Albums
< British Sea Power
Do You Like Rock Music?
words by Dean Driscoll
And so, like their US equivalent Interpol, British Sea Power have this year had to broach the conundrum of the 'difficult third album' – whereby bands such as these are expected to transcend their devoted cultish fan-base to wider public acclaim. Given the aplomb with which BSP set out their stall with their first two albums, you get the sense they were always going to make it seem easy.Whilst Interpol - with whom BSP share a key influence in Echo & The Bunnymen - could be said to have had mixed success with their third long-player, BSP's is nothing other than a resounding success. 'Do You Like Rock Music?' is certainly the band’s most rock and most exuberant album yet, and with any justice will succeed in the mission to propel BSP onto the biggest of stages.
The album sees the band at their most accessible, yet also their most ambitious, and it's epitomised by the track with the biggest nod to the Bunnymen: 'No Lucifer' is, quite simply, stunning – possibly the best song from any genre this reviewer has heard all year. It's an old trick for blokey indie bands to employ a football chant-style to make a song more instantly populist – think Kaiser Chiefs and everything they've ever done - but BSP couldn't be further removed from Ricky Wilson's mob, which makes the chants of 'Easy! Easy!’ all the more thrilling. And the rest of the ‘Do You Like Rock Music?’ comes close to matching this high watermark, mixing evocative instrumentals with more anthems such as upcoming single 'Waving Flags'.
By the album’s finale, ‘We Close Our Eyes’, we're left in no doubt that the album title is refreshingly un-ironic. What British Sea Power are asking is: Which side are you on? Do we like rock music? Yes we do. And we fucking LOVE British Sea Power.
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