Open Season - British Sea Power

[Joe_Fox]

This is the album I've been waiting for.
It's out today and I'll be buying it at lunch time.
Review to follow.

 

[highland fox]

I saw them about 3 years ago as A Support band to someone (think it was Gene)...can't remember what they sounded like though :?

 

[Joe_Fox]

3 years is a long time highlander - they have come on leaps and bounds since being a support band.

 

[highland fox]

I read about them in The Independent last week,think it was the Independent,album is supposedly very good.So who do they sound a bit like?

 

[Joe_Fox]

I read about them in The Independent last week,think it was the Independent,album is supposedly very good.So who do they sound a bit like?

There is a minority of music fans that already proclaim British Sea Power as genius. There are some that happened across them and fled, after stumbling into a festival tent to find air-raid warden hats and swinging guitarists. Others ran scared from a friend's copy of their debut, The Decline Of British Sea Power, hearing nothing but organised madness. Open Season is the welcoming wonder that will change that.

Thankfully, the hubbub of trends has passed them by in production of this album, but what else would you expect? This is, after all, a band that fills the stage with oak twigs, stuffed birds and bear costumes; that takes inspiration from Charles Lindbergh's plane and collapsing Antarctic ice shelves; that releases double A-sides with Czech bands inspired by the martyrdom of sixteenth century nuns. BSP simply do not know the meaning of the word 'mainstream'.

Open Season is everything that a fan of their debut could have wished for. It moves their sound along, smoothing a few of the yelps and bites that surrounded their opus before, without ever affecting the edge and urgent erudicity that makes them so vital.

They touch on The Cure's epicness, Joy Division's desolation, the Pixies' scrawling fire and Talking Heads' twisted pop, all without ever truly revealing their influences. Instantly familiar and yet unsettling, Open Season's passion comes in the broad brushstrokes of the driven "How Will I Ever Find My Way Home?" and the sinister tenderness of "North Hanging Rock". It also contains three songs - "It Ended On An Oily Stage", "Be Gone" and "Please Stand Up" - that could comfortably sit in the top ten (which might just make for the single most bizarre Top Of The Pops ever).

Often, bands change to make it out of the cult file and into the big time. With Open Season, British Sea Power will become the latest in a line that includes Pulp, The Smiths, Beck and Björk, who simply waited for the mainstream to alter its course and engulf their tributory without them needing to embrace it.

 

[highland fox]

I'll give it a try

 

[Joe_Fox]

Good lad Highlander - no bag pipes but you'll get over it.
You should probably buy the first album first though.

 

[highland fox]

I've just ordered both from Amazon.I tend to buy a lot of albums having never heard any stuff by the band,theres been some great finds but consequently some total shite...

 

[Joe_Fox]

I've just ordered both from Amazon.I tend to buy a lot of albums having never heard any stuff by the band,theres been some great finds but consequently some total shite...

I hope this'll be one of those 'great finds' then highlander. Hope you enjoy them mate.

 

[Joe_Fox]

Got the beast, not heard it yet though, will play it on repeat when I get home.

I'm off to see them on Friday (followed by the chiefs on Sautday in Shefield as well) and will let you know how they are.

 

[Joe_Fox]

They say that winter is creation and that spring is release. It may be true. The Open Season album was largely written in January 2004, up amid falling snow and biting winds in a barn on the South Downs. Now, with the leaves unfurling, the new BSP album also enters the world. Open Season is released on Monday 4 April.

The album has a king of beasts on the sleeve, a big, roaring white bear. It would seem that the songs inside might also be at the top of the food chain. Certainly, the British press has proclaimed Open Season in forthright style. From traditionalist broadsheet to mass-market tabloid, they have all given their assent. Local colour has been manifest as BSP have found themselves rubbing up against articles on the economics of running a Devon tea room and glamour shots of Coronation Street cracker Tina OBrien. Here is what the papers had to say:

“A listening experience of enduring reward... Pulse-quickening, hair-bristling... One for the Albums Of The Year lists, or there’s no justice.” 5/5, Simon Price in The Independent On Sunday.

