In a bid to do their bit when it comes to tackling racism in the UK music industry, indie poppers Bombay Bicycle Club yesterday announced the release of a new EP. Titled Two Lives after a Bonnie Raitt cover that will appear in the tracklist (and fingers crossed not a hamfisted reference to racial discrimination), all proceeds from the pay-what-you-want digital EP will go to Chineke! and Youth Music, a pair of charities that work to promote diversity in Britain’s educational and professional music landscapes.
Created in 2015, the Chineke! Foundation helps provide career opportunities for Black and Minority Ethic classical musicians in the UK and Europe, whilst Youth Music invest in hundreds of music-making projects nationwide that allow children and young people in deprived areas to engage with music culture as a means of community participation. The band’s support of these two institutions of course comes in the wake of Blackout Tuesday, a grassroots social media campaign started by industry professionals Brianna Agyemang and Jamila Thomas that urged the industry to halt their ‘business as usual’ online presence in solidarity with the worldwide protests sparked by the killing of George Floyd.
NEW EP! We’ve been recording some acoustic reworks of album tracks while in lockdown. Just like when we made Flaws ten years ago, we’ve been recording in our bedrooms and capturing every chair squeak and car engine outside. pic.twitter.com/LSePcjDcH5
— Bombay Bicycle Club (@BombayBicycle) June 12, 2020
In anticipation of the EPs release, Bombay Bicycle Club have released a heart-warming little animated video for an acoustic rendition of “Let You Go”, a deep cut from their recent fifth album. Released in January, Everything Else Has Gone Wrong was the band’s comeback record having taken a three-year-long hiatus. Every upcoming fortnight, the three other songs on the four-track EP will be made available: acoustic versions of fellow Everything Else… cuts “Is It Real?” and “Racing Stripes”, as well as the EP’s title track.
Writing on their website, the London four piece were delighted to reveal that to record the project given the coronavirus-enforced lockdown, they had ended up emulating the lo-fi recording process they used a decade ago for their entirely acoustic second album Flaws. “We’ve been recording in our bedrooms and capturing every chair squeak and car engine outside” reads the statement. According to NME, frontman Jack Steadman called the process “going back to basics and recording just like I used to growing up”. “It brought back a lot of funny memories”, he said, “making DIY shakers out of rice and tupperware, and mic shields out of coat hangers and stockings”.Two Lives will be released by Mmm… Records on the 24th of July. You can watch the official music video for the acoustic version of “Let You Go” via Bombay Bicycle Club’s YouTube channel below:
