British Sea Power preview

British Sea Power
Empty Bottle, Chicago
Monday, March 24, 2008

British Sea Power have caught all sorts of hell for not deciding whom they want to be: clunky post punkers, Pixies, or U2. For their third album, Do You Like Rock Music? (Rough Trade/World’s Fair), they settled on plain old loud.

Of course, they have abysmal timing. Just as the loudness wars have hit stride, BSP arrive with something totally lacking in clarity and nuance — for a band who don’t at all qualify as “heavy,” DYLRM has some oppressive volume. Even without a bass booster, tracks like “No Lucifer” seem to occupy every square inch of the digital spectrum — not so much from pounding drums, but suffocating distortion and atmospherics. There’s no break between it and “Waving Flags” — which takes the intro to Arcade Fire’s “Wake Up” and floods the valley — all the way until the melancholic “No Need To Cry.”

The mystery in this is the conscious choice to do battle with the heavy whisper of vocalist Scott “Yan” Wilkinson. Not the most commanding of voices, he sometimes turns into a tertiary melody while the band and producer Graham Sutton play a little brinksmanship with the levels. It ought to perk the nipples of anyone familiar with the sonic hurricanes conjured in the past by bands from Hum to Cooper Temple Clause, though it’s guaranteed to make you more than slightly crescendo-weary.

British Sea Power headline two shows on Monday; The 1900s open both.

— Steve Forstneger

Category: Stage Buzz, Weekly