Take alt-pop superstars Bastille, add Norwegian production duo SEEB, top off with some big beats and Dan Smith’s signature poetic lyrics and get collaborative single “Grip”. There aren’t many bands that successfully span genres, but with this new single, Bastille once again prove themselves to be champion musical chameleons of indie-dance-dreampop.
The musical team-up is a perfect merge of the artists’ genres. Bastille lead singer, Dan says: “Seeb turned our big, messy guitar song into something new and completely different, but it still feels wholly in keeping with the escapist theme of the song: the euphoria and horrors of a late, late night.” Being open to collaboration and fresh ideas have led the band to some of their best-loved tunes (turn up their haunting cover of ‘The Rhythm of the Night’).
“Grip” is the first release from Bastille’s upcoming mixtape ‘Other People’s Heartache Pt.4’and charts the highs and lows of an all-nighter. Lyrics flit between biblical references: “The Devil’s got my arms and it pulls me back into the night,”; “We got drunk on this unholy wine / To deliver us from our minds.” The song pulls describes emotional and chemical highs, touching on how addictive pushing boundaries can be and the bliss before the comedown.
Opening with a cutting description of walking out of the party to daylight: “The nighttime bleeds into the day / Tomorrow spills across the sky / And the sun’s a harsh reminder why / We are feeling barely human,” Bastille sum up that pre-hangover joy and guilt, once again proving why they will be one of the defining bands of this generation.
Dan took to Twitter to share some introspection behind how the track came to be: “We’ve been working on different versions of “Grip” for a while and have tried it out live in various incarnations. We’ve always loved the song, but were keen to hear it through someone else’s ears. Seeb turned our big, messy guitar song into something new and completely different, but it still feels wholly in keeping with the escapism of the song: the euphoric highs and crashing lows of night-chasing. When the drop happens it’s like you get sucked back into the weirdness of the night, like a door’s been opened into their clubby world. We love how they’ve fucked around with the vocals, and their production transformed it into something we never would have expected. Our mixtapes are a chance to collaborate and experiment, so we’re really excited that we’ve been able to give a different life for “Grip” with Seeb.”
