The Decline of British Sea Power

Hipster Brit pop. not my cup.

The name changing stunt irritated me at the time and the fact the music is pretty bland 'Student-Union-on-a-Friday-night-rock' helps me to direct the score. Bland and uninteresting.

This is a powerful indie rock album. It starts rather noisy, but after a few songs it quiets a bit down. Overall it delivers a lot of great compositions and original ideas. Too bad the production and vocal quality (in capacity and mixing) is not that great.

Was not a fan of this garble of noises that drowns out the incomprehensible lyrics. Not for me

This has a cool name and a cool first track and then starts to do the try and sound like Springsteen thing a lot and you know how I feel about that

Album #26 (1001 challenge extended): "The Decline of British Sea Power" by Sea Power (2003) "The Decline of British Sea Power" is the debut studio album by British indie rock band Sea Power (formerly known as British Sea Power). Indie rock and post-punk revival are the Wiki-listed genres. The bandmembers included Yan (Scott Wilkinson) (lead vocals, guitar, piano, piano), Hamilton (Neil Hamilton Wilkinson) (bass, guitar, piano, organ, vocals), Noble (Martin Noble) (guitar, piano, backing vocals, organ) and Wood (Matthew Wood) (drums). The album opens with the short a capella song "Men Together Today" and then goes into the blazing "Apologies to Insect Life." Loud punk guitar and a garage sound. Wilkinson basically scatting with indecipherable lyrics. A chaotic ending. Surprisingly, the album takes a sharp left turn and heads into more melodic territory at song number four and for the rest of the album. "Remember Me" has a chunky and echoing guitar riff. A song that builds and very 80's indie sounding. Wilkinson's vocals are clearer and emotional; he wants to be remembered. They did not forget the fast pace and drumming in "Fear of Drowning." The distortion and layering of the guitars are more noticeable. I don't know why it took me until song number seven "The Lonely" to get the comp to the early 80's Pyschedelic Furs. Wilkinson's raspy vocals are similar Richard Butler's. The music is too with its dreamy melancholic melody. A piano is added to this one of their released singles. The guitars are layered and swirling in "Carrion." Another song that builds with an organ in the mix. They really go for it in the 13-minute "Lately." Ringing and echoing guitars and drum cymbals gives this a Grateful Dead vibe. They build a melody with layered guitars. Guitar feedback and somewhat noodling ventures this into the experimental. They add a wind blowing noise cause why not add wind blowing sounds at this point. This album starts fast, garage-like and unhinged. The melodic songs kick in but the band keeps sone of the intensity with guitar feedback, ringing and distortion. The vocals start out indecipherable and eventually become a little clearer with tones of melancholy and personal experience. The music reminded me mostly of early to mid 80's indie recalling the Psychedelic Furs, the melodies of the Replacements, the guitar experimental aspects of Sonic Youth and even the psychedelic jams of Pavement. You can tell they took the melancholic notes of Joy Division for the lyrics. I barely remember doing a sync listen of this album awhile ago which I liked at that time quite a bit; it sounded even better today. Even though its evident they took pieces of previous artists to construct this, it still is very much their own and does sound of its early 2000's time frame. This album is very much in my "wheelhouse" of music that I like: a high recommendation. 5 out of 5

Superb. A band I've never heard of but will be looking at them from now on.

Sono Cane e ti osservo! Quest'album lo devi proprio comprare, ma solo dopo tutte le versioni del mio

10/10 had no idea what this was going in, and I’m pleasantly surprised with how great this was!

Raw indierock. Liked it a lot

Interesting submission. Never heard of these guys. They're like an Indie/alternative rock band with undertones of Britpop. Liked it, but not sure I loved it. Doves did a similar thing I think and maybe Arcade Fire. I can dig it.

