Musical Thesis: Bombay Bicycle Club “Everything Else Has Gone Wrong”

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At the center of every album is a musical thesis. This thesis can be the driving force behind the album, a theme that interweaves songs together, or a feeling you are left with after the very last song plays. With some albums, the thesis is easy to find. On others, it is hidden and requires you to be more than a passive listener. These reviews are not about rating an album. Instead, it is about uncovering a musical thesis.

On one of those eternally long Spotify playlists, I am sure Bombay Bicycle Club and I crossed paths. Busy at work, riding my bike, or stuck in traffic, I didn’t give them much thought. When my favorite radio station in Seattle, KEXP, started playing tracks off “Everything Else Has Gone Wrong,” I decided to give this band the attention they rightly deserve.

Listening from beginning to end for the first time, this album feels very light and airy, almost poppy. It is only when you pass through on your second and third listens do you discover a band wrestling with buried disappointment and what it means to be truly open. In fact, the lyrics on this album often do not mesh with the sound around them. Some might see that as an odd choice. I see the opposition between the two as a symbol of the face we must put on for the world while we struggle with hell beneath the surface. I have no way of knowing if this was the band’s intention, but for me, it rang solidly true.

Be good to each other,

Nathan