British Sea Power have been on the sidelines of the mainstream for the best part of a decade now, waiting to play ball in the indie big leagues. At times it has seemed possible that they would eventually crossover (when the singles from ‘Open Season’ got daytime play on Radio 1, and ‘Do You Like Rock Music’ went top ten in 2008) but the general perception is that they are too weird, too uncompromising and simply too good to be truly commercial. Regardless, that ship has sailed and ‘Valhalla Dancehall (their fourth L.P, not including the largely forgettable instrumental soundtrack, ‘Man of Aran’), is aimed strictly at the faithful. As far as I’m concerned British Sea Power are one of the most consistently brilliant bands of the last decade, they have yet to put a foot wrong, and ‘Valhalla Dancehall’ is a largely triumphant comeback after three years away.
Ignore the reviews that tell you this is a strange album; There is nothing too adventurous or weird on here – like it’s predecessor ‘Valhalla Dancehall’ is unashamedly a meat and potatoes rock album. Luckily though it’s a quirky rock album (and I said quirky not eccentric – that’s another myth about British Sea Power, they’re actually a pretty normal band). The opening three tracks follow a pretty traditional ‘rock formula; manic album opener ‘Who’s In Control’ rattles along at a furious pace, it’s an angry song about our nation’s apathy towards protest and it includes the Brilliantly British Sea Power line ‘We’re not even that scary / I’m a big fan of the local library’. Track 2, ‘We Are Sound’, harks back to British Sea Power’s best early singles, with an indie as indie can be guitar line and anthemic chorus. Track 3 , ‘Georgie Ray’, is a lighters aloft power ballad with a blinding guitar solo and downbeat lyrics about an approaching apocalypse.
British Sea Power have always had musically aggressive songs (for example ‘Favours in Beachroot Fields’) but lyrically they have always been gently, oddly British. However ‘Valhalla Dancefloor’ changes that as this time around they aren’t scared to say exactly what they want and the language they use is a lot less ornate and a lot more direct. For example where they once they sang ‘And the lake was clear as crystal / The best tea we ever drank’, now they sing ‘Put the fucking kettle on.’ The lyrics here are powerful, simple and generally quite gloomy. On their first three albums they looked to the past for inspiration, here they are singing about the times we live in now. Gone as well are the references to nature; there is the odd line about ‘Sussex downs’ and ‘pigeon shoots’ but this is tame stuff from the band that once brought us songs called ‘The Great Skua Bird’ and ‘Apologies to Insect Life’. It’s a change but I’m not sure if it’s a change I like.
My one big gripe with ‘Valhalla Dacehall’ is that it’s not the ambitious and challenging comeback I was expecting. Overall it feels like ‘Do You Like Rock Music’ part 2, and considering they’ve been away for three years I was hoping for more than that. BSP have always made great leaps from one album to another; from the post punk fury of the debut to the etherial indie pop of ‘Open Season’, to the back to basics approach of the ‘Do You Like Rock Music’ and the post-rock experiments on ‘Man of Aran’. By their standards ‘Valhalla Dancefloor’ plays it very safe – although we should still remember that safe by their standards is still considered ambitious by just about everyone else. I mean, one song goes on for 11 minutes, another for 7 minutes, and there are some arrangements on here that make Arcade Fire sound like a pub band.
So whilst ‘Valhalla Dancefloor’ contains little to match their past glories it is still a pretty fantastic album and easily the first great record of 2011. Too weird to crossover and not weird enough to be considered truly out there, British Sea Power seem destined to remain a cult interest for years to come. But if they keep making records as good as this then they will be one of the biggest and best cult interests in town.
8/10
