Released 05-APR-2005

I still have the unpunched ticket from a few years back for the British Sea Power show at TT the Bear’s. The show fell on a Tuesday after I’d already had a rough weekend and had attended a concert the night before. I recall that night getting home from my job, lying down in bed, and opening my eyes about 6 hours later. Needless to say, I never made it anywhere near the venue and still regret missing that show. Sadly, I haven’t heard of a British Sea Power return invasion of Boston since.

These days, the band is supporting The Killers, so who knows if they’ll ever be available at a tiny place like TT’s again or if they’ll just keep their noses to the grindstone trying to make it big. Either way, the band has returned in cd format with Open Season, a stunning album of Brit-pop anthems reminiscent of Oasis at their best with more than a hint of modern post-punk attitude. This, their second album, finds the band down with guitar feedback, down with challenging the listener with thoughtful lyrics, and down with getting back to their nature inquisitive selves.

Open Season is a great album because it takes the theme of humanity and nature and provides the listener a series of varied musical interpretations and moods. Reverb on the quiet North Hanging Rock adds a gentle eeriness to a very beautiful song and gives the listener the feeling that she is surrounded on all sides by the stunning splendor of the outdoors. This moment comes right after the rising call of Please Stand Up, a rocking number that leads to Hanging Rock’s beautiful plateau. The suite concludes with To Get to Sleep, which thrusts the listener down the hill toward a humanity that has suddenly come storming back. Together with its predecessors, this chain of tunes creates the best triumvirate on the album: a perfect ode to man and nature.

Another stand out, Oh Larsen B, takes off in a different way with its interplay between guitar and bass. The instruments seem at odds throughout, but that is precisely what makes the song jump out as something special. Eventually, they go off together sans vocals for a good minute closing the song on the same controlled yet chaotic note they had been stirring around throughout. It is a unique touch on an album that has more than its share of interesting and different arrangements and again shows the sometimes chaotic, something somber relationship between human kind and mother nature.

The eventual closer, True Adventures, which concludes after 7 minutes 52 seconds of crunchy feedback, whispery words, sharp strings, pulsating drums, and a final animal squawk is not only the cherry on top of this scrumptious concoction, but a true statement of purpose for a band that is improving with each release. British Sea Power’s ability to change tempo and arrangement while uniting an album under one theme with abstract lyrics is the certain hallmark of a band which is much more powerful than its individual parts. I believe there is something for everyone on Open Season and that it is surely one of the best releases of 2005. Everyone should have it in their collection.