FlawsIsland **
It really doesn't make sense. Fresh-out-of-school Londoners Bombay Bicycle Club, follow up a stellar, if underappreciated, indie-rock debut in 2009 with a collection of acoustic re-workings of their own songs? Perhaps borne out of a desire to take up a space in the indie-folk niche occupied by the likes of Noah the Whale and Mumford Sons,
Flawsis an apt title for a missed opportunity to build on a solid foundation. There may be plenty of impressive guitar work here courtesy of Jamie MacColl, but this is a record lacking both atmosphere and indispensability. The previous jerky vim of songs such as
Dust on the Groundis here lost in a haze of lazy strumming, while even a cover of John Martyn's
Fairy Tale Lullabysounds as weary and drained as a deflated tyre.
Download tracks: Ivy Gold, My God
