I was browsing through the new releases on the indie racks when I spotted this album with its golden cover with the name British Sea Power. It was kind of a pretentious name but intriguing at the same time.
Consider the title of their debut… The Decline of British Sea Power.
Well, they do know how to poke fun at themselves, I thought.
The hype sticker got me… “Like a shipwrecked Echo and the Bunnymen.”
That was all I needed to know.
I purchased the cd right away. When I played it at home, I was blown away by the power and majesty of British Sea Power’s music. The Bunnymen parallelisms were the buzzsaw guitars but other than that, the band was chartering new waters. They had a cinematic feel to their music Like a grand plan.
And it turned out the band was going to tour American soon and I caught their first performance in New York at the Irving Theater. It was a good-sized crowd and though we didn’t fully know the songs, I guess, everyone in attendance knew we were seeing a great talent in the making.
And what a sight they were… dressed up in British Army World War I uniforms and some battlefield props. I thought of Scottish band Big Country with their militant and patriotic theme and feel of their songs.
Two years later, they released their second album, Open Season. I was a fan from their debut but this is where I swore that this was the best band in the world… at least for me in 2005.
Open Season was more melodic and highly textured. The music was majestic, nostalgic, and expansive at once. It evoked a band in tune with their roots as well as home and heart. The last band I felt that was about was Iceland’s Sigur Ros. Except British Sea Power touched an Anglophile part of me that I never knew existed.
With every album, Do You Like Rock Music and the surprisingly lovely Man of Aran, my belief that BSP was the best and underrated grew.
Do You Like Rock Music was like the past of BSP with a nod towards a more symphonic future.
Only a band like BSP can do a detour and switch it up from straight forward rock to orchestral music. Sure, U2 did that as The Passengers, but they changed their name so as not to dilute their brand. No such qualms about BSP. Queen did it for Flash Gordon while Well Mogwai did the same for Les Revenants.
Man of Aran was a stirring and inspiring soundtrack laid to the 1934 film of the same name.
I have no doubt that led to them scoring the film From the Sea to the Land Beyond that featured symphonic versions of some old songs of their as well as new instrumentals. I love how they also integrated brass and strings that gave their already powerful songs a wholly different dimension.
Man of Aran and From the Sea to The Land Beyond is the band’s communion with nature, history, and wildlife. And I guess, since BSP hails from rural Cumbria in Northern England with the Irish sea to the west, this explains the band’s predilection for nature and the sea.
This is, of course not to say, that I don’t enjoy their new release Let the Dancers Inherit the Party. I do. After all, I have been a fan of this band since 2003. And whatever style they are comfortable with, I just enjoy it.
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