Clean Bandit – New Eyes

I’ve liked this group since my sister told me about them about 8 months ago, attracted to their fusion of classical and popular/house music, impressed mainly by the fact that they actually made it sound good. This successful experimentalism gave them a level of character, before even releasing their debut album, not achieved by some on their sixth album. Since then they have produced single after single, dominating the charts with tracks like Rather Be and Extraordinary, and as a feature artist on Gorgon City’s Intentions, attracting the attention of the general public to their quirky appeal. However, finally, the band have released their debut album, which features the help of Stylo G, Sharna Bass, Jess Glynne and Elisabeth Troy amongst many others.

The group met at Cambridge University. Jack Patterson (bass guitar and keyboards) was in a relationship with Grace Chatto (cello) at the time. Chatto, in turn was in a string quartet lead by Milan Neil Amin-Smith (violin), and the band was completed by Patterson’s brother, Luke, on drums. A friend of the band, Ssegawa-Ssekintu Kiwanuka (credited as Love Ssega) then wrote lyrics for a song and Mozart’s House materialized, officially starting their journey. The name Clean Bandit comes from the literal translation of the Russian equivalent of ‘complete bastard’ or ‘utter rascal’, but I think it is actually quite appropriate for the band’s style.

To be brutally honest, there isn’t a huge amount of this album that you won’t have already heard if you follow the band. For example, the first five tracks are singles, but after that it’s more unchartered territory, so at least the singles are out of the way quickly in terms of listening to music for the first time. I very strongly dislike the track Telephone Banking, one to swerve, but apart from that the album is a very strong one. My favourite track is probably Heart On Fire, featuring Elisabeth Troy, of the tracks not released as singles prior to the album’s release. It has the same clean, house based influence characterising the group’s sound, but it’s a little more intense. There isn’t much classical influence in this track though. The album’s title track is also surprisingly intense, with a drum beat moving in the realms of what can only be described as trap, with Lizzo rapping over the top in a similar style to that of Iggy Azalea. I like it though, it does have features which connects it to the rest of the album, which prevents it from sticking out too much from the rest of the tracks. For classical music Birch is probably the strongest, with a slower and more relaxing atmosphere. Mozart’s House, the single to bring the band into the public arena, opens the album with strength, almost setting the scene. The coupling of A+E and Come Over, the track featuring Stylo G, is a bit of an overload of steel drums, but both are individually strong tracks in their own right. All of the tracks have merit, excluding Telephone Banking, it is very difficult to fault this body of music.

Basically this album is exactly what I expected, and hoped for from the group. It is a very impressive debut, one which I expect to sell extremely well, the group definitely deserve for it to. I’m glad they managed to fulfil their potential here, creating what is basically an extremely easy-to-listen-to album, without being snore inducing relaxation music. Definitely buy this, it is something people will find very difficult to actively dislike, and I feel that it is not the kind of album which will lose its musical merit over time. It is basically a very fun album, exactly as it set out to be.

Clean Bandit – The new formula

It is very rare that an artist really changes how the music world thinks. There, of course, have been real revolutionaries throughout the history of music, creating the start of a new era of music, of which the examples are countless. However this is becoming increasingly rare, with music tending to evolve as sub genres, and coalitions between different forms of music, as is the case with trap music, arising as a meeting point between hip hop and bass music. Even house music, a scene which has been continually growing over the past year, with fantastic new acts such as Disclosure, Bondax, Julio Bashmore and Friend Within changing how we think of dance music, is rooted in the 1980s and has essentially just evolved from other types of music. So when a band that thinks of something completely different comes onto the scene, it is a genuine achievement.

This is the case, in my opinion, with Clean Bandit. Despite not inventing a new genre, and simply moving along the path laid down by other house acts, this group has been attracting attention through its interpretation of the genre. The British group have been around since 2009, but only achieved their first number one track, with Rather Be, in January 2014. The thing which sets the group apart from the competition is the fusion of house music and classical instruments such as viola and cello. The group formed while studying at Cambridge University, and came about through the relationship of James Patterson, the keyboardist for the group, and Grace Chatto, the cellist. Patterson remixed the recordings of Chatto’s quartet, which included the violinist for the group, Milan Neil Amin-Smith.

The fusion of classical music with dance music is one which I have always believed would be hugely successful, and one which, I personally believe, took far too long in the making. Patterson’s production perfectly matches the style created by the string instruments, creating a very clean sound, as the name suggests. Actually the name came about as a translation from a Russian phrase which is used to say ‘utter bastard’, weirdly.

Having worked with another house music mammoth Gorgon City, on the phonomenal track Intentions, this group is on its way up, undoubtedly so. Having already topped the UK charts, their forthcoming album, New Eyes, which is set for release on the 12th of May on Atlantic Records, should be one of the most monumental for the whole year. I can definitely recommend you keep an eye out for that. I would also expect more acts who fuse different genres to form their unique sound, such as Bondax and The Other Tribe, to emerge as time goes by. All in all, a new formula has been found, and I look forward to the end products which arise as a result.