Bastille - Bad Blood

Facts From one-man band to frontman and creative fulcrum, Dan Smith has taken his time getting the Bastille debut together. It's been a good couple of years since tracks from Bad Blood started a buzz, but he may have chosen his moment well.

Much has been made of the dispiriting state of today's charts - apparently a swamp of Auto-Tuned vocals and joyless EDM synths, crying out for the salvation of a guitar or two. Bastille might not be the obvious antidote, but they offer a compelling alternative.


Neither explicitly synth-led nor crunchy with guitars, Smith and the band that adds flesh to the bones he wrought himself create something that's clearly pop but evades firm categorisation beyond that. It could stand apart.


Smith avoids vocal effects almost entirely, the one concession some warm Sparky's Magic Piano synthetic harmonies on leaving the club/leaving your senses closer Get Home.


Otherwise he's open and boyish, a gauche voice with traces of Chris Martin's glottal stops and Alt-J singer Joe Ne