It isn't a secret that British Sea Power are one of the best bands of the decade, having produced two of the finest albums of the noughties- as well as providing audiences with the best gigs imaginable. From wrestling matches with bears to cannons showering crowds with fake snow by way of parading on unwilling bouncer's shoulders, anything could happen at a Sea Power gig.
With this amazing unpredictability in the live arena, BSP, in my eyes, suffered slightly with the release of their last 'proper' album "Do You Like Rock Music?". Whilst the album was praised by many for being more focused and refined, to me it presented the challenge of how the band intended to trash the stage and throw each other around during whilst playing a sophisticated indie pop song.
Well, with new single, "Living is So Easy" (quite an upbeat title from the makers of "The Lonely" and "Fear of Drowning") it seems that the band have done something very unexpected indeed, by incorporating some synth-pop touches. However, this isn't a Dandy Warhols style "Oh, we wanted to make electro pop music like Duran Duran all along" needless change of genre, as the sound is still very much in the British Sea Power mould, just with an electronic shimmer that indicates the sound of a band trying new things, as opposed to a band abandoning one style for another.
You can download the new song in exchange for your e-mail address using this fancy new widget thing. I recommend that you do.
Also, as a purely geeky point, the widget features a three-legged horse. Presumably this is a reference to the quite poetic inscription on BSP's second album "Open Season" which reads "To spend our days betting on three legged horses with beautiful names". Could the band be returning to the sound of that, their cheeriest and most accessible album?
WHO KNOWS?
