After a prolonged technical difficulty, the delightful English accent of Ed Nash soon mumbles down the phone line. “Ah, I’m sorry that took a while,” he says. The Bombay Bicycle Club bassist sounds tired – and after a quick off topic chat, it’s easy to understand why.
“Well, funnily enough, I just got back from Australia a couple of days ago,” he laughs. “I was down there to have a bit of a holiday over Christmas, New Years, and so on, which is why I guess I sound kind of jetlagged. We’ve [Bombay Bicycle Club] all had some time off, which has been great.”
The London four-piece have been lying dormant recording-wise since their 2011 release, A Different Kind Of Fix. But as the boys wake from their slumber, a new album joins them. On the record, titled So Long, See You Tomorrow, we see a whole new side of the indie four-piece – well, maybe not entirely.
“It does have quite a different sound to what we’ve done previously,” Nash says. “But I don’t think people will be entirely surprised. It’s not totally different, but it does pick up where quite a few songs left off in the last album – songs like ‘Shuffle’, ‘Lights Out, Words Gone’ – so it’s kind of like a progression from there. It’s far more bouncy; a lot more samples were used, so it’s quite electronic.”
“Compared to the last record, it’s a hell of a lot more personal. The lyrics kind of take the forefront, whereas last time they were a bit hidden. I think they are probably more honest than the previous album as well, but that’s really just my interpretation.”
“The lyrics kind of take the forefront, whereas last time they were a bit hidden”Paired with some beautifully intricate artwork and an interactive video for their single ‘Carry Me’, the album revolves around a different subject – something the band all find incredibly fascinating.
“It’s all based on this one central theme of repetition. That itself links into a lyrical theme that is present and is kind of the theme brought up with the album title. It’s about things going around in a circle,” Nash says.
“That music video kept crashing people’s computers, so I’m told. We didn’t initially seek out to make an interactive video, you know. These people got in touch with us and had kind of developed this technology that happened to slip in with the artwork and the whole theme of what we were trying to do with the album.”
“All the artwork is kind of based on this guy called Eadweard Muybridge. He pioneered stop-motion photography, like the zoetrope. The video is basically that, and we couldn’t quite turn down that idea!”
Prior to So Long, See You Tomorrow’s unveiling, Bombay Bicycle Club had released consecutive albums since 2009. Perhaps as a way of spicing things up and meddling with expectations, the lengthy time between releases came down to songwriting.
“I think previously we were kind of interested in making new music pretty quick,” the bassist says. “We just toured and toured. When we released A Different Kind Of Fix, we also toured for a very long time, and it’s a little hard to find time to write when you’re playing shows all the time. You obviously can’t set yourself the task of writing – you know, you say you’re going to write a pop song and then you don’t end up writing a pop song. You’ve got to provide yourself with the time to be able to write the songs you want to write.”
“That music video kept crashing people’s computers, so I’m told”Frontman Jack Steadman’s travels across India provided him with time to craft the very personal and honest lyrics, according to Nash.
“I think, in a way, it sort of gave Jack that chance to sort of get outside of London life. It [India] is an inspiring place that starts creativity, I suppose. It found its way into the music this time; if you listen to the album there are those Bollywood influences. It’s all really exciting. The track ‘Feel’ is probably the best example of that.”
But this isn’t exactly the first connection the band has to that part of Asia. Their band name itself is pinched from an Indian restaurant in the heart of London.
“We have a love for foreign food…it’s quite unfortunate, really,” Nash laughs. “When we started the band we were only 15 years old and didn’t realise that it would have a lasting impact on the rest of our lives, having to explain it for the rest of our lives… we literally just took the name and then it became something bigger than we ever expected.”
The topic then quickly jumped a little closer to home. “I know there’s a Bombay Bicycle Club in Adelaide, and when we were down in Australia last time they kept telling us to go there,” the musician says. “I really wish I went!”
With an extensive UK tour set for the band after the album’s release, they seem to have a lot on their plates for 2014.
“We just want to go on tour, really. We’re going to tour as hard as we possibly can. Hopefully we can come to Australia; that’s a big goal of mine to get over there and play some shows. I’m not just saying this, but the UK and Australia are my favourite places to play. The audiences there, I don’t know what it is, but they just seem to understand our music and what we’re all about.”
So Long, See You Tomorrow is out February 7th, 2014 through Caroline records.
