Music: Bastille and CHVRCHES

Bastille - Pompeii

Some people need complete sillence to focus on their work. Not me. I love listening to music in the background whilst trying to meet all my deadlines. There are two bands I've been listening non-stop to lately. I'm probably way behind on discovering them, but I still wanted to introduce these two British bands to you: Bastille and CHVRCHES.

Bastille

Bastille was formed by its singer Daniel Smith, who was originally a solo performer. The name of the band indeed refers to the storming of the Bastille, as Smith's birthday is on the fourteenth of July. The first song I heard was "Pompeii", which has the most upbeat sound to it and just gives you energy, even though the lyrics aren't that optimistic at all. That sort of characterizes all their music; they don't necessarily sing about happy things, but the music does sound optimistic. It's 'full' and a 'whole' sound, like a blanket you can wrap around you, if that makes any sense. I love that they also appreciate good nineties music. Their single "Of the night" is a mash-up of "Rythm is a dancer" and "Rythm of the night", a golden combination of two guilty-pleasure classics. And if you like that kind of music, you can do no wrong in my book.

Bastille - Flaws

Bastille - Of the night

CHVRCHES

CHVRCHES - The mother we share

CHVRCHES has quite a different sound to Bastille, even though they both have a bit of an electric vibe, but also gives you lots of energy. Singer Lauren Mayberry has a very light and enchanting voice, which sounds very innocent and mixes effortlessly with the synthpop music of Iain Cook and Martin Doherty. Again, the lyrics aren't the most optimistic, but they are wrapped in such happy beats that it still puts a smile on your face. Of course they also have songs with more complex rythms and sounds to it, such as "Lies". But even this song is catchy in that it's easy to listen to and will be stuck in your head for a long time.

CHVRCHES - Gun

CHVRCHES - Lies

Both of these bands are great to listen to with all your attention, but also work excellent as background noise. I notice that even though I'm not listening to them with my full attention, I still occasionally join in on the choruses of the songs and they give just give me such a happy feeling, despite all the work that needs to be done.