Bastille Gets Experimental in “Other People’s Heartache, Pt.4” EP

Bastille recently released their “Other People’s Heartache, Pt.4” EP.

They originated in Britain by lead singer Dan Smith starting a solo project. He later expanded by having keyboardist Kyle Simmons, bassist and guitarist Will Farquarson, and drummer Chris Wood.

The name Bastille comes from a celebrated holiday in France on July 14, which so happens to be Dan Smith birthday.

The band’s first album, Bad Blood went No.1 in the UK charts in 2013 and included their hit single, “Pompeii.” They continued to release remixes of their songs, and in 2014 released, “VS. (Other People’s Heart, Pt. III).” The band experiment with another artist such as HAIM, Rag’n’Bone Man, and others. In 2016, they put out another studio album Wild World.

“Other People’s Heartache, Pt.4” EP is a collection of 7 songs. The difference between Pt. III and this fourth installment is that Bastille experimented with sampling and remixing covers from another artist such as Cat Stevens, Charles & Eddie, Craig David, Sweet Female Attitudes, and more.

The band experimented with different genres and sounds straying away from their known sound, but still familiar with Dan Smith smooth and harmonizing vocals.

Wild World opens Smith’s vocals harmonizing over each other and continues like that for a bit without instrumentals. This definitely was one of my favorites as it sounds more acapella and has a darker tone in some parts of the song. Kianja also features in Wild World and Would I lie to You? Their vocals blend very well together creating a perfect harmony, sounds almost choir-like.

“Grip” really reminded me of Bastille more original sounds as it shares a percussive sound with their own hit Pompeii. They also dove into using EDM techniques when producing this song definitely showing their experimental side.

Throughout the rest of the album, “Don’t Let Go” gives us a more R&B sound making you sway as you listen to it. “Flowers” has a darker tone featuring Rationale and James Arthur. The falsetto in this track definitely highlights it as one of my favorites.

“The Descent” dives into a poppier sound with a catchy percussive sound and Smith’s faster vocals. This track features Jacob Banks rapsier tone throughout the song and has a very soulful. This mixtape ends with “Warmth,” a slower track that goes back to just Smith’s vocals harmonizing with what seems like no instrumentals. Everything has come full circle. As soon as Warmth ended, it looped back to Wild World, the first track and these two songs sync together like a puzzle piece.

Overall, this EP was short and sweet. A rendition of covers that Bastille reinvented into their own and adding their own flare to it. This is definitely something I’d listen to on a nice relaxing drive with friends, there is a song for everyone to enjoy!

Bastille’s “Still Avoiding Tomorrow” tour is set to start in January 2019 in Melbourne, Australia. So far they haven’t announced any U.S tour dates, which hopefully we will see them announce later and maybe include some festivals in there.

Go Stream “Other People’s Heartache, Pt.4!”