Do You Like Rock Music?

Spectacular performances and great music from British Sea Power

One of the bands that have first surprised and then kept pleasing with live performances undoubtedly is British Sea Power. Members include vocalist and guitarist Scott Wilkinson, known as Yan, guitarist Martin Noble (Noble), bassist, vocalist and guitarist Neil Wilkinson (Hamilton) and drummer Matthew Wood (Wood). The guys have become famous for the tradition to decorate the stage for the concerts with foliage that is by the end torn down by one of the members and plastic birds, walking along the rows of the viewers with a drum, but the band's calling card is a ten-legged bear named Ursine Ultra who is often beaten by the musicians. Yet it is not only the spectacular shows that have earned fame to British Sea Power: the music the guys make has all the rights to be considered one of the examples of the quality indie rock that is often compared with the likes of U2 and Oasis due to the impression it makes on both the listeners and the viewers. This year already the third album Do You Like Rock Music? is released being different from British Sea Power's other works for a more sullen attitude and topical texts and becoming probably the most ambitious work of the British musicians to date.

Strange, ominous and magnificent Do You Like Rock Music?

The album Do You Like Rock Music? can be conventionally divided into two parts, the greater of which containing more impulsive, nervous and heavy compositions and the smaller offering the songs full of reflections and with a finer sounding. There are a number of anthemic compositions on the record that would sound especially magnificent when performed alive. For instance opener All In It that surprises with a mysterious feel to it and is a perfect track that reflects the dark mood of the whole record. An impetuous song Lights Out For Darkier Skies amazes with severe drums that contrast with the Yan's soft vocals in the middle of the track, as well as topical composition No Lucifer, refined with the memorable melody. One of the record's standouts is definitely Canvey Island that has a bit more restrained drum work, but is by no means less worrisome. Songs Down On The Ground and A Trip Out are similar due to the repeating riff and follow each other, and a hard rhythmic composition The Great Skua astonishes with a shrill sound of guitar groan. The calmer part of the album starts with a psychedelic song No Need To Cry that lets the listeners relax a bit and enjoy a perfect harmonious sounding, soft instrumental background and a beautiful if complicated melody. A more energetic track Open The Door still preserves the same mood. The album closes with the longest track We Close Our Eyes that starts with a long silence and little by little turns into what can be called a climax of strange, ominous and magnificent music of British Sea Power.

An inimitable feel of indifferent impertinence

Despite British Sea Power's being a relatively young band, its debut album The Decline of British Sea Power was released in 2003, its creative work has managed to touch the hearts of many a listener, and today the band can boast an enormous fan base that is sure to grow by many times with the release of Do You Like Rock Music?. The album has been preceded by an EP Krankenhaus? released last autumn, and some of the songs from it have been included into the album. Nevertheless, British Sea Power has once again proved that it never repeats itself, and Do You Like Rock Music? is an absolutely different story. Here the band has widened the limits of rock music more vastly than ever, and the result of this attempt deserves praise. This time the British four's creation is rather reminiscent of the works of the rockers like Led Zeppelin, Underoath, Pixies, at times The Cure, however, in the end, one cannot but agree that British Sea Power occupies a special niche in the world of music, and no matter how many comparisons with the others we make there is always present a certain inimitable feel of some indifferent impertinence in their music. Beyond all doubt Do You Like Rock Music? has become their most interesting album and hopefully far from the last one.