in your hair. With quivering, lazy, yet subtly powerful vocal delivery layered upon thrashing percussion and trembling guitar riffs, this track has an electrifying energy that’s incredibly exhilarating.
It’s a teen-lust style anthem that explores the carefree emotions of becoming completely infatuated with someone. There’s a wistful, nostalgic feeling to it, though, as frontman Jack Steadman looks back through the clouded lenses of hindsight, singing “So all I have are memories/ Those looks at the start, the words in the dark/ But never a flame, we just wanted the spark.”
Recorded at London’s KONK Studio with producer John Congleton, Eat, Sleep, Wake, is a welcome return for Bombay Bicycle Club, who have clearly not lost their innate ear for melody over the years. They continue to demonstrate a knack for making timeless, interesting and inventive guitar pop that sounds so effortless yet exciting.
Eat, Sleep, Wake is just a tantalising taste of what the band still have in store for us, as they’re working on a full-length album which is due to be out next year. Until then, you can feast your ears on the new single above.
