''Everything Else Has Gone Wrong'' is the fifth studio album by the British

indie rock Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the music they produc ...

band

Bombay Bicycle Club Bombay Bicycle Club are an English indie rock band from Crouch End, London, consisting of Jack Steadman, Jamie MacColl, Suren de Saram, and Ed Nash. They are guitar-fronted and have experimented with different genres, including folk, electro ...

. It was released on 17 January 2020 by the band's own Mmm... Records imprint of Island Records,

Caroline International Caroline may refer to: People *Caroline (given name), a feminine given name * J. C. Caroline (born 1933), American college and National Football League player * Jordan Caroline (born 1996), American (men's) basketball player Places Antarctica * ...

and Arts & Crafts. It is their first album in nearly six years, since the release of '' So Long, See You Tomorrow'' (2014). The album debuted at number one on the UK's Official Record Store Chart.

Background and recording

Bombay Bicycle Club announced an indefinite hiatus on 29 January 2016. However, they explicitly ruled out the notion that the band was breaking up and also alluded toward potential solo material from frontman

Jack Steadman Jack W. Steadman (September 14, 1928 – July 5, 2015) was an American football executive who served as chairman, vice president, president and general manager for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League. Steadman retired as vice c ...

and from bassist Ed Nash. However, in an interview with '' Q'' Nash recalled Steadman saying that he did not think he wanted to make another Bombay Bicycle Club album. In January 2017, Nash released the solo album ''The Pace of the Passing'' under the moniker Toothless. It featured vocals by

Marika Hackman Marika Louise Hackman (born 17 February 1992) is an English vocalist, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter. She is considered to fall within the alternative and English- folk genres, and is noted for her dark, melancholic lyrics. Hackman has r ...

, Tom Fleming, Liz Lawrence and

The Staves The Staves are an English indie folk trio of sisters Emily, Jessica and Camilla Staveley-Taylor from Watford, Hertfordshire, England. Career The Staves began performing together at open-mic nights in Watford hosted by a local pub, The Horns. ...

. Bombay Bicycle Club drummer Suren de Saram contributed drumming to the record. The album was produced by Nash and Steadman. In March 2017, Steadman formed the solo project Mr Jukes, releasing the album ''God First'' in July 2017. The album was produced by Steadman and featured BJ the Chicago Kid, Elli Ingram, Charles Bradley, De La Soul, Horace Andy,

Lalah Hathaway Eulaulah Donyll "Lalah" Hathaway (born December 16, 1968) is an American singer. In 1990 Hathaway released her first album titled ''Lalah Hathaway''. After releasing another album, titled '' A Moment'' (1994), it debuted at number 34 on the To ...

Lianne La Havas Lianne Charlotte Barnes (born 23 August 1989), known professionally as Lianne La Havas ( ), is a British singer-songwriter and record producer. Her career began after being introduced to various musicians, including singer Paloma Faith, for wh ...

. During the band's hiatus, guitarist Jamie MacColl completed an undergraduate degree in war studies at King's College London and a MPhil in international relations at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a public collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world's third oldest surviving university and one of its most pr ...

. He worked as an intelligence analyst for a social security company and also worked at a think tank in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

He also launched Undivided, a

Brexit Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC ...

campaign group to engage with people under the age of 30. Nash worked for some time in an office job in the interim. Steadman traveled extensively, including traveling on the

Trans-Siberian Railway The Trans-Siberian Railway (TSR; , , ) connects European Russia to the Russian Far East. Spanning a length of over , it is the longest railway line in the world. It runs from the city of Moscow in the west to the city of Vladivostok in the ea ...

as well as riding on a cargo ship from China to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. The band later sold all of their equipment and initially had no plans to record new music or tour. MacColl believed the band had effectively broken up, but was surprised when Steadman decided to be in the band again. Months after selling their equipment, they discussed the possibility of doing a one-off tour to celebrate the tenth anniversary of their debut album ''

I Had the Blues But I Shook Them Loose ''I Had the Blues But I Shook Them Loose'' is the first album by the London indie rock band, Bombay Bicycle Club released on 3 July 2009. The band announced the title through MySpace and their official website on 31 March 2009. The album was rec ...

