8/10

Despite taking six years to release their highly-anticipated new album 'Everything Else Has Gone Wrong' earlier this year, you would have thought that Bombay Bicycle Club would probably want to shrink away again for a while before taking to the studio again. And while that may have been their plans, the recent coronavirus lockdown threw everything up in the air, so rather than wait around for a day that may not come again, the band spent the last few months recording a number of stripped back offerings from their latest collection to form 'Two Lives', a light and intimate take on their new material.

Named after and featuring a cover of the Bonnie Raitt classic, 'Two Lives' looks to give us more of the sweet and subtle side to the Bombay Bicycle Club sound. While they occasionally crack out the acoustic guitars on their records, there is something so intrinsic to their writing that these songs are able to translate to a more laid-back aesthetic so easily. While we have all heard these releases in their full and polished glory, the raw and minimal style of them feels like they could have all started life like this, giving this new EP an incredibly engaging and captivating texture throughout.

It may have just been something they knocked out to stave off insanity these last few months, but 'Two Lives' is probably one of their most memorable releases in a long time. And once its over, you'll find yourself yearning for more of this subtle and elegant beauty.