-By Zoe Orion
Bastille has created their own wild world of influences on their more ambitious and heavy sophomore album, Wild World. Despite a shift, under music that ranges from rock, soul, hip hop, and dance, is still their classic Bastille sound. If you’re not familiar with Bastille’s music (which is unlikely considering their debut Bad Blood was the best selling digital album of 2013, “Pompeii” anyone?) think unshakable hooks, Dan Smith’s uniquely soft yet powerful vocals and, at the core of it, solid songwriting. The main discernible difference from their debut album is the inclusion of guitars which were left completely out of Bad Blood (the band says this was done “mostly by accident”). As always, Dan Smith steers away from autobiographical lyrics and chooses to focus more on stories, such as “Blame,” which is an imagined story about two gangsters having a fight, and “Four Walls,” which was inspired by Truman Capote’s novel In Cold Blood. Overall, the album is loosely based on Bastille’s reaction to the horrible things that go on in the world.
Lead singer Dan Smith’s inner film geek is evident on Wild World. Not only do these tracks contain a cinematic landscape of strings and horns but also a collection of quotes taken from various documentaries and old films. From their lead single “Good Grief” which begins with a clip from classic ’80s teen movie Weird Science, “Snakes” samples of Freaks and Geeks, and The Currents clips from an American anti communist propaganda video, these film clips are scattered around Wild World and help set the tone of each song, giving the album more depth.
