British Sea Power has
always played the eccentric outcast, so the title of its third album, Do You
Like Rock Music?,
smacks of irony. Or maybe not: While DYLRM? lacks the wild-eyed spits
and howls of Decline Of British Sea Power, it's definitely BSP's most rocking effort
yet, replacing the sterility that plagued its sophomore slump, Open Season, with stadium-sized
bravado. Since it's nearly impossible to talk indie-rock theatricality without
mentioning Arcade Fire, consider the ecclesiastical similarities in the bookends
"All In It" and "We Close Our Eyes" duly noted. But BSP resists such easy
comparisons, thwarted by Scott Wilkinson's singularly haunted voice (unsettling
even in the bouncier moments of the emotional rollercoaster "Lights Out For
Darker Skies") and lyrics that prove the band is still making the most of its
college education, including references to Carpathians and odes to obscure
geographical landmarks that would baffle Sufjan Stevens. That obtuseness has
cost British Sea Power wider exposure in the past, while also winning it a
fiercely devoted fan base, but it's easy to see the choral call-to-arms of
"Waving Flags" and the steampunk propulsion of "Atom" as its first proffered
hand.