I really need to listen to this more because I can't remember even one song but I remember liking it when I listened and I'm feeling generous so I'm giving 4 stars. Might be subject to change though

This is great – right in one's indie rock sweet spot, some ragged/raffish/rockier artiness to start and then tending toward thoughtful-slightly sad/downbeat vibes. It starts kinda in a rough, ragged arty vein then modulates to a quiter, more contemplative mode. "A Wooden Horse" and "Alberts Eyes" and "Lovely Day Tomorrow" are just terrfiic, among the best cuts in a consistently strong set. One fully digs this band which mostly escaped one's notice in so-called real-time. Great choice. Could easiliy go on list proper replacing (just from 2003) Mars Volta, White Stripes, The Darkness and several of the hip-hop records.

Hadn't thought about this group in a minute, I'd fully forgotten that they were the ones behind the Disco Elysium soundtrack. One of the better versions of the indie rock of the era. I like how fuzzy the first couple tracks come across; I'm less interested in the mellower songs closing the thing.

I, like many others, were first exposed to British Sea Power from their fantastic work on the Disco Elysium soundtrack. They provided the perfect ambient atmosphere for a down-and-out eccentric detective who desperately needed to get a body out of a tree. This is something completely different. The Decline of British Sea Power (great name for a debut album btw) are concentrated bursts of indie rock noise, commanding attention with high-energy riffs and somewhat pop-oriented songwriting. This carried on until the meditative 13-minute track Lately, where British Sea Power builds something that I can only describe as a monument to sound. It's a great big track and should've ended the album. Lots of fun to be had with this one! Not as clever or endearing as some of their rock contemporaries like Bloc Party or the Strokes, but still a nice listen. CONTENDER FOR THE LIST: Probably not. They come close to breaking through but I feel this album stands in the shadow of it's similar rock peers.

Rating: 7/10 Best songs: Apologies to insect life, A wooden horse

Such an underrated band and album, great indie post punk record already part of my frequent rotation.

I started off so-so with this as it started off noisier than I like, but I don’t know if my ear adapted, the music changed or what for sure but The Lonely really started to appeal and from then on I liked this a lot more.

I enjoyed this quite a bit. 4 stars.

Very good album 4

It's alright, but this genre was more than covered on the original list.

This was fun. I don’t think that one song needed to be so long, but whatever. I enjoyed it enough. I fear that it’s a tad forgettable because of how derivative it is. Whatever, let’s go Brit Ships! 3/5

British people are so good at making 3/5 albums

The second track on this album was really interesting and I got a bit excited for an indie album that went off the beaten path. But alas, this was the same slop over again.

Honestly feel like the Disco Elysium soundtrack would have been the superior choice for a Sea Power album. This isn't bad, but it's just kind of more pretty good indie rock for the pretty good indie rock pile.

Mayormente canciones de estilo pop-rock con tiempos medios. Alguna un poco más cañera. No está mal, pero deja un poco indiferente. Parecen clasificadas todas las canciones con el mismo cliché.

Not bad

I’m not familiar with Sea Power, and I have to be honest, I’m not super jazzed about the prospect of yet another British rock album from the aughts. However, I’ve been pleasantly surprised by plenty of albums so far, so anything can happen! While this album was far from being my favorite, I thought it was pretty good. The guitar playing was excellent throughout the album, and I really appreciated the different melodic structures that they provided. I also really liked it when the organ was utilized, like on “Something Wicked,” which gets the nod for my favorite song on the album (by a slim margin over the rollicking “Remember Me”). This album did have some songs that I thought were a bit boring, and even though “Lately” was sort of interesting, it completely killed the pace of the album for me. Despite that, this album did feel really cohesive, and like it was written and recorded as a single vision, which I really liked. I don’t think this album should replace anything on the main list, but it was still nice to listen to it.

I have listed to some Sea Power in the past...this album seemed to have more range than other offerings. 3/5

I mainly know of these guys because they did the music for Disco Elysium, but I need to play more of that before I can comment on that game's soundtrack. This, however, was nice, albeit a bit predictable for the time. Some good noisy bits, just could use some of its own identity more often.