'' (2009). However, they believed a one-off anniversary tour was not appropriate considering they were a relatively young band and since they felt they still had ideas for music. They instead quickly focused on writing new music. In January 2019, the band announced that they were ending their hiatus and that they would be performing concerts later in 2019, with intentions to record new music as well. Bombay Bicycle Club began recording for ''Everything Else Has Gone Wrong'' on 25 March 2019 at

Konk Studios Konk is the name of a recording studio and record label,

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. The band released an

extended play An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record.

of demos from 2004 to 2008 on 3 July 2019, marking exactly ten years since the release of their debut album on 3 July 2009. The band completed recording for the album on 14 September 2019 with producer

John Congleton John Congleton is an American Grammy Award-winning record producer, engineer, mixer, writer and musician. In addition to his production work, Congleton has fronted the alternative rock band the Paper Chase, and writes music for a newer project e ...

at Sargent Recorders in

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California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. The album was primarily produced by John Congleton with additional production by Steadman, except "Racing Stripes" which was produced by both Congleton and Steadman.

Release and promotion

The lead single to promote the album, "Eat, Sleep, Wake (Nothing but You)", was released on 27 August 2019. A music video directed by Louis Bhose, the band's former touring keyboardist, was released on 3 September 2019 and was shot in

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

. The second single, "Everything Else Has Gone Wrong", was released on 27 November 2019. An accompanying music video directed by Louis Bhose was released the same day. On 19 December 2019, "Racing Stripes" was released as the third single with an accompanying music video directed by Louis Bhose and shot in the

Lofoten Islands Lofoten () is an archipelago and a traditional district in the county of Nordland, Norway. Lofoten has distinctive scenery with dramatic mountains and peaks, open sea and sheltered bays, beaches and untouched lands. There are two towns, Svolvæ ...

of northern

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

. "I Can Hardly Speak" was released as the fourth single on 1 January 2020. "Is It Real" was released as the fifth single on 14 January 2020.

Artwork

The artwork illustrations for the album and its singles were commissioned by the band from Spanish artist María Medem.

Critical reception

''Everything Else Has Gone Wrong'' received mostly favourable reviews from contemporary

music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on w ...

. At

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 from reviews from mainstream critics, the album received a score of 74, based on sixteen reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Aggregator AnyDecentMusic? gave it 7.4 out of 10, based on their assessment of the critical consensus. Niall Doherty of '' Q'' gave the album a favourable review, writing, "Jack Steadman's breezy melodies are the perfect counter to the mutating musical backdrop." Greg Cochrane of ''

Uncut Uncut may refer to: * ''Uncut'' (film), a 1997 Canadian docudrama film by John Greyson about censorship * ''Uncut'' (magazine), a monthly British magazine with a focus on music, which began publishing in May 1997 * '' BET: Uncut'', a Black Enter ...

'' gave the album a favourable review, calling "Good Day" its "vulnerable centerpiece" and "Eat, Sleep, Wake (Nothing but You)" a "reminder of how far they've advanced since their early badge as adolescent indie rockers."

Track listing

Notes * signifies an additional producer.

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of ''Everything Else Has Gone Wrong''. Bombay Bicycle Club * Jack Steadman * Jamie MacColl * Suren De Saram * Ed Nash Additional musicians * Liz Lawrence – vocals , backing vocals *

Billie Marten Isabella Sophie Tweddle (born 27 May 1999), better known under the stage name Billie Marten, is a British singer-songwriter and musician from Ripon in North Yorkshire. She first came to prominence at the age of twelve when a video on YouTube of ...

– backing vocals *

Nate Walcott Nate Walcott (born March 6, 1978) is an American musical composer, arranger, pianist, keyboardist, and trumpeter. He has composed the scores for several feature-length films, including 2014's ''The Fault in Our Stars''. He is a member of the ba ...

– trumpet * Aniela Marie Perry – cello * Elizabeth Baba – violin * Madeline Falcone – violin * Marta Sofia Honer – viola * David Moyer – tenor saxophone * David Urquidi – tenor saxophone Technical * Jack Steadman – production , additional production * John Congleton – production , mixing , engineering *

Greg Calbi Gregory Calbi (born April 3, 1949) is an American mastering engineer at Sterling Sound, New Jersey. Biography Greg Calbi was born on April 3, 1949, in Yonkers, New York, and raised in Bayside, Queens, New York. He graduated in 1966 from Bishop ...

– mastering * Sean Cook – assistant engineer * George Chung – assistant engineer Artwork * María Medem – artwork illustrations * Joe Prytherch – artwork layout, logo

Charts

References

{{Authority control 2020 albums Bombay Bicycle Club albums Albums produced by John Congleton Island Records albums