British Sea Power

Enjoying this a lot off a distracted listen in the office.

I dunno, I kind of agree with the Observer review from yesterday. All their reviews start off going 'Plants onstage! Songs about glaciers! They're so interesting!' but the music is so generic and uninspried.

Agreed. They have always promised more than they can deliver.

I asked Yan to explain his "The East is maybe the future of all of us lot in the West" quote (for it was he who said it), and this was his reply:

"Oh…! [guilty laughter] What would I mean… mm-hmm… I think it’s possibly that we’ve had quite a long run of new ideas and changing things dramatically. Maybe it’s time to swap over, and take ideas from the other end of the spectrum. Eastern Europe is a place that’s changing a lot, and modernising. Maybe they’ll do it in a slightly better way, if we pay attention. And then there’s the East of China or whatever, which is obviously economically the future of the world. Always East, yeah…"

Have I mentioned that I used to know one of them when I/he lived in Reading? Look at me, I'm a regular Suzy!

Loved the early singles and the first album, got a bit bored with them at Truck in 2003 when their set went on a bit too long and everything seemed a bit too rehearsed. Listened to the second album once and didn't like it generic and uninspired otm. I want to hear the new one, but every review is still all Arcade Fire and Editors-referencing. Is it? I saw Open Season in Fopp for £3 recently and I stil couldn't be bothered with it. Maybe they're a band I should just abandon to 18months of my life that were pretty good but I'm not going back there.

My initial reaction to reading that (your comment; not seen Observer review) was an indignant "but they're NOT generic and uninspired!", but given five seconds of through I think, perhaps, that they are pretty generic, and that, actually, that's kind of what I like about them - they are an inky indie band with a few little character quirks (that could be seen as conceits) and nice little tunes about odd little things. The thing is that I think what they do, they do with real care and attention, and that's what appeals to me; sure, the 'bookend tracks' thing might be a bit gauche in 2007, but I also think it shows that they care about the idea of making 'an album' that you listen to in order, and stuff. I think sonically they're (while far from perfect) very good too, and a serious cut above most semi-mainstream 'indie' (where 00s indie is just 'guitar rock', obv.). I've only listened to this on my work comp so far, but looking at the recording and production credits I'm confident that it'll open up really nicely on the big rig or headphones at home, too.

But the key thing for me about them, and this might sound either mental or genius, is the tunes; without sounding like Geir, I think they've got amazing melodies - not in the way I think Beatles melodies are amazing, or Embrace melodies (love or hate them, I think Danny's an awesome melodicist even if he can't sing), but there's something really understated about a lot of their tunes, especially on the second album, that I adore. A Wooden Horse and The Lonely off the first album, too. Not just the melodies, but... I really like the sense of momentum and... narrative, almost, that their tunes have at their best. Just a really simple, little, nothingness song like Like A Honeycomb off the last album, I just find really heartwarming and beautiful. I listened to the last album a lot while walking coastal paths in Devon, and it was amazing.

Also, if they're generic, who else is in their genre? What genre are they generic of? Because there aren't many bands that I know of who are doing something all that similar; you can't lump them in with Kaiser Chiefs or The Killers or Hard-Fi, and they're nothing like Guillemots or Patrick Wolf either. Yeah, they're 'just' an indie band, but who else is, these days? They're not a date-rape stadium rock band in disguise, they're not AOR piano ballads with delusions...

X-posts there - my response is to MatDC.

I like all their work so far, looking forward to the new one. I agree with Sicky's summary - for me, they represent the best of indie rock.

One of the best things they ever did, though, was a collaboration with The Ecstasy of Saint Theresa on "A Lovely Day Tomorrow"/

i like this album quite a bit

fancy that

Also, if they're generic, who else is in their genre? What genre are they generic of?

It's the Big And Important, Standing On A Cliff Top Looking Windswept And Earnest genre: Bombasto-Indie!

The most striking reference point on DYLRM? is Arcade Fire, which is understandable given that the initial sessions took place over two or three months in Montreal, working with AF drummer Howard Bilerman (and Efrim Menuck from Godspeed You! Black Emperor). But we could also loosely lump them in with Doves, Editors, Electric Soft Parade, Brakes, Bloc Party, the rockier stuff from the last Athlete album, etc...

See I don't get the "big and important" vibe off them AT ALL; maybe it's cos I liked the second album best, and that was "small and insignificant in the face of gazing at the sea from the clifftop" (literally how Im listened to it a lot).

(I actually really like the second album for what its worth, its this one that I found dull)

I didn't get on with this one as well as I'd thought I would when I got home last night, actually - this may just be that I had a fucking mental busy weekend and was too tired to really take it in, however. The second one took ages to grow on me, apart from the two Sutton produced tracks.

I think a lot of the reaction to this record, all the "oh my gosh they're totally gonna get a top ten single off this" hype talk indie blog nonsense, is the fact that it's January and there's fuck-all else to get excited about. The single got to 31.