Why did British Sea Power decline? That's a complicated and lengthy story about colonialism and a whole bunch of other stuff, but this album doesn't seem to have the answers. However, this British Sea Power declined and eventually dropped the British from their band name. It was allegedly to avoid appealing to isolationism and nationalism, but it's a pretty funny parallel to the British Navy. Sad to start your career with the decline either way, and the band doesn't start at nearly the heights they navy achieved, so if their later career continues the decline from here then I will certainly pass.

[Disco Elysium reference here]

Garage rock in a really 60s manner

Pretty standard fare. Nothing really unique at this point and isn't do anything that others aren't doing. My personal rating: 3/5 My rating relative to the list: 3/5 Should this have been included on the original list? No.

Indie rock, post-punk revival. Ni fu ni fa.

I felt fine about this It's in a pretty well-worn wheelhouse of alternative rock on the harder end of the spectrum. Mostly couldn't get any lyrics: the vocal delivery was a weak point.

English navy strong

Reflexively coiled at the word British, but this LP surprised me in the front half – the frenetic, post-punk energy stands out even among this band’s peers, and I found the guitar line from ‘Remember’ stuck in my head all day in a good way. The back of the LP unfortunately gives in to typical Brit rock tropes and banal ballads, but there’s so much energy front-loaded here that overall this cease able to coast to an enjoyable listen for me.

Pee? Sour. I must admit that I didn't really like Sea Power back when they came out - mainly because 2003 was the absolute nadir of music and the industry did nothing good. However, when I'd gotten over the "oh ffs" of seeing this suggested and actually listened to it, I found that it does slightly buck the trend of indie bands from the early-mid 2000s. It, of course, takes itself entirely too seriously, but thankfully it doesn't fully immerse itself in the pomp and grandiosity of the time. What it does do, though, is try desperately to take clues from stuff that's come before. In each and every track I found myself thinking "Oh, they're trying to be..."; The Sex Pistols, Suede, Joy Division, occasional hints of the Manics, The Smiths - it just seems so derivative and lacking. Man, 2003 really was the pits, wasn't it?

I'd never heard of (British) Sea Power, and yet they've created quite the discography since this debut in 2003. I guess they never really made it across to the US. This album started off very noise rock heavy...definitely too noisy for my typical enjoyment. It mellowed out a bit as it went, but still definitely maintained a noise rock edge to it. The album cover amused me quite a bit if for no other reason than it seemed to aim at portraying this as a piece of classic literature. Also, speaking on their decline in the album title on their debut album is a funny, tongue-in-cheek choice. Ultimately, not bad, but didn't really wow me or catch me much. I'd probably put this at 2.5. It lacked anything that really grabbed me, so I'm rounding down.

Kind of shocked this one slipped past Robert Dimery, tbh.

There is nothing to separate this from any other similar sounding indie group

Had never heard of this band. Seems like they are super into Bowie.

With the name of the album and the first song I was expecting a unique sea shanty style album. Not quite. This was basically a blend of Brit punk and indie rock that toed the line between the two but in an overall ineffective way. This wasn’t bad it just was a a bit dull and definitely had me thinking it was going to be something else. 5.7/10

Landfill indie

never heard of, not bad, voice is not charming

The Decline of British Sea Power is just really dull isn't it? A fine example of the blandest indie crap some Uni bands turned out in the early 00s. 2/5 because it's so inoffensively beige I can't even say it's crap.

I was hoping for something different to what I got. At least it wasn’t the penguin orchestra.

I think if I was in a pub and these guys were there and started playing I'd be like "woah! They're so good! Where'd they come from?!" As it stands, on a list of the greatest albums of all time (even on a user-generated supplement), this feels like such a dully and safe choice. It really pales in comparison to most of the other stuff on here. If this is your favorite band, then that's cool for you. It did not move the needle for me at all.

I feel like we’ve already gotten five albums like this, and I’m only 15 albums in with the user album list. The lead vocalist mumbles so much I don’t think you can call it singing at that point. The last song sounded better than the rest of the album, and I beg 2003 Sea Power to at least explore the emo sound.

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In decline