There was a bit of a renaissance in indie music starting roughly with the Strokes in 2001 and eventually petering out to landfill indie pointlessness after about five years. But those few years packed in an extraordinary profusion of diverse and interesting bands, mostly ploughing some interesting post-punk furrow or other, but the concept of post-punk can cover all sorts of stuff. Of course, eventually you reach the point where new bands are no longer influenced by Wire and Gang of Four but by the bands they in turn influence, diminishing returns happen, and these kinds of bands lose out to the ever-present godawful Coldplay clones.
It was good while it lasted, though, and the splendidly weird British Sea Power were always one of the more interesting bands of the lot. This, their wonderful debut album shows why. They sound a bit like Joy Division on the surface, but there's a onderfully playful obtuseness to the lyrics and an equally playful whimsicality to the whole album, making what could have been a rather po-faced album into something else entirely. And I love these Brighton-based Cumbrian musicians' insistence on lyrics that are as un-rock 'n' roll as possible. That's the quintessence of punk.
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