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“EXCEED THE NATIONAL AVERAGE” - that's the famed motto of indie's most relentless underdogs British Sea Power.
It's an agenda that's driven their idiosyncratic approach to rock since the early days and immaculate 2003 debut. It was a time of the indie landfill bilge of Razorlight, The Kaiser Chiefs, The Kooks et al, but amongst it all but under the radar were British Sea Power – fulfilling their motto without bothering the mainstream.
While their contemporaries where donning tunics and skinny ties and pillaging the vaults of nostalgia, British Sea Power were draping their stage in greenery to tell tall tales of marine biology, wildlife, obscure history and whatever else took their fancy. Now on their fifth LP, can BSP be the band they've always threatened to be and have the success to match their wild-eyed imagination?
The opening title-track more than lives up to its name with a gradual, woozy ascent alongside frontman Yan Wilkinson's whisperings of a “hobbyist of deranged proportion”. The beauty of their quirks and ear for subtle epic is perfectly encapsulated in this song alone, before 'K-Hole' delivers a fierce and rollicking punch in a similar vein to old favourites 'The Spirit of St Louis' and 'Apologies To Insect Life'. All of this will sound ace live, especially the horn-driven beast of 'Monsters of Sunderland'.
While the skatter-brain mess of styles on previous LP 'Valhalla Dancehall' didn't see BSP soar to their highest heights, here the warming but fuzzy C-86 glow best showcased on 'Loving Animals' and 'A Light Above Descending' and the haunting Cure-esque sounds on 'When A Warm Wind Blows Through The Grass' make Machineries of Joy 10 tracks of weirdly eccentric consistency, drenched in a comforting oddball charm. Who else could get away with beautifully pining: “You were my Pyrex baby made entirely out of glass, you were a gem most beautiful when you were getting smashed.”
Not to say that the album is likely to interfere with the charts too much, but the joy comes from the fact that Rough Trade have allowed British Sea Power to keep making music, and we're all the richer for it. Here are British Sea Power doing what they do best: forever a cult, but always on form – exceeding the national average. “EAS-EH”
