British Sea Power - Do You Like Rock Music? on CD

Description

Since forming in 2000, Brighton renegades British Sea Power have firmly stomped their own path. Whether dressing up as 1930s Boy Scouts on stage, walking through their audiences beating drums or exploring the peripheries of rock music (as on their first two albums 2003’s The Decline Of British Sea Power and 2005’s Open Season) they have honed a style that’s all their own. Do You Like Rock Music? sees the band continue their uniquely exploratory approach. Enlisting producers Efrim Menuck (Godspeed You! Black Emperor) and Graham Sutton (Jarvis Cocker), the band seem even more determined in their effort to create something adventurous. But despite these veteran helping hands and the towering, oppressive atmospheres that mark the introductory songs on the album–-all pounding drums, bleak rockscapes and chanting choruses–-this is a deceptively accessible record. Tunes like "Atom" and "Down on the Ground"--both heard last on the band's Krankenhaus EP)--are full of edgy BSP bombast; but Arcade Fire-esque opener "All in It," the shoegazery "Canvey Island," "Great Skua,"--and especially "Waving Flags"--are stadium-sized songs to wave your lighter around to. Then again, BSP playing it safe is still a much more convincing--not to mention entertaining--proposition than many of their conformist contemporaries. Rollickin’ stuff. --Danny McKenna Product description British Sea Power - Do You Like Rock Music? - CD Review Resident Brightonites, British Sea Power, have never followed the crowd. Eccentric, whimsical and blessed with the freedom that an indie label and insanely loyal fan base bring, each record has defied expectations. The seafarer's third album again tests the limits of what we conceive as 'rock'. A dark, churchlike presence runs through Do You Like Rock Music? that drags you under the pounding drums and chants. From opener "All In It" violin arrangements and touches of organ add a distinctly lush, anthemic feel to the tracks that's reminiscent of Arcade Fire. The Canadians' influence is hardly surprising. Howard Bilerman, drummer on Arcade Fire's debut Funeral, is one of the album's three producers and part of the recording schedule even took in the crazy Canadian storms, with the sound of power lines snapping under the weight of ice. Drenched in the rousing chanting behind Yan's lush, breathy vocals on "No Lucifier", or the stunning, layered epic guitar-scapes in "Waving Flags" - there's a real cerebral sense of rock at play here. It will undoubtedly make you gawp, when you see this kind of shattering reverb live at a festival this summer. This record is not all about Canada. Producers Graham Sutton (Jarvis Cocker, Bark Psychosis) and Efrim Menuck (Godspeed You! Black Emperor) worked alongside Bilerman and recorded in locations as varied as Cornwall and the Czech Republic. Miraculously the album comes together without any hint of discombobulation. There is some familiar territory - "Atom" and "Down On The Ground" both appeared on the band's recent EP Krankenhaus? Yet it's not all bombast. Repeat listens do reveal subtle, less dramatic moments on tracks such as "No Need to Cry" and "The Great Skua". Altogether it's an inventive and intriguing listen, never quite laying itself bare and all the more powerful when listened to in its entirety. 

TRACKS

All In It 2.11
Lights Out For Darker Sides 6.36
No Lucifer 3.27
Waving Flags 4.07
Canvey Island 3.41
Down On The Ground 4.23
A Trip Out 3.16
The Great Skua 4.35
Atom 5.38
No Need to Cry 3.43
Open the Door 4.56
We Close Our Eyes 8.04