Gig review: Bombay Biycle Club

THIS north London quartet could retire tomorrow – each member barely into their twenties – having already achieved more than most groups manage in a lifetime: three well-received albums, solid sales and the adoration of a sizeable section of their peers. But the best may be yet to come from a band still on the hunt for their signature sound.

Bombay Bicycle Club’s output to date suggests a degree of genre tourism: their debut album touched on everything from Afrobeat to neo-shoegaze, its acoustic follow-up Flaws indulged in a bit of post-Mumford and Sons indie-folk while their latest set A Different Kind of Fix dabbles with danceable repetitive grooves and fizzling electronics.

Whether adding banjo or synth to the mix, it all sat together well live, tied together by an off-kilter approach to melody and frontman Jack Steadman’s quavering voice. But they’ll be a less uneven proposition when they boil their influences down into something their own. Their latest single Shuffle – a stealthily catchy and agreeably difficult to categorize tune built around a jittery piano pattern – suggested that process is underway.

If something was missing it was maybe a certain fun-factor. Bombay Bicycle Club’s young fans had come to pogo, but only the Vampire Weekend-esque Always Like This really gave them licence.

Starting the encore with Still – a pensive Radiohead-style piano number performed solo by Steadman – was a bold move that paid off by yielding the night’s camera-phone moment and underscoring the diverse and growing appeal of a band with maturity and ideas to burn.