British Seapower - Open Season (Rough Trade)

In general I get more aroused by a fresh tuna sandwich than by the latest and greatest rocksensation. I'm a fan of the eighties gloom 'n' doompop and hardly a sentimental moaner but there's a difference in between the context bands (not acts) as Gang of Four, The Slits, Pere Ubu, the Pop Group et al played their musics as opposed to the acts (not bands) from today who use the foundation their forefathers layed down, as a gimmick. Bloc Party not included because some bands (Franz Ferdinand not included) just hit the right spot and with a song like 'Price of Gasoline' they actually make a mark about today's society. Strokes, Killers and The Rapture all, boldly spoken, steal their stance from their infamous ancesters. Ironically they take their sport even more serious than the people back then and the haircut that Bravery singer is so proud of wasn't even funny when Morrissy rocked it back in the eighties. Time will kill trends and al but a few will not live to see their names in a Simon Reynolds book.

No clue on how British Seapower will do in a book about retropostpunk but what these young chaps presented on their racuous debut album, The Decline Of..., was and still is very fascinating. Joy Divison comparisons still ring round their names but today that only seems an easy cliche. Open Season is far from a Decline Of Pt. II nor does it compare in any way to Curtis' gang. It's a drastic change from a rusty and quirky postpunksound to a cerebral and luscious popalbum. It's the album that I will time and again return to when I want some pretty music to sing along too. That's a valuable characteristic, in fact, every year needs an album like that. Last year The Dears seemed to have taken the job. And while Bloc Party recently delivered a more than decent debut it doesn't often encourage me to put it on and press play. Open Season on the other hand has been more in than out of my cdplayer. A fallback album I can trust. It has space, it has charisma, it has joy, it has fear, it has, well, it has it all to be honest.

The dramatic and joyeus single 'It Ended On An Oily Stage' sets it straight from the start; they've polished their shoes and their sound. An epic rockanthem like 'Be Gone' settles itself in your mind as soon as it starts off it's sweeping guitarmelody, all in all not too far distanced from the exotic guitarmelodies Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr used to come up with. Lyrically they still hit topics unknown to rockmusic since Morrissey sang about vicars in tutu's. 'Larsen B' even addresses the state of the Antarctic as it's slowly creeping up on us ("desalinate the barren sea").

Singer Yan's hushy and breathy voice might be a little awkward at first in a genre where articulation seems a big key to succes but after a while of course this becomes so tied with the music you can't imagine it any other way. Especially on the quiter parts of Open Season he sings like he's sitting next to you, talking softly about birds, rural scenes and "the coastal regions of his mind". Ballads like 'Like A Honeycomb', 'North Hanging Rock' and 'The Land Beyond' sound so overtly romantic and cosy I can't see any reason to not hit the repeat button again and again.