British Sea Power: Open Season : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

British Sea Power are famed for playing shows in World War I uniforms and decorating the stage with foliage and stuffed owls. But that doesn't begin to prepare you for how eccentric and majestic they sound. These five young yeomen from Brighton, England, perfect their Bowie-style balladry on Open Season. They ditch the noise experiments that dotted their 2003 debut, The Decline of British Sea Power. Instead, they twist their poetic knickers in gems like "It Ended on an Oily Stage," "Victorian Ice" and "Be Gone," with the killer chorus "I love your iridescent sheen." The first few songs are so jaw-slackeningly great, it can take days to get to the album's highlight, the epic eight-minute medley of "Please Stand Up" and "North Hanging Rock." British Sea Power are in a world of their own, and good for them.