British Sea Power - Do You Like Rock Music?
British Sea Power
“Do You Like Rock Music?”
“Sublime” isn’t normally a word reserved for describing rock music—even if you really like it. For a tidal wave, or an orgasm: sure. Power chords: not so much. The lads of British Sea Power, however, aim to define rock music as just that. Inspired by the nature-loving Romantics of the nineteenth century, Do You Like Rock Music? doesn’t ask the question, but reminds you of how much you do like rock music for its subtle arrangements of highbrow sentiments (you know, like, love and stuff) matched to the barbrawl adrenaline that only electric guitars provide. BSP preamble the opener “All in It” with a Modest Mouse-style chant that swells into an orchestral riot, with backup vocals from chirping birds. This song bleeds into the band kicking out the jams in three-chord abandon with the stellar “Lights Out for Darker Skies” that relies on primal yelps from front-man Yan and sturdy post-punk riffing. More Frankenstein than Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the album boasts as many dance-floor rattlers as introspective heartbreakers. But they flow seamlessly, allowing something for everyone—reminding us that rock music is universal. And that means everyone likes it.
El Perro Del Mar
“From the Valley to the Stars”
If Swedish chanteuse Sarah Assbring’s first album, her moniker-titled El Perro Del Mar, was a pastel-colored romp in teenage emotions and Phil Spector-girl pop, her third studio album, From the Valley to the Stars, takes a sharply mature turn into a Burt Bacharach-styled series of water-colored preaching. Where her debut featured songs of lonely angst in youthful, coquettish wrapping, now Assbring seems to have found what she was looking for, singing with the induced calm and clarity only personal achievement can bring. “Jubilee” opens the album, led by one repetitious organ note and low-register piano, which finally releases a hushed force of angelic melody whispering “jubilee”. The song (and sermon) ends as soon as the message is delivered. It seems as though that one word and one note are enough to get her point across. “How Did We Forget?” and “Somebody’s Baby” find Assbring at her most familiar; she parades baby-voiced vocals atop a bouncing, yet laconic, melody, supported by ‘70s-era horns for an added punch. The album traipses along beautifully—if not somewhat aimlessly—into two more near-instrumental tracks and eleven other inspirational sing-alongs, which, though well executed, don’t provide the same joie de vivre of her more personal tracks. Though Assbring seems to be zealous in her quiet calm of newfound enlightenment, her listeners may not be as easily converted.
