British Sea Power
Do You Like Rock Music?
Rough Trade


What a ridiculous question - of course you like rock music. The good news is that British Sea Power like rock music too, and they do a pretty damn fine version of it. They live somewhere between the rock anthem worlds of Snow Patrol and Hard Fi whilst also drawing from the wall of sound guitar distortion of the shoegazer scene and adding glimpses of an unashamed love for 90's Brit-pop melody. With ingredients like that, you'd expect that British Sea Power would be cooking up the best sound of the year. Unfortunately there are some bland bits to this recipe, but 'Do You Like Rock Music?' is still well and truly tasty enough to enjoy.

The album open and closes with what sounds like something akin to modern marching music (think Float On by Modest Mouse), and then on opener All In It kicks into glorious high-end guitar sounding like a Mogwai crescendo. Frontman Yan (Scott Wilkinson) hits a groove with real swagger in No Lucifier while the band thunders along behind him. Waving Flags is possibly the greatest of their successes, squeezing the power of post-rock influences into an absolutely corker of a rock song. The sad bit is that the last third of this record feels like filler - some bits drift past like an uneventful dream (Great Skua) and other moments attempt to grab you with attitude but lack depth (Trip Out).

British Sea Power have written some great rock songs, but 'Do You Like Rock Music' is an album that could have been so much stronger.

Scott Berry