Despite what the Frenchy name suggests, Bastille (or BΔSTILLE if you’re willing to go along with their preferred styling) are an alt-rock band from London. According to Wikipedia the group started out as the solo project of front man Dan Smith, and from my limited exposure to them the whole endeavor has the typical singer-songwriter-with-a-band kind of feel. Nearly a year ago they released a single called “Pompeii.” It was a full-blown smash in the UK, but in the States it’s had more of a slow buildup. After 22 weeks on the charts it recently reached number 12 on the Hot 100, its highest ranking yet.
Coldplay is obviously the big influence behind this, but the Arcade Fire has contributed to this trend quite a bit as well, and along with crossover cornballs like Bastille there’s a thriving business in providing even rawer, somehow even more intensely earnest feelings-rock aimed for indie types. Underground and above, songs with wordless group vocals, the most recognizable signifier of emotional content almost too massive and majestic for one person to handle on their own (along with cymbal washes, tamed-down versions of the Pixies’ quiet-loud-quiet dynamic, and chord progressions that unhurriedly climb major scales), are the norm.
