Bastille

Bad Blood

A debut that’s as infectious as it is dramatically powerful.

Here is an artist who may be young, but has already got a firm handle on his craft. 

Dan Smith has released more properly catchy songs on this one record than some bands manage in a lifetime

Delusions of cultdom still surface on their debut (most obviously on the Twin Peaks-referencing Sarah Palmer) but overall, it is a hooky, unmistakably populist affair.

‘Bad Blood’ comes out with about as much identity as a Facebook commenter without a profile picture.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with this too-many-feelings, heart-on-your-sleeve approach; it’s just that, played out over the course of an entire album (or on the airwaves, over the course of several years), the whole thing starts to feel a bit contrived.

It's hard to work out why these songs have made a greater connection than those of a hundred like-minded songwriters.