Album Review: Bastille - VS. Other People's Heartache Pt. III

Keep holding your breath for a second full player from Dan Smith and his awkwardly lumbering conglomerate.

Touring and ‘other’ projects means this tossed out 32-minute mixtape (unmixed) serves to maintain a public profile. An intriguing guest roster (HAIM; Skunk Anansie) promises much but yield humdrum results at best. Smith’s vocals seem lost somewhere between Everything Everything’s yelping and Chad Kroeger’s grunting whilst bad_news and The Driver try to marry the rock and dance crowds with the gracefulness of a chimpanzee carrying an overloaded backpack on the dancefloor. Bastille’s heartache is our earache.