English Rock: British Sea Power's Open Season

Think Psychedelic Furs with the underpinning of Keane’s symphonic piano wash, and you start to get the idea of the sound of British Sea Power’s Open Season, another stand in the over crowded English Rock street market. A tight percussion sound shakes while the swoops carry the wind over the coastal hills.

“It Ended On An Oily Stage” gives an impression of being like the Psychedelic Furs’ “Pretty in Pink” with almost spoken vocals over the moving-ahead rock. While a bit obtuse, I gather the song is about friends who have sought different path toward spiritual enlightenment, especially in response to another friend’s death (“I wrote elegiac stanzas for you/I hope and pray that they come true”). The speaker seems perplexed how another friend “found God in a parking lot” and “found God in a Wiltshire field.” Instead, the speaker “headed to the coastlry regions of mind to see what I’d find.” The sweeping keys aid the sense of a mystical search, while the rock tempo betrays the apparent shopping cart approach to spirituality. There’s nothing convincing about any of the conclusions drawn by these friends.

An advance copy of the CD seemed to clip off the end of each track which I thought would mean that the final album version would have track-to-track segues. Blending song to song which is an art that sometimes seems lost in the retreat from the excesses of progressive rock. However, the final cut of Open Season doesn’t have track-to-track segues. While many tracks seem tailor-made to lead seamlessly into the next, instead there’s a pause between each song. “How Will I Ever Find My Way Home?” ends in distortion wash that would mix quite well with the ambient whistles and dockside sounds that lead off “Like a Honeycomb.” Instead, “Find My Way Home” actually clips off the distortion in order for the next track to begin. British Sea Power has that kind of over-reaching air like the English countryside enfleshed in rock music, and coming so close to beautiful track-to-track segues stands only to cut up the landscape. Perhaps they’ll paint us that picture next time.

Thanks to British Sea Power and Rough Trade for the review copy.