“There are tracks as surely summer-festival-defining as Please Stand Up, as heartbreaking as North Hanging Rock... Is it just me, or is it going to be one of the all-time-great musical years?” 5/5, Dan Cairns in The Sunday Times.

“Grand pop swagger... Epic drama and emotion... Anthemic, ringing hooks that Coldplay would kill for... A splendid achievement.”
5/5, Andy Gill in The Independent.

“Wonderfully different... a sound that breathes with originality, poise and grace. This is an album that features not a single duff track.” 8/10, Ian Winwood in the NME.

“A marvellous album... You are struck by the thrilling sense of being drawn into a world not defined by standard rock iconography... A triumphant lesson in gracefully sweeping toward the mainstream with your imagination and mystery intact.” 4/5, Alexis Petridis in The Guardian.

“British Sea Power are destined to be enormous... Not only do their sly melodies hook you, but their erudite lyrics are a joy forever.”
James Delingpole in The Sunday Telegraph.

“Another special album from a very special band - proof that a ton of feathers really can pack the same punch as a ton of grit.”
Chris Salmon in Time Out.

“Lustrous guitars, emotion-drenched singing... It’s difficult to think of a more adventurously spirited band than British Sea Power.”
4/5, Amber Cowan in The Times.

“Soaring brilliance... Little England has rarely sounded so ambitious or expansive. If Joy Division had grown up on a farm, they might have sounded like this.”
Marcus Leroux in The Observer

“Less shrill than Kasabian, not as dull as Bloc Party, richer in texture than Franz Ferdinand... The sound of a band coming to terms with just how much they can offer.”
4/5, John Aizlewood in the Evening Standard.

“Fantastic pop tunes compatible with lyrics about Antarctic coastal shelves... An excellent album.” Lynsey Hanley in The Daily Telegraph.

“Their strongest songs yet... hands-in-the-air second single Please Stand Up should grab BSP their first Top Ten and True Adventures is the best song Mercury Rev never wrote.”
4/5, Dominic Iorfa in Rip & Burn.

“None of their contemporaries can write such carefully crafted songs. The future of UK music is safe.”
4/5, Jacqui Swift in The Sun

“Widescreen epics, wickedly dosed pop and folksy longing all hit the spot.” 4/5, Gavin Martin in The Mirror.

“Dayglo return for veteran display favourite.”
Aeroplane Monthly.

 

[Durham Fox]

Is it fair to say you like this band Joe?

 

[Joe_Fox]

They're ok I suppose.

 

[Durham Fox]

They're ok I suppose.

Im gonna buy the album tonight based on your recommendation. You can reimburse me if they are shite.

 

[Joe_Fox]

They're ok I suppose.

Im gonna buy the album tonight based on your recommendation. You can reimburse me if they are shite.

I'm confident that you'll like it, but I'm also more confident that you're a dirty liar and will say you didn't like it just to get your £10 back!

 

[Durham Fox]

They're ok I suppose.

Im gonna buy the album tonight based on your recommendation. You can reimburse me if they are shite.

I'm confident that you'll like it, but I'm also more confident that you're a dirty liar and will say you didn't like it just to get your £10 back!

Well thats the risk your gonna have to take.

 

[Joe_Fox]

They're ok I suppose.

Im gonna buy the album tonight based on your recommendation. You can reimburse me if they are shite.

I'm confident that you'll like it, but I'm also more confident that you're a dirty liar and will say you didn't like it just to get your £10 back!

Well thats the risk your gonna have to take.

How does that work then mate?

 

[Joe_Fox]

Well I've heard it about 5 times through now and it's growing on me.
It's not as weird as the first album but it's certainly well worth a few listens.

I especially like How Will I Ever Find My Way Home and Please Stand Up.

 

[Durham Fox]

iTunes havent got it yet

 

[Joe_Fox]

iTunes havent got it yet

I thought you were going to splash out on the CD? (It's very good y'see)