For a production due that started out as a blog things have gone staggeringly well for Bicep. Their self titled debut released in 2017 was a 90s indebted but future leaning emotional dance record which was this writer’s favourite album of the year. It also contained the ever presented, hugely successful and decade defining tack Glue (https://open.spotify.com/track/2aJDlirz6v2a4HREki98cP?si=fx2j0w-USDaBhYB5OZv_Mg) which is still riding high in dance charts and appearing regularly on multiple tv shows or adverts. In short since launching things have gone pretty well for the Belfast duo. And they don’t show any signs of slowing up with the release of their second album Isles.
Isles is immaculately put together and repeats similar tricks to their debut album but with enough variation to sound fresh. The sound is as before with broken beats and emotional synths that clearly take their cue for 90s breaks, house, trance and downtempo. And as with their debut it all works brilliantly.
The due have claimed they see this album as the opportunity to explore the headphone listening experience and that these tracks have been produced and sequenced with that in mind and that fans should expect club edits to be released in the future alongside entirely different versions to be played live (when one day live music exists again). If the goal was the ultimate headphone experience it is one which has been more than achieved. Production qualities, sequencing and the balance of each track is perfect and the record truly does sound great through a pair of good quality headphones.
There are multiple stand out tracks- Atlas, Apricots, Saku, Lido, Fir and closing track Hawk are all excellent. In fact the whole album is a triumphant success and each track could easily dominate the hoped for summer season in Ibiza.
With Isles Bicep have grown and continued to be an outstanding production due. Despite it only being January this could well be a contender for many people’s album of the year.
albumoftheweek 