BOMBAY Bicycle Club may have had a predilection for acoustic B-sides, but nevertheless second album Flaws is still a shock, as they change gear from their spiky indie debut with an entire set of stripped-down songs.
The change comes down to singer Jack Steadman, who “likes doing things by myself a lot”, and has done them so well in his North London bedroom that his frank, beautiful folk-pop songs have needed only the lightest adornment from guitarist Jamie MacColl. A cover of John Martyn’s Fairy Tale Lullaby and an adaptation of Joanna Newsom’s Swansea are further surprises on an album of depth, complexity and unhurried loveliness.
Ottawa’s The Acorn also favour songs of delicate construction and strolling pace, conveying rural tranquillity and the street romance of an urban night with equal élan. What’s more, they move at ease between pastoral folk and a modern soundtrack by accommodating country-cottage sounds and feedback alike. Glory Hope Mountain was a charming debut in 2008, and now No Ghost makes an even bigger impression.
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