British Sea Power are having a bad night. The smoke machine’s on the fritz, technical difficulties are cropping up at every turn and having stood through more than a few false starts, the Academy massive are getting ancy.
Bad luck isn’t the sole cause for lagging spirits tonight – the Brighton lads and lass seem to be skimping on energy, and while Yan’s vocals are in tip top shape, Hamilton is sending us bum note after bum note. All six members are present and accounted for, but the synergy seems to be missing.
What’s worse is that we’re just not used to getting less than the sublime from BSP. Their back catalogue, which now spans 10 years, contains some of the most accomplished British-produced indie pop of the noughties, they’re one of the most adventurous guitar bands in recent memory and their stage set-up is built to create an almighty wall of noise.
If there’s one bit of encouragement to be found in tonight’s performance, it’s that when BSP pick up the pace, they really pick up the pace, and they get most excited when belting out material from new album Valhalla Dancehall.
‘Apologies To Insect Life’ is a commanding, charging gem of a tune, made all the better by searing guitar riffs and Yan’s acrobatic vocal. Later, when the sixsome pair ‘Once More Now’ with moving pictures from the Oscar-nominated Winged Migration, it’s a splendid marriage. At one point, the psychedelic hum synchs up with the peaceful locomotion of a flock of barnacle geese and, for just a moment, it’s really lovely.
For your average band, ending a show with the harpooning of a shark off the coast of Galway Bay would be a bit of an odd move, but we must remember British Sea Power have more quirk in their guitar straps than most indie rockers can sum up in a whole career. It’s fitting that a tune from Man Of Aran, their stunning soundtrack to the 1934 Robert J. Flaherty film of the same name, gets an airing in Dublin and that it sees BSP reach the precipice of their talents. In this light, they’re dreamy, daring and kinetic.
Still, there’s no glossing over beige versions of indie disco faves ‘Waving Flag’ and ‘No Lucifer’, and by the time the encore rolls around, no-one’s gasping for more. Surely this can’t be the same band who, last year, traveled to the great wall of China and the Arctic Circle just to rock out? Granted, there were flashes of genius tonight, but I’d have expected more from a bunch of seasoned explorers.