Do You Like Rock Music?

Personnel: Abi Fry (viola); Becky Foon (cello); Phil Sumner (cornet); Eamon Hamilton (harmonium); Graham Sutton (keyboards, programming).
Audio Mixer: Graham Sutton.
Photographer: British Sea Power.
Issued in early 2008, British Sea Power's third full-length studio album, DO YOU LIKE ROCK MUSIC?, finds the U.K. band admirably expanding its sound, from the beautifully noisy opener, "All in It," to its slowly unfurling companion-piece finale, "We Close Our Eyes." While the group, led by fiery singer/guitarist Scott "Yan" Wilkinson, still excels at tightly wound, guitar-driven post-punk arrangements, it allows them to have more atmosphere--as on the moody "Lights Out for Darker Skies"--a quality due, in part, to the presence of co-producer Graham Sutton of ambient-rock pioneers Bark Psychosis. While not a radical departure for BSP, this record plays to the ensemble's strengths as a willfully creative and ambitious act, easily eclipsing its previous outings.