Whereas I've suddenly started coming round to it! It's taken a good half a dozen plays, though.

disclaimer: i love this band with an undying and unquestionable passion.

interesting that some people would regard them with a "big and important" viewpoint (which i assume is meant negatively). like nick i don't get this at all--in fact it's that they write songs about such inconsequentialities that gives a sense of huge scale; as weird as this sounds i think of the scale of BSPs songs as being a lateral "you can see for miles" landscape than a more upwards, spacelike/cosmic scale you'd more commonly get.

the songs are taking the mundane and making them sound fantastical; i.e. there's no pretension of "big and important"--the songs themselves are bigger than the band.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7209121.stm

http://i30.tinypic.com/2hg48c9.jpg

I was trying to figure out where I'd heard the name Phil Sumner before. Then I was "watching" (i.e. half asleep on the couch) Hetty Wainthropp Investigates on TV over Christmas and it turns out that he plays the cornet on the theme tune. So he should know better than to indulge in tired old stage diving antics!

The Great Skua, the instrumental track off the new album, REALLY REMINDS ME of something; it's almost identical at points but I can't quite place it. Any ideas?

PULP / roadkill

Yeah? Thats not setting alarm bells off. What album's it from? It's something in the guitar progression on The Great Skua, I think.

intro sounds for all the world like roadkill (last pulp album WE LOVE LIFE) but yeah also very generic-y sounding arcade fire type guitar sound. or something shoegazey.

Nothing that I can place, but can I just point out the similarity between "Atom" and Buzzcocks' "Everybody's Happy Nowadays"....

N.B. Weirdly considering my usual antipathy to This Kind Of Thing, DYLRM? has become my second favourite album of the year to date.

Yeah? I'm still not feeling it much, certainly not compared to the previous record, which I still love a lot.

I totally cained it for a few weeks in January but haven't listened much since. It is very good though, certainly better than Open Season for my money. Still tremendous live too.

I am quite enjoying MAN OF ARAN!

I heard The Great Skua in a trailer on Sky Sports last night. Epic. Haven't heard Man Of Aran - what's it like?

They have this annoying habit of releasing b-sides on vinyl-only. I had no idea they did an unironic cover of "I Am A Cider Drinker" and a nifty 10" for "No Lucifer". Their latest is a cover of The Cure's "A Forest" which is solid.

I heckled them in concert requesting "I Am A Cider Drinker" and they glared at me. Wankers.

Anyway, I am enjoying their new EP which apparently is their offcuts from the next album.

They glare at everyone. It's ace, especially "hidden" track 8, Returning.

It's really different, isn't it? "Zeus" doesn't exactly feel cohesive but it's full of interesting aural excursions, not all of which work but all of which make you think, and are ultimately enjoyable. Frankly it reminded me alot of The Fall in terms of sheer experimentation and mixing brilliance with driving-off-the-cliff oddness.

It's what we call a "fun romp". Especially with a song like 'kW-h', which sounds atypical of them but is good!

They're at their best when they're pretending to be icelandicbandmum though, aren't they?

Ok, "Zeus" just keeps getting better and better with each play. Any lucky soul already heard the forthcoming "Valhalla Dancehall"? I'd hate to think these are the more interesting bits that didn't fit, leaving us with a more cohesive, safe, ultimately uninteresting record.

Ok, how is it that "Valhalla Dancehall" hasn't leaked yet?

^^^

british sea power: by white ppl, 4 white ppl

And that's a problem?

Can someone *explain* British Sea Power?

Sometimes quite like them - indeed, like the Man of Aran soundtrack a lot - but have a sense that I'm missing something.

Is there a socio-political angle that I'm missing aside from one of them birdwatches and they've appeared on Country File?

british sea power: by white ppl, 4 white ppl

white haters gonna hate white people

ghostface h8r, 4real

is it true that british sea power is basically drownedinsound indie but with extra references to the hebrides, obscure fauna, naval history etc?

It is not true.

is it true that british sea power is basically drownedinsound indie but with extra references to the hebrides, obscure fauna, naval history etc?

Oh, fuck off.

true ime

there needs to be a bsp vs iliketrains poll amirite

actually quite looking forward to hearing this new stuff. y'all have gotten me interested. only really 'carrion' and 'lately' have really caught my attention of the bsp i've heard

is it true that british sea power is basically drownedinsound indie but with extra references to the hebrides, obscure fauna, naval history etc?

Yes this is exactly what they are. They're occasionally pretty good at it (Carrion, most of the second album) and often ropey (the whole third album by and large). Their music isn't as distinctive as the rest of their aesthetic.

I guess if you're determined to be cloth eared then that's your call but DiS and BSP don't really see eye to eye given that DiS has an American/P4k garage rock/lo fi/Williamsburg leaning aesthetic.

yeah DiS is basically P4k-in-Englande-but-with-more-dubstep if we're being reductive

although British indie still does pretty well on the messageboards (wouldn't have thought BSP are a band everyone would bang on about though - they're a bit too austere and subtle)

2nd track of the EP is really good :)

It's been growing on me this album, it's very textural and melodic and with Two Fingers it has a song that could be a peace anthem for these times.

Just like Liberace
I will return to haunt you with
Peculiar piano riffs