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.
Nilla Reviews 