Review Summary: More than just a pop album but much less than it could have been.
From the start of this album ("Mozart's House"), we see that Clean Bandit are interested in making something that people can dance to. In addition, they're obviously intrigued by combinations of genres, as we hear both the classical and house influnces that weigh throughout the rest of the album. These are both noble enough goals - there are many good dance albums, and many of the biggest innovations in music have come from combining two previously uncombined styles. However, these concepts are dragged down by the album's poor execution.
The concept of mixing a relatively traditional violin in with a electronic beat is interesting, if not very original (see Lindsey Stirling). It works well on some songs, like "Extraordinary" and "Rather Be." On these tracks, the violin takes a secondary position to the heavy bass beats. It
accentuates the beats, rather than attempting to create them. Other styles, such as the heavy reggae influnces on tracks like "Mozart's House" and "Come Over," don't work so well. I appreciate the attempts to input more than the classical + dance vibe, but it really doesn't work that well.
The album sounds decent initially. But soon we see the main issue: it's significantly too long. There are little to no breaks from the straight chorus-driven festival that is the majority of the album. Some songs help to break from that, like "Birch," a standout, but most don't, which makes the album tiring and boring. Even some very basic interludes would have improved this album significantly. It would have worked better if they had just taken some of the better songs off of the album and made an EP instead.
I'm just going to go ahead and say it: this isn't a good album. It's not a bad album either, but it's definitely not something I see myself listening to again. It's well-produced, somewhat innovative, and has some good songs, but it's too long, the mash of genres doesn't often work, and it's really repetitive. It has a lot of potential, so hopefully Clean Bandit's next endeavor will be an upgrade.
Standouts:
"Extraordinary"
"Rather Be"
"Up Again"
"Birch"
