I have a weird voice – but it makes us stand out, says Bastille’s Dan Smith
DAN SMITH has always been fascinated by escapism and his visions of a fantasy world fuel Bastille’s new album, the futuristic and compelling Give Me The Future.
While their previous album Doom Days (2019) was about an imaginary apocalypse — “staying inside, shutting the curtains and ignoring the world” — Give Me The Future is “cathartic and uplifting”.
On a video chat with singer Smith, 35, he says: “For me, escapism is about going into your dreams, subconscious or films, books and video games. And it was something I wanted to interrogate on this record.
“A lot of our early songs were imagining myself in Pompeii and growing up via the lens of myths like Icarus, or books or TV shows by legends like David Lynch.”
And it was the death of an aunt in Australia through assisted dying following a battle with cancer that also made him think about resurrecting loved ones through technology, which is the story behind the band’s recent single No Bad Days.
He says: “I went to Australia at the last minute with my sister to visit my aunt. She’s amazing.
“And the decision that she made was incredibly brave. But for our family it was huge and really emotional.
“She lived in a state where they have just legalised assisted dying and she was one of the first people to go down that path.
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Paranoia in the future
“Then I saw a show at the Edinburgh Festival and comedian Jonny Pelham was talking about dealing with childhood trauma subconsciously by maladaptive daydreaming — which is being able to exist in a parallel life for hours and hours a day — as a coping mechanism in his life.
“I think he was living as a pirate. Amazing! And I couldn’t stop thinking about the way our minds cope with things and our ability to escape and break out of the lives that we have, for better or worse. That sent me down a rabbit hole as a concept for the album.”
More than previous albums, Bastille’s fourth effort draws from Smith’s fondness for sci-fi and he is a huge fan of writers Philip K Dick and Margaret Atwood
Smith cites films such as Minority Report, Total Recall and The Matrix as influences for the album. There are also songs named after the films Thelma & Louise and Back To The Future.
The band recorded lots of songs during lockdown, which were separated into two batches.
Smith says: “We picked the half that were more ‘future-leaning’ and which we thought had a sci-fi theme.
“It felt liberating because it meant I could rethink all the lyrics and I had a solid idea about building a world around it.
“I’m comfortable making references and using pop culture for wordplay and nodding towards the things I love and admire quite unashamedly.”
It’s the best album of their career. The track Shut Off The Lights nods to Paul Simon’s Graceland, with its chanted backing vocals, while No Bad Days and Stay Awake are songs that prove the band are at the peak of their creative powers.
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The atmospheric title track has Phil Collins as an influence. Smith says: “I wanted to nod to music I grew up listening to — the sounds of our house or being in the car with Mum and Dad.
“I’ve always wanted to nod towards that and make something that felt euphoric without being epic, because that’s a thing we’ve done quite a lot. This album is really infectious.”
Smith says it was important to offset themes about future paranoia with some warmth and humanity.
He says: “The track Plug In is about paranoia in the future. And then the chorus is basically asking or wanting someone to put their arms around you and tell you everything’s going to be OK — even though it’s not.”
It felt liberating because it meant I could rethink all the lyrics and I had a solid idea about building a world around it. I’m comfortable making references and using pop culture for wordplay and nodding towards the things I love and admire quite unashamedly.
Dan Smith
Despite Smith, keyboardist Kyle Simmons, drummer Chris “Woody” Wood and bassist and guitarist Will Farquarson having been forced apart because of lockdowns, they found ways to work together
Smith says: “Sometimes we’d play in the same room, in the studio and sometimes we’d work on the internet.
“Give Me The Future is a very collaborative album.”
On the track Promises, actor and rapper Riz Ahmed provides a spoken-word meditation on the mind-blowing theory of time as a loop.
Smith says: “Riz is amazing and really smart. And his albums are brilliant. We wanted to pop the paranoia bubble on the record and I had the idea of a spoken-word moment, like on Frank Ocean’s Blonde album.
“When Andre 3000 takes over on the track Solo, it’s a totally different feel.”
Filled with ‘cringe’
He adds: “I don’t know Riz too well but got in touch with him and said we were massive fans, and I’d love him to hear a bunch of music that I like.
“I’m really bad at approaching people that I admire. I don’t want to put them in a position where they have to say no. That fills me with cringe. But he said how he loves what we are doing.”
It’s taken a while but after a decade of hits and sell-out tours Smith is finally comfortable with being in the spotlight.
“I’m really excited about this album and feel really confident about it,” he says proudly.
“I listened back to it on a run the other day and I think it’s awesome. But I still have to switch from the fact that it’s me singing on the whole thing.
“With the pandemic it was helpful to park it and then come back to it more recently. I still find it really cringeworthy listening back to stuff, though.”
Smith is one of the most down-to-earth artists in music.
He’s been open about struggling with his singing and suffering with anxiety over playing live.
“But now I want to enjoy it all. Working with other people has allowed me to become more confident. And I want to enjoy playing live.
“I’ve always thought I have a very weird voice. But it’s the only one I’ve got,” he says with a laugh.
“For better or worse, it makes Bastille or anything I work on really stand out. And the production on our albums and our mix-tapes is f**ing bonkers and out-there.
“We’ve tried most things from heavy rock to EDM (electronic dance music), then beautiful acoustic moments to electronic.
“It’s our enthusiasm about music — we’re excited to try everything. But I’ve realised that my voice is the thing that holds it all together.”
‘I was naive’
When Smith’s not writing for Bastille, he’s also writing songs for other artists including Rag ’n’ Bone Man, Olly Murs, Tom Grennan and more recently for Yungblud and Brit Rising Star winners Griff and Holly Humberstone.
He says: “I was so naive coming into the music industry. I thought everyone wrote their own songs but they don’t, so this was another way of being creative and helping people to get what they want out of a song.
“Other times it’s just writing a song yourself and giving them away.
“People started to approach me and Mark (Crew), the producer I work with. I write all the time, so when we’re not doing Bastille stuff or touring I love to go in with other writers and producers as it’s just fun.
“Spending a couple of days with somebody else and getting to know their world and to hear about their experience is great.
“I love the first two to three hours of writing sessions where you’re chatting about sh*t and sharing stories — that’s the best bit.
‘Really confident’
“I once spent a day in a Beyonce songwriting camp, and it was the most humbling experience in my life.”
On Wednesday, Bastille played their new album for the first time live at an intimate show at London’s Earth Theatre as part of the War Child gig series.
Tomorrow they begin their UK tour proper in Edinburgh. Smith says: “These songs are fun and we’re really excited about this album and feel really confident in our music.
“So, every time we get together and play the album through, it’s been exciting.
We’re looking forward to getting out on tour and incorporating these songs in the setlist.
“We can’t wait to show fans this tour that is faithful to this weird new science-fiction world we have built.
“We’ve made something amazing and escapist. It’s going to be a fun show.
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“We can’t wait to get out and play these songs.”
- Bastille’s album Give Me The Future is out today.
Bastille — Give Me The Future
- Distorted Light Beam
- Thelma + Louise
- No Bad Days
- Brave New World
(interlude) - Back To The Future
- Plug In…
- Promises (with Riz Ahmed)
- Shut Off The Lights
- Stay Awake?
- Give Me The Future
- Club 57
- Total Dissociation
(interlude) - Future Holds (ft Bim)