Decade Look: Part 11 - British Sea Power's Do You Like Rock Music?

I was going to use an extremely clever line to open this post but will instead start by saying that this album is a behemoth. It comes as no surprise that the album is immense as it is, BSP's first two efforts were just as big. The band is a four-piece from Brighton, England with brothers Yan (Scott Wilkinson) and Hamilton (Neil Hamilton Wilkinson) taking turns on vocals. Their sound is heavily guitar based with flourishes of orchestral instruments which can in particular be heard on "Do You Like Rock Music?". "No Lucifer" is a good example of said sound, opening with acoustic guitars and a viola before erupting into energetic shouts of "Easy! Easy! Easy!" that linger throughout making for one of the album's finest tracks. "No Lucifer" is one part of the album's amazing first few songs, the others being "Lights Out For Darker Skies", "Waving Flags" and "Canvey Island". The subject matter of these songs is in part what makes them so good, such as in "Canvey Island" which is about a massive flood that destroyed an entire island (Canvey Island is located off the mainland of south Essex in England) and "the records of a football team". In addition to all the great vocal tracks there is one instrumental track, "The Great Skua" (a large seabird). I've heard that BSP will have a new album at some point in 2010 and that they are recording at the moment and are 95% finished.

Standout tracks: Lights Out For Darker Skies, No Lucifer, Waving Flags, Canvey Island, The Great Skua