Clean Bandit
New Eyes

Necessary premise: why am I reviewing an album like this on Debaser? Because I'm a masochistic fool.

("Who the hell are Clean Bandit?" - Average User)Clean Bandit is an English electro-classical/synth/baroque pop music group, and they have finally reached their debut album moment after something like eight years since their formation. I admit that I was really intrigued by the proposal of these young musicians (even though it wasn't particularly innovative, as the path had already been paved by groups like Basement Jaxx and Portishead), also because the singles released seemed promising. Among them was a certain "Rather Be" (here the Average User realizes that Clean Bandit is one of the groups that drove him crazy this summer) a track that, in my opinion, was very successful. Sure, it's clearly a commercial song without much pretension (especially from a lyrical point of view, which is unfortunately a problem for all the quartet's songs. Quite a serious fact, considering our friends attended Cambridge, not the last of schools, let's say), but it makes you sing along and tap your foot, damn it. And it had been a while since I had heard a song on the radio that made me sing. Despite this, I consider this album a missed opportunity. Those who had already listened to some Clean Bandit songs before "New Eyes" was released, in fact, would have come across their very first song, "Mozart's House," also included on the aforementioned album and dating back to the now distant 2010. This song is, in short, what I would expect from a (fairly) modern eclectic group. A skillful fusion of house, disco, and classical with various references to a Depeche Mode-esque synthpop. And the album would deserve a full ten if it were composed entirely this way. But obviously, it wasn't. There's still something good in "A+E," a good attempt at something vaguely funky, in the title track, supported by the furious rap of singer Lizzo, and in the closing "Outro Movement III",classical music played with synthesizers reminiscent of old video game soundtracks, concluding with a tear-jerking melody supported only by the string quartet. But after that? Too many songs too similar to each other, as if composed in haste to try to repeat the success of "Rather Be," and the feeling that they didn't want to complicate things too much and reach out to too narrow an audience. However, I'm not saying it's a bad album. It's actually quite enjoyable, but as already mentioned, it's a missed opportunity. To be clearer: remember when you were in elementary school, and the teacher would say to your mother, "Your child is good, but doesn't apply?" There you go. That's "New Eyes". An album not deepened because no one applied to make it so. Something that could have been but isn't. Clean Bandit, therefore, now have two musical paths before them: the path of "Rather Be" and the path of "Mozart's House". But, given the recent featuring with Jess Glynne in the unreleased "True Love," it seems clear which path the four have decided to take (unfortunately).