 | Tracklist:
1 Men Together Today
2 Apologies to Insect Life
3 Favours in the Beetroot Fields
4 Something Wicked
5 Remember Me
6 Fear of Drowning
7 The Lonely
8 Carrion
9 Blackout
10 Lately
11 A Wooden Horse
Release Date: 2003 | |
|
|
| Summary: From the epic to the angular. The Decline is not what you expect. At all. |
2 of 2 thought this review was well written
BSP are;
Yan (Scott Wilkinson) - Vocals, guitar
Noble (Martin Noble) - Guitar, piano, keyboards
Hamilton (Neil Wilkinson) - Bass, vocals, guitar
Wood (Matthew Wood) - Drums
Alright! Where to start? Well...
You'll know the story of Sea Power by now if you're reading a review as obscure as this, but in a nutshell; 3 guys (2 of them brothers and one a schoolmate) from Kendal in Cumbria, and one guitarist from Bury. They form a band! They aren't pleased with the remote, desolate music scene in the extreme northwest, so they relocate down here; sunny Brighton, in search of greater things.
So, in 2003, we were treated to this, The Decline Of British Sea Power, a title taken, apparently, from a book that was never released. BSP (Most notably Yan) have a habit of forming intruige in the anomalous, such as the aforementioned title, or Yan's apparent "great interest in the outdoors, gardening and even pigeons". Well, let the man do what he has to do.
The follow-up to this album, the supposed breakthrough that was Open Season, garnered initial interest in BSP. Since then, we've had Do You Like Rock Music?', another similarly epic and smooth album. The critics love the 2 recent albums, but they, nor British Sea Power, ever really looked back. However, I will.
This is "The Decline...", a very peculiar album indeed.
We start with an intro. It's called Men Together Today, and it's an epic 42 seconds (Oxymoronic, I know) of choral singing and humming, that sounds like it should set the tone for the album, but instead fades out rather hurriedly, and something odd happens; it's called Apologies To Insect Life, and it's about as close to smacking you in the face with a brick as BSP have ever gotten. It's angular, it's ugly, it's messy and the production distorts and drowns, but feck me is it a good song. It's pure, traditional post-punk. If the Arctic Monkeys play a few tight rhythms on their Fender Broncos and have some flat, simple drumming, it's suddenly considered post-punk revival! HOW?! Apologies is raging, frantic and often obscenely fast and furious. The singing is passionate, the bass is pulsating and powerful, the guitar is explosive, and the drums are just so skillfull and fast. I've always thought this would be a FANTASTIC set-opener at a gig.
But then, Ok, one would technically think the album would calm after the early assault. Wrong, my friends! Favours In The Beetroot Fields is next. It's only 1 minute 17 seconds, but it's brilliant AGAIN. The vocals are hilariously high from Yan, singing about Caesar and, again, the obscurity of;
"The north island isle is a mighty good isle"
It's another ferocious post punk thriller of a song, and with a simple 3 chord concept, it needn't be any longer than it is. It just ranges from strange to stranger.
THEN the album slows. Slows alot. Slows too much? I would say so. Something Wicked is just dull. Though all is not lost. The chorus has hints of Open Season hidden within it's faint epic roots. It's a plinky little song, covered in quite odd instruments, such as the emergence of what sounds like a church organ. So for it's experimentation, the track should be credited, but for final content of the song, it's just average.
"Oh Remember Me, well Remember Me, yeah you'll Remember Me!"
What song could it possibly be?! Why, it's Remember Me! The second single from the album! The best song on the album (Bar one stunning track later on) comes crashing in with a loud strumming build-up and some pounding drums from Wood. Here is a song that oozed promise for the then-young band; a promise pretty well fulfilled in the years to follow. Yan's screams of "INCREMENT BY INCREMENT!" build up to a phenomal chorus that clumsily tumbles down the frets of the foliage-covered guitars recieving a battering from Noble and his bandmates. It's all about growing old and going mad, getting forgotten and watching as everyone moves on. Yet, I always see a mental image of Gordon Brown pumping this from the stereo of his car as he leaves Number 10. I don't know why.
