Happy Monday, fellow misadventurers! It’s another godforsaken Monday, and boy did I feel like death. I was the sickliest sick that ever drank Pepto Bismol earlier, but now I feel so much better. Fortunately for everyone who reads this, I’m not going to talk about that any further.
I picked Bastille today because it’s the first artist I’m not giving five out of five arbitrary scoring point-things. I love Bastille, and we’ll get to the reason for this choice soonish.
Somehow, through some stroke of luck, I happened upon “Pompeii” on YouTube. It had me hooked instantly. iTunes was opened, I searched for Bastille, and then cursed everything because the full album wasn’t available. There was, however, a four-song EP titled Haunt. If this were any indication to me, based on “Haunt” and “Pompeii”, as to how good their upcoming CD would be, I knew I would be hooked.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t entirely correct there. I did, of course, buy the Deluxe Preorder Whatever-The-Hell version, which featured a few extra tracks (one of the albums redeeming qualities). Haunt set the bar very high in terms of what I should expect, and a few of the tracks let me down a bit by comparison.
“Pompeii”, while one of my favorite songs by Bastille, is also enough of an earworm that having it stuck in my head for weeks at a time negates some of its greatness. Having to skip tracks after giving the whole CD a chance makes it a bit more disappointing, as I’m usually able to take a liking to entire CDs over time (usually being the operative word here).
Overall, Bastille’s vocals and catchy tunes still defeat any doubts I have about Haunt and Bad Blood and more. Overall arbitrary rating of four out of five golden wossname-thingums.
Phil's Misadventures In Fiction 
Pompeii is one of my favourite songs at the moment! I haven’t really listened to any of Bastille’s other songs, the ones I have heard I didn’t like but then again I didn’t really listen to them ‘properly’. I admire you for (usually) having the patience to fall in love with a whole CD, if I don’t like a song that’s it, I rarely give it a second chance.
Great post!
Janna
I would strongly recommend giving the rest of the Haunt EP (Overjoyed, Bad Blood, and Haunt) a chance, as they are all strong tracks in their own right. In terms of Bad Blood (the album), I’d recommend starting again with The Weight of Living Pt 1 (a bonus track), Laughter Lines (also a bonus track), Flaws, and These Streets. Those, I’ve found, are solid gateway tracks and a good test to see if you’ll take a liking to Bastille or if they’re more of a one-hit wonder for you.
Music is my escape of sorts, typically in the form of listening to my iPod at what are probably unsafe volumes. I already mourn the day my 160GB behemoth of musical happiness dies, as it will be very difficult to replace.
Thanks, and thanks very much for the comment.
Thank you for the recommendations! I’ll give them a go! Music dictates my mood and as such I use it as a tool in writing (as one would use images or research), I can’t write without it. I can imagine that being very hard to replace! They don’t make them the same anymore.
Janna
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