Review: British Sea Power - Do You Like Rock Music?

Three albums in, British Sea Power seem to be stretching further away from their awkward beginnings and moving effortless into anthemic territory. ‘Do You Like Rock Music?’ is a logical progression from its predecessor ‘Open Season’. The former punk noises are now completely jettisoned in favour of an altogether more comforting noise.

I have to say I do rather miss the quirkiness of early British Sea Power. Save the spiky guitars for the celebratory ‘A Trip Out’, there’s no sign here of the group who made ‘Spirit Of St. Louis’ and ‘Remember Me’ such individual post-punk songs. Also, some songs (’Waving Flags’ and ‘Atom’) veer too close to Arcade Fire territory. It is here where British Sea Power opt for bombast over subtlety and melody. Thankfully, the group plot an otherwise trouble-free course.

The “easy, easy” football chant that begins ‘No Lucifer’ may sound like an obvious route to ensnare the lad rock fan but the song itself is certainly not obviously commercial; Yan’s vocals now have a yearning melancholic quality as he competes with the unwinding guitars. Yan also shines for ‘Canvey Island’ where lyrics like “I can’t believe it’s happening” are delivered with the subtlest form of angst. Similar to ‘Open Season’, there’s a cavernous quality to the production (once again provided by ex-Bark Psychosis man Graham Sutton) where it’s easy to imagine the group setting the story of an epic sea voyage to music. This point is emphasised by ‘The Great Skua’; a lush, instrumental homage to a large seabird.

All in all, it’s a very impressive, moving record and although I miss some of the aforementioned band trademarks, British Sea Power sound more cohesive and approachable now than they have ever been. Furthermore, given the ambitious arrangements - as the band put it themselves on ‘A Trip Out’ - “it doesn’t get much bigger than this”.

Web Sites:
British Sea Power Official Site
British Sea Power MySpace

Further Listening:
Echo And The Bunnymen, Arcade Fire