A Risk I’ll Take

Bombay Bicycle Club featuring Damon Albarn “Heaven”

“Heaven” sounds like Bombay Bicycle Club and Damon Albarn set out to write their own take on the structural conceit of “A Day in the Life,” but with the aesthetics shifted to, roughly, the Beta Band era of UK indie music. The song is very elegantly paced and arranged as it moves towards a triumphant conclusion, but the thing I find most interesting is the disconnect between the lyrical perspectives of Albarn and Jack Steadman. While Steadman’s words support the vaguely grandiose quality of his parts of the song with him swearing “heaven is a risk I’ll take,” Albarn sings from the POV of a very religious gold miner. He sounds ragged and exhausted in these verses, suggesting the mindset of a man willing to break his body while guided by his faith to some great reward. Albarn’s character sounds genuine in his belief, but driven by base concerns, while Steadman seems earnest in his yearning but directionless in his pursuit.

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