Bombay Bicycle Club are excited to share details of the forthcoming Bombay & Friends EP, Fantasies, which will be released on February 23 via Arts & Crafts. The EP features collaborations with Lucy Rose, Rae Morris, Liz Lawrence and Matilda Mann. The first track, “Fantasneeze” featuring Matilda Mann, is streaming now.
The Fantasies EP will be released digitally on February 23, while the physical release of the EP will be limited to 2,500 10” vinyl which you can get ahold of at upcoming headline shows, or the band’s website and through a small number of independent record stores. The EP is printed on eco-mix vinyl, a sustainable material which is created by recycling the offcuts from other pressings. It is also packaged in an eco-friendly sleeve and shrinkwrap.
The new tracks are both a celebration of Bombay Bicycle Club’s rich history and a marker of their bold new chapter. They showcase the depth of the band’s creative synergy with their long-term collaborators, Lucy, Rae and Liz, who fans will remember from their work on some of Bombay’s standout tracks, and frequent live cameos. The lead single is led by new friend and collaborator, Matilda, demonstrating the band’s willingness to embrace the new generation, and to push themselves creatively. Sonically, the EP aligns with the more experimental sound of their recent sixth album, My Big Day, which was met with critical acclaim upon release in late 2023.
The band says: “When we decided to hold ‘Fantasneeze’ back for its own release after the album, we kept working and finished off three other songs in short order. We think of this as a Bombay & Friends release because each song has a good friend of the band singing on it. Some are old friends with long-term, close associations to the band (Lucy Rose for instance) while Matilda Mann is a newer collaborator (having contacted Jack to do some co-writing initially a couple years ago). It’s also very much a continuation of My Big Day as it was recorded around the same time and mixed by Dave Fridmann.”
The new release follows the band’s sixth album, My Big Day, which debuted at #3 on the UK Official Albums Chart. The album features collaborations with Chaka Khan, Damon Albarn, Jay Som, Nilüfer Yanya and Holly Humberstone, and was produced by frontman Jack Steadman, with contributions from Paul Epworth and Ben Allen. My Big Day has been lauded for its genre-defying experimentation, and celebrated as some of the band’s best work to date, 15 years into their career.
2024 will see Bombay Bicycle Club return to the live circuit with an extensive UK & Ireland headline tour in January-February, followed by a North American headline tour, and the biggest headline show of the band’s career at London’s Alexandra Palace Park on July 12. Festival dates will also be announced in due course.
