Bombay Bicycle Club – Shuffle

Believe it or not, while J has been gallivanting across Europe, leaving flaxen- and otherwise-haired beauties reeling in his wake (possibly the other way around) he’s notched up yet another milestone. Today is J’s 24th birthday, marking the twenty fourth time since 1987 that the 1969 moon landing has been overshadowed by the anniversary of existence of a mere terrestrial being. Half way across the world and with shonky-ass internet that means that this here blog remains our primary source of communication (ie. D: What have you been up to for the last four weeks? J: Read my post on Bon Iver), I feel that today is definitely a day to celebrate as it represents the first time that I’ve marked the occasion (you can read J’s gushing tributes to my 21st and 20th here and here) and also, I don’t want the whole www thinking I’m a dickhead brother. Coz I ain’t. Knowatimsayin?

Anyway, in efforts to chose something both heartfelt and relevant on this day, I’ve looked to a band that only recently entered my solar system of awareness, Norf London’s Bombay Bicycle Club. Named after a chain of Indian restaurants in the UK and not the Mumbai city association (think chapattis rather than chain-grease), the young four piece have been in the business since they skyrocketed to fame on the back of beating heavily favoured opposition The Holloways in the ‘Road To V’ competition back in 2006. That surprise saw them secure the opening slot at V Festival that year and apparently impress industry big wigs enough that three years and one EP later, after doing the independent thing on their own Mmm…Records (after Cookie Monster’s own heart), they signed with Island Records. Between 2009 and now they’ve released two LPs with a third on the way August 29, ‘A Different Kind Of Fix’ – from which ‘Shuffle’ is the first official single.

While shuffling has taken over the globe thanks to some of Motown’s Berry Gordy’s most cringeworthy relatives, I’m happy that us Indie Folk (you’ve been included in that Google+ circle of my mind by association, soz) now have our own shuffle for 2011, courtesy of the BCC’s jangly piano hook (so [sweetly] reminiscent of ). Now when those Beats By Dre-plugging, ciroc popping clowns move their feet rapidly from side to side in a random fashion and call it dancing, you can rejoice in Jack Steadman’s perfect falsetto, in the touching Glasvegian breakdown at the 2′ mark, in just how damn well executed this whole song is – innumerable separate ideas all combined so effortlessly. And I guess that’s where I’m going today, July 20, 2011. Hoping J – that most complex, intriguing, effortlessly hip character – can hear me in Baden Baden. Happy Birthday bro.

Bombay Bicycle Club – Shuffle

Keep pedaling with the BCC here.