British Sea Power Write Elegiac Stanzas For You

By Andy Smith

The subject of cloning, specifically the banning of any human cloning, is an easy target for the self-righteous politician in need of a softball issue to rail against. The sad fact is that they may be too late. Just look at popular music where human cloning has been practiced for decades in the murky depths of recording studios and record company boardrooms.

The boy band/teeny-bopper sex-bomb diva plague is certainly the most noticeable of the past several years, but this phenomenon has infiltrated music on so many levels from hip-hop to metal to indie music that the lack of originality in style, music, and personalities has lead some long-time music aficionados to feel as though they are watching re-runs cast with look-alikes. So this is why British Sea Power is so compelling in this surreal post-modern era where it seems as though time has done a u-turn, and the only new ideas are recycled bits of the past.

Though British Sea Power has drawn tangential comparisons to such artists as David Bowie and Echo and the Bunnymen, the band has a sound and persona all its own. They first rose to prominence in their home base of Brighton with their Club Sea Power nights at a local club, which attracted the attention of Geoff Travis, who signed the band to his re-energized Rough Trade label.

After earning a reputation as a daring and explosive live band who wears World War I gear on stage and plays against a backdrop of tree branches and stuffed birds, the band's stunning 2003 debut, The Decline of British Sea Power, proved that there was substance behind the unique image. The record was sprawling and ambitious stuffed with lyrical references to Dostoevsky and Macbeth and musically featured everything from jagged blasts of ferocious adrenalin rush ("Apologies to Insect Life," "Favours in the Beetroot Fields," and the stellar single "Remember Me") to sublime majestic melodies ("Carrion," "The Lonely," and the brilliant "Fear of Drowning") capped the thirteen minute epic "Lately." Despite the fact that literary, intellectualized independent rock music from the UK generally has no US commercial appeal, the record and band were just too damn good to be ignored.

But after countless shows where the band literally risked physical injury every night, they wisely retreated to a bucolic setting to write and record their second record. "We toured for two years which was amazing but physically taxing. At one point two of the members were on crutches, " explained guitarist Noble during a stop on their recently completed US tour, the band's third. "So we rented a barn in the countryside to create a relaxing mood in which to write."

The results of those days and nights in the barn can be found on Open Season, which was released in April and entered the UK album charts at #13. The record has received varied reviews (some thoroughly glowing, and some apathetic) in both the British and American press, but it stands as a fine companion to its predecessor. If listeners were looking for a repeat of Decline's power and intensity, they will be disappointed; Open Season is much more subdued both musically and emotionally. The new record is also a much more cohesive set of songs, less sprawling and more focused, and it gets better with repeated listens. Lyrically, British Sea Power may get off on obscure references and esoteric language, but they also are unafraid of exploring complex emotional territory and in that respect, evoke the massive sound and uplifting content of Big Country's first two records; hopefully they will have a happier ending to their story than that once great band did.

Open Season starts off with "It Ended On an Oily Stage," the first single (which also entered the UK charts in the top 20), and a song that ranks as one of the band's best. The song is built around a nearly perfect repeated guitar riff from Noble, who continues to be one of the most astonishingly tasteful guitar players to come along in years. Then Yan's vocals come in with the lyrics: "Everything you said was true/ Everything you did was you/ Everything I started with her/
Ended on an oily stage where/ I wrote elegiac stanzas for you/ I hope and pray that they come true" before the song builds into a chorus both uplifting and thoroughly aching.

Track two, "Be Gone," essentially picks up where "Oily Stage" leaves off, but "How Will I Ever Find My Way Home," introduces bassist Hamilton on lead vocals. His only vocal turn on Decline, "Blackout," was arguably the weakest song on that record, but on "How Will I Ever Find My Way Home," Hamilton is much more assured as a singer, and the song provides a toe-tapping contrast to "Oily Stage" and "Be Gone." This is the first of three songs Hamilton sings on Open Season, which is evidence of his growth as a songwriter in the shadow of his brother Yan. Where his songs have previously been primarily used as B-sides, these three have prominent spots on the record; the other two being the album closers "The Land Beyond" and "True Adventures."

The five cuts at the heart of the record emphasize the peaceful, almost breezy mood that predominates Open Season. "Like A Honeycomb" is a pleasant, wistful tune with a dynamic chorus. "Please Stand Up" is the second single and reminiscent of Decline's "Carrion" with another of Noble's mammoth guitar lines leading into a subdued verse before it explodes into an almost triumphant chorus. (Incidentally, American MTV has reportedly banned the video for the song because of the lines "And then all of the sudden it's all better better/ A little excitement makes us wetter wetter." It would almost make you laugh if it wasn't so pathetic).

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