On the Shelf 97: British Sea Power
Aug. 14th, 2013 08:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bedsitter23In 2003, British Sea Power released their debut the Decline of... -an album of exotic orchestration and obscure lyrical content that somehow caught the gap between Joy Division and the Pixies. It was an album that would have drawn comparisons to the Arcade Fire, but the Fire weren't around yet. It was a masterful debut and set the stage for an exciting new band.
It seemed the band transitioned on 2005's Open Season, and on that particular album, looked at a more accessible sound that brought 80s new wave bands like Echo & the Bunnymen and the Chameleons to mind. It led to '08's Do You Like Rock Music?, which became their best album to date- using what worked on the debut, but learning from the radio-friendly second album to create an instant classic.
So, when 2011's Valhalla Dancehall sounded like it didn't quite gel (as the songs were a variety of styles and experiments), it meant the band was just preparing for their next move (and while Valhalla
was a bit of letdown for fans, by any others' standards was still a good album).
And the next move? Machineries of Joy.
Well, it is not quite the career defining album you might hope for. Like Vahalla, the band goes in several directions, with moments that recall artists as varied as Sigur Rios and (modern day) Julian Cope. The biggest influence seems to be Bowie, which maybe was always there, but seems more obvious than ever before.
Some songs harken back to the debut, and no doubt, these are the album's best. It;s a good album, and the best compliment I can give it is that it would be a perfect album for anyone who hadn't encountered the band before. However, for die-hards, it's a bit of a disappointment, in that never quite reaches the heights you think it should. Unfortunately, the album's most memorable moments (the ones that the listener will take away) are the clunkers (The lyrics "You were my Pyrex Baby", lead to a string of glassware metaphors), not the better ones.
It seemed the band transitioned on 2005's Open Season, and on that particular album, looked at a more accessible sound that brought 80s new wave bands like Echo & the Bunnymen and the Chameleons to mind. It led to '08's Do You Like Rock Music?, which became their best album to date- using what worked on the debut, but learning from the radio-friendly second album to create an instant classic.
So, when 2011's Valhalla Dancehall sounded like it didn't quite gel (as the songs were a variety of styles and experiments), it meant the band was just preparing for their next move (and while Valhalla
was a bit of letdown for fans, by any others' standards was still a good album).
And the next move? Machineries of Joy.
Well, it is not quite the career defining album you might hope for. Like Vahalla, the band goes in several directions, with moments that recall artists as varied as Sigur Rios and (modern day) Julian Cope. The biggest influence seems to be Bowie, which maybe was always there, but seems more obvious than ever before.
Some songs harken back to the debut, and no doubt, these are the album's best. It;s a good album, and the best compliment I can give it is that it would be a perfect album for anyone who hadn't encountered the band before. However, for die-hards, it's a bit of a disappointment, in that never quite reaches the heights you think it should. Unfortunately, the album's most memorable moments (the ones that the listener will take away) are the clunkers (The lyrics "You were my Pyrex Baby", lead to a string of glassware metaphors), not the better ones.
