Song of the Week April 7th 2014

Song of the Week- Extraordinary by Clean Bandit featuring Sharna Bass, from the album New Eyes

Not content with ruling the worldwide charts with their smash hit single ‘Rather Be’, British group Clean Bandit are gearing up to release the equally brilliant follow up Extraordinary. In many ways this new track works in the same way as ‘Rather Be’ in terms of enchanting audiences. Clean Bandit deliver a complex tune that combines a cool array of garage beats and classical string arrangements, with some italo piano thrown into the mix for good measure, and overall delivering a sound that is  powerful to hear and instantly recognisable. Once again the group also show that they don’t simply collaborate with people for the sake of collaborating. Sharna Bass brings a strong vocal performance that brings out this awesome sense of euphoria, whilst differing from previous Clean Bandit collaborator Jess Glynne through having a touch more depth to her vocals and bringing out a slight melancholic tinge to the euphoria in places. The song lyrically focuses on Bass telling this person of how people create extraordinary things in life, and she asks this person to say that they will be with her and feel the same way as she does. The lyrics focus on that simple statement of please reciprocate my feelings, but the song is lyrically intricate in a way that is immediately catchy but also doesn’t lack that sense of depth that can sometimes come out when a song is too commercial. Clean Bandit are definitely the stars of 2014, and the only annoying thing about this song is that now it has got me really excited for their debut album, but that has unfortunately been pushed back and isn’t to be released until early June. Until then, let us all just revel in the brilliance of Extraordinary.