British Sea Power’s first album of new material in four years was written against a backdrop of what guitarist Martin Noble calls “politicians perfecting the art of unabashed lying, social media echo chambers and electronic toys to keep us befuddled”, and it brims with pre-Brexit panic. However, there is more hope than despair, as the songs look to ordinary people to escape “international lunacy”.
There’s real vim in these tunes – their most direct in years – and they dart along with the emotional vigour of vintage James or Echo and the Bunnymen. Sharp songwriting combines with an elemental, eerie production. The zippy, new-wave International Space Station recalls, of all things, Billy Joel’s It’s Still Rock’n’Roll to Me, but with demagogues and celestial imagery; Electrical Kittens is a nostalgic love letter to the early days of radio. Between the walls of guitars there is space, melancholy and – especially on reflective closer Alone Piano – a gently stirring beauty.
