I Had The Blues But I Shook Them Loose

North London outpost Crouch End, notoriously difficult to get to, has quite a musical pedigree with Dave Stewart and Bob Dylan often seen wandering through the trendy, independent High Street shops. Add to that Crouch End's latest offering - off-beat rockers Bombay Bicycle Club headed by Jack Steadman on lead vocals and guitar, Jamie MacColl on lead guitar and backing vocals, Ed Nash on bass and keyboards, and Suren de Saram on drums. These are steady guys - waiting to complete their college commitments before recording their debut album I Had the Blues But I Shook Them Loose for a mid-2009 release. The title of the album was grafted from a line in the song 'After Hours' by A Tribe Called Quest, from their 1990 album People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm.

The opening track, the instrumental 'Emergency Contraception Blues' serves as a prelude and whets the appetite with its jangly lead guitar and up-tempo percussions, sweeping rhythms and joyous synth accompaniment. If anything, this raises expectations prematurely high, and the second track, 'Lamplight' doesn't wholly deliver. Lead singer Jack Steadman's quirky, vibrato vocals give an air of insecurity and have been deliberately mixed low, the band have a preference to showcasing the guitar work and backgrounding Steadman's vocals - you can sense they are playing to their strengths. The album is a collection of like-sounding, well-crafted rock tunes, some sing-a-long, some more discordant, all beautifully packaged and arranged.

A workmanlike opener with the promise of better to come. See you down the World Cafe, lads!