The first ever release from BSP was a limited pressing, 2 song CD, two years before this album was made. Both the tracks were re-recorded for the album, and both made the final cut. The first of the two is the next song on the album, Fear Of Drowning, a melancholy, emotional song with strong instrumentation from the 4 guys, and one of Yan's best vocal performances on "The Decline...". It's a mid-tempo song that trundles along quite pleasantly, but the changes between loud and soft dynamics are often too strong and overly frequent, to the point that it disrupts the song's flow, and just becomes too predictable and contrived after the first listen alone.
Now, The Lonely has Open Season written all over it. It's epic yet soft, it's sad yet relaxing. It's the kind of song that makes you smile just for the sake of all the odd emotions it stirs up in one go. It's peculiar, and it's fantastic! It's a placid little track, seemingly lost because of it's poor placement; directly in between two BSP 'classics'. It's the song you want played when you're lying in bed, staring at the ceiling after a long day. The musicianship is tight, the lyrics are brilliant, the vocals are smooth, and it all comes together to form a horrendously underrated song.
But, for good more than bad, the album turns around and kicks The Lonely square in the face, with Carrion. The big fan favourite, the set closer, the crowd pleaser, the classic single, the starting block, and it's not difficult to see why. When I mentioned that Remember Me was the second best track, this was the first. It is utterly brilliant. It comes crashing through the little cocoon of depression formed by the previous track, and just keeps going for a solid 4:06. This song is the crossover from this album to it's successor, a harsh, rocking song that has a fantastically epic chorus. I promise you, you will not find a better song to sing along to at a gig (Mainly because it's brilliant fun, but also partially because hardcore BSP fans pretend they're all best friends at gigs, which just adds to the atmosphere. I reccomend it highly). The lyrics flow phenomenally well off any tongue, and just the general feel of the whole track is superb. Possibly the greatest BSP song so far.
Urgh. Blackout. It fails. Miserably. It tries SO HARD to be The Lonely, and just becomes boring and predictable. Hamilton's on lead vocals for this, and while he may triumph on future albums with No Lucifer and The Land Beyond, his vocals are not at their best at this early stage of the band's career. The little piano riff makes the song sound like it belongs on some sort of advert... Maybe for job finding programs...
Lately... What the *** is this? It's 14 minutes long. It's just weird. The strangest thing about it is that, unlike most 14 minute or longer songs, the first 11 minutes is literally just a song. A regular song, that trips back and forth between verse and chorus. It's a quiet little song, with gentle drumming and a soft bassline, but once it gets to the 11 minute mark, it explodes, and the tempo accelerates dramatically, until it becomes ludicrously fast and vicious, to the point that it's not fun to listen to. It's just painful and strange. The screaming earlier in the song and the harsh, messy instrumentation make it sound like something from the deepest, murkiest depths of a Modest Mouse record from the mid-90s. (I LOVE MM, by the way). But enough about this.
The album closes with a cute little slow song called A Wooden Horse, which starts off with some odd electronic beeps, and then collapses into a lush, rich intro of piano and drums. This is one of my absolute favourite BSP songs, it's great fun to listen to. Rhythmically, it swings, adding to the style, the foot-tapping aspect of it, even though it's very soft and gentle. Everything about it works as a brilliant little love song, with slightly facetious lines such as;
"When wooden horses were in use
I would have built one
And left it for you"
My main concern for this song is that the 3 times I've seen Sea Power live, they've OPENED the set with this. It's complete madness. You'd think a rocker like Apologies would work fine and get the crowd going, but no, it's A Wooden Horse, which is like going to see a gig with the Terracotta Army. Nobody moves, and then they play Remember Me. Hopefully this WON'T happen on October 2nd, when I see them for a fourth time. And yes, they really are THAT good live.
Gabe
(I apologise for the ludicrous length of this review)
|
Stumble
Digg
Twitter
Del.icio.us