Album review: British Sea Power, Machineries of Joy (Rough Trade)

British Sea Power, Machineries of Joy (Rough Trade)

Valhalla Dancehall found British Sea Power somewhat becalmed, but Machineries Of Joy gets them moving again, albeit in a variety of directions.

The title track opens things positively, its steady ticking groove streaked with wistful wisps of strings, before “K Hole” evokes a ketamine overdose rush in driving guitar chords. The krautrock influence recurs in “Loving Animals”, whose sinister vocal and keening guitars strain to billow out of shape against the anchoring metronomic tattoo. Elsewhere, “Spring Has Sprung” sounds like Roy Harper backed by Wire – warm emotion blended with implacable momentum – while the most affecting of several poignant observations of emotional moments is “What You Need the Most”.

Download: Machineries of Joy; Spring Has Sprung; What You Need the Most