For one thing, Nash and his bandmates Jamie MacColl, Suren de Saram and Jack Steadman both expanded and contracted the collective inner circle this time around: My Big Day was self-produced but features the largest cast of guest appearances on any Bombay record to date, including Holly Humberstone, Damon Albarn, Nilüfer Yanya, and Jay Som, as well as a secret collaborator recently revealed as Chaka Khan. Nash’s bass has been a key part of the band’s sound since he joined in 2006, and while he’s had different projects on the go over the years, he knows the value of keeping things fresh when it comes to his main gig. It would be hard not to be after the campaign and ensuing tour for 2020’s comeback record Everything Else Has Gone Wrong was derailed by the pandemic. Speaking to the band’s Ed Nash from his studio over Zoom over the summer, you get the sense that the four-piece are as fired up as they’ve ever been. When you’ve been in a band with the same people for close to two decades-and remained in each other’s orbit even during a hiatus born out of a need to pump the brakes on something that hadn’t slowed down much at all since it began in 2005-you need to hold onto that sense of enthusiasm and take a risk or two every now and then. On their sixth album and second since their 2019 reunion, Londoners Bombay Bicycle Clubare willing and able to shake things up.
