★★★★★
Despite only having two albums released, Bastille is one of my favorite bands to listen to. After three years they finally released their second. Wild World is an indie pop album with a total of nineteen songs. Much of the songs talk about past experiences and how they reflect on them. The first song on the album is called “Good Grief”. While the feeling of the song is happy, the lyrics are actually sad, singing about loss of somebody you care about.
“An Act of Kindness” is a nice, slower song with a little darkness in its sound. The lyrics are about a person who received an act of kindness, which surprised them. This one act of kindness would follow him around and it warmed him to the core, he now hoped to receive more kindness from others as well. The song made me think about just how much a single act of kindness can affect somebody’s day.
The tenth song on the album is called “Four Walls (The Ballad of Perry Smith)”, which is probably the most depressing songs on the album. The song was inspired by Perry Smith, an ex-convict who was convicted for murdering a family in Holcomb, Kansas and was executed by the death penalty. The lead singer and songwriter of the band, Dan sang about being opposed to the death penalty, saying “now we’re face with two wrongs”. The song is also about regret and having to carry the regret of committing a crime and waiting in the four walls of the prison before dying.
The eighteenth song on the album is called “Shame”, it is the kind of song that most people can relate to in one way or another. It tells the story about friends growing apart. After noticing that the other person has changed so much, barely even recognizing them anymore, and not liking how they’ve changed. It narrates having to tell someone you’ve cared for so much all of these thoughts and being nervous about it.
“The Anchor” is about that one person who when you think about, they help you clear your mind from all the bad thought and events that happened to you. It’s about that person who brings light to your day and like an anchor, holds you to the present when you get lost in thoughts about the past. As much of the album was the band reflecting on the past, “The Anchor” perfectly wraps up the album, bringing the listeners back to the present and lightening the mood with some positivity.