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OPEN SEASON
(Rough Trade)
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English rock bands have always been masters of the grand gesture, whether it’s Morrissey’s fey trumpeting or Johnny Rotten’s pierced snarl. British Sea Power carry on this tradition through a resonant stained-glass vision, their quizzical song titles alluding to parents, animals, sleep, icebergs, "True Adventures," and everything in between. Although they’re known for their often violent stage shows, Open Season is at times so lovely and lush, it could accompany the ladies who lunch on Brighton’s buckling pier. Full of shimmering guitars, starry-eyed melodies, and drums that roll like waves, the disc has a few overtly rock moments. But BSP are at their best in idealistic songs like "Elegiac Stanzas" (its melodic guitar figures recall Graham Parker’s "You Can’t Be Too Strong"), where the lyric "He found God in a Wiltshire field" reflects on this band’s knack for fitting epic themes with bizarre outcomes. Half whispering, half bellowing, Yan Wilkinson dances through fragrantly sad songs like "Be Gone," where ringing guitars arc over a strutting chorus in the fine tradition of the Smiths. With its sun-streaked guitars and a retro-’80s chorus that asks, "Did ya get a rush?," "How Animals Work" could be the feel-good hit of the summer. "Larsen B," is about Antarctica’s collapsing ice shelf; it wonders aloud about babies and "growing up before you get old." British Sea Power find myth and memory in the strangest places, with mysterious falsetto calls, plaintive cellos, jangly guitars, and lyrics that attain a level of grace rarely found in rock. (British Sea Power headline this Monday, May 16, upstairs at the Middle East, 472 Massachusetts Avenue in Central Square; call 617-864-EAST.)
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