December 6, 2011

Bombay Bicycle Club, 'Shuffle'
Bombay Bicycle Club Tickets

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Photo Gallery: Bombay Bicycle Club
Photo: Jacob Perlmutter

Album Info

Release Date: June 20, 2011

There’s strange things afoot down folkways. Noah & The Whale went drive-time, Mumford & Sons scorched through America, netting Hollywood fans on the way, and now Bombay Bicycle Club have outplayed them all with ‘Shuffle’. It’s the moment in the film-of-their-lives when the screen goes black and the legend “10 years later” appears. In the interim there have been several collisions of the solar and lunar tides and their previously perfect knitwear is now littered with hot-rock burns.

Put simply, the boys have gone through the rabbit hole only to re-emerge with the kind of musical makeover most bands would give both ears for. ‘Shuffle’ takes a match to those former jumble sale rhythms with a house piano sample, baggy drums and a funky bass riff. Some credit must go to producer Ben Allen, whose work with the cream of the American indie elite (Animal Collective, Deerhunter) has clearly rubbed off on them. And, of course, ‘Shuffle’ is the perfect title: “to confuse”, “an artifice”, “to make a shift” – these multiple meanings all apply to Bombay Bicycle Club’s comeback single. Add to those “to delight” and “to wow” and you’ve got it about right.

Priya Elan

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