British Sea Power
Do You Like Rock Music? (Rough Trade)
ESSENTIAL "Waving Flags"
The Brighton-based lads of British Sea Power have a reputation for eccentricity: The four members (who go by the one-word monikers Yan, Wood, Noble, and Hamilton) have been known to sport World War II uniforms and perform on stages covered in foliage and stuffed animals. Their 2003 post-punk debut drew lofty comparisons to the Cure, David Bowie, and the Pixies, but their somewhat disappointing follow-up begged the question of whether they had enough substance beneath their veneer of style. The band's third album, "Do You Like Rock Music?," a robust musical call to arms, suggests that the answer is an emphatic yes. It's an ambitious, yet impressively cohesive indie-rock undertaking: a compendium of rise-up-and-take-to-the-streets anthems amplified by heavenly guitars and colossal percussion. Choral swells and touches of violin on the power ballads "No Lucifer" and "Waving Flags" bear resemblance to the Arcade Fire, while simple yet steady numbers like "Lights out for Darker Skies" and "Atom" recall the songs of fellow British rockers Pulp. Sure, the lyrics are still peppered with mentions of obscure geographic locales, ornithology, and Niels Bohr, but BSP has backed up its postured oddities and idiosyncrasies with a new raison d'être: to deliver the true stuff of rock 'n' roll. [Lindsay Talbot]
