After three very good but distinctly different albums - the spiky rock debut (I Had The Blues But Shook Them Loose), the folksy follow-up (Flaws), the jangly indie one (A Different Kind Of Fix) - it's not asking too much, surely, to expect Bombay Bicycle Club to finally settle down on a chosen style.
Clearly it is. Even the short intro sections to various tracks on album number four veer all over the map: sweeping world music orchestral loop one minute, heavenly Beach Boys harmonic cascades the next.
But don't be fooled into thinking that such a restless overflow of ideas is the sign of a band masking the fact that they can't nail down a tune: So Long, See You Tomorrow pushes the London quartet closer to pop than they've ever been before, although for every song that could rival Bastille at the top end of the charts, there's an instrumental element adding something unexpected and interesting to the mix.
Eyes Off You is a case in point: at times the meandering vocal melody is worthy of James Blake, at others it's beautifully straightforward. This is Bombay Bicycle Club's best record, and I'd put money on it being one of 2014's landmark releases.
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