A Look Back At Bastille’s ‘Wild World’ At Ten

This 9th September marks ten years since Bastille released their stunning second album, ‘Wild World’. 


From start to finish, the album is filled with some of the band's best and somewhat underrated tracks. The album felt different and expanded on what ‘Bad Blood’ gave us, mixing ‘Bad Blood’s more indie sounds with some EDM-style beats throughout the record. This mix might not normally work, but it worked especially well with Dan Smith’s vocals, which are often unique and expansive. 


2016 was, remarkably, ten years ago, and was perhaps one of the most prominent and exciting years for music, with some incredible albums being released. Bastille were definitely among them with 'Wild World'.

‘Good Grief’ opened the record, starting with the words "So, what would you little maniacs like to do first?" – a sample that was taken from John Hughes’ 1985 film Weird Science. When you hear the start of this track, you know you're definitely in for a treat. ‘Good Grief’ was released as the first single ahead of the album's release, and at the time it felt like a new direction for Bastille; it felt, at its core, catchy, but had an '80s-style vibe to it – a track that was a definite feel-good listen.


The album was a lengthy release, coming in at nearly 50 minutes for the standard version and over an hour for the Complete Edition. It was jam-packed with content; every song felt substantial, and often paved the way for some of Bastille’s future releases, with sounds from this record being expanded and fine-tuned on releases like ‘Doom Days’, their post-apocalyptic night-out record.


Songs like ‘The Currents’ and ‘Warmth’ both sounded big, especially with their openings, which sounded loud and inviting, pulling you straight into the tracks. There's never a point in this record where it completely slows down. There definitely are slower tracks, but everything in the record has a constant momentum to it. The clearest example of a slower track is ‘Two Evils’ which comes between two much bigger tracks in 'Power' and 'Send Them Off!'.


The album captured, well, what the world was at the time, showcasing the fun, the love, the joy and the doom that surrounded it. 'The Currents’ definitely took a more political direction, with the song looking at the political climate at the time and the people using their large platforms.


‘Send Them Off!’ is a very notable track from the album, as it featured on that year's FIFA 17. On every listen, this soundtrack brings back a huge wave of nostalgia, showing the spirit of the game combined with the band.


In 2017, the album claimed Best Album at the NME Awards, beating out the likes of Beyoncé’s ‘Lemonade’ and The 1975’s ‘I Like It When You Sleep, For You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware Of It’. This truly showed the album’s high quality and impact. The band also received nominations for Best Live Band, Best Track with ‘Good Grief’ and even received a nomination for Best British Band. To this day, the album stands the test of time and truly has some of the best tracks and moments in the band’s discography.


Today, Bastille are still going strong, with the band having released three more studio albums since ‘Wild World’: ‘Doom Days’, ‘Give Me The Future’ and ‘&’.


Jack Smith
Image: ‘Wild World’ Official Album Cover

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