Hot Press meets British Sea Power

UK art-rockers British Sea Power have returned with their sixth album, Machineries Of Joy, its title taken from a Ray Bradbury collection of short stories. Musically, it’s an intriguing mix of their typically offbeat experimentation and some hypnotic motorik rhythms, making for one of the sextet’s most accomplished records to date.

“Although it sounds terrible, we wanted it to have more of a natural band vibe,” considers BSP’s softly spoken singer Scott Wilkinson, aka Yan. “That did make it a bit more rhythmic sometimes, and then when you’re writing on your own with a guitar or keyboards, you naturally go towards the melody I guess. So we took those ideas to the rehearsal rooms and did a bit more work. We wanted to make it more concise and friendly.”
Machineries Of Joy actually grew out of the band’s Krankenhaus club night, which takes place regularly in Brighton, the town where they’re based. They decided to make a series of six demo EPs available one at a time at the club, with the best material culled and finessed for the full album.
“We actually ended up creating a lot more work for ourselves!” laughs Wilkinson. “I mean, there’s enough to do organising a club night anyway without trying to get an EP finished for each one. And we wanted the line-ups to be interesting and eclectic as well, so we were trying to get Japanese bands and brass bands and all sorts of groups involved in addition to finishing a record for each one, so it wasn’t easy.”
In the past couple of years, British Sea Power also created the soundtrack for the documentary Out Of The Present, which follows cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev’s time aboard the Mir space station.
“I had a lot to do with that one, I kind of took it on myself in way,” explains Scott. “There’s a guy who works at Cern in Switzerland, and they do a film festival. He’s a bit of a movie buff as well as being into science obviously, and for some reason he thought we’d be interested. I watched the film and I found it fascinating, you know? It chronicles some of the changes in Russia, political aspects of life in the country and so on.
“But it’s mainly about these two guys, and the way they change after all this time spent up there, and the experience they have of being able to look down and see the whole world. So half of it is electronics and then the other half is more organic and a lot softer.”
Previously, British Sea Power had also created a soundtrack for Man Of Aran, a documentary about life on the Aran Islands in the ‘30s.
“That was the first soundtrack work we ever did,” nods Scott. “It was the start of something that spiralled really. Since then we’ve done the Mir one and this year we’ve also done another for the BBC about the history of the sea around the UK. It’s kind of romantic and, in a way, that’s why the space one appealed to me, because it was sort of the opposite. You want to try something new each time.”
British Sea Power have a number of live shows coming up, including a date in Dublin, and I wonder if they have any special stage props this time around, such as the foliage and plastic birds they’ve deployed in the past?
“The birds have dropped off a bit,” replies Yan, “but the foliage is still going because it just works so well. I stand by it, it’s a long-term thing. It’s something we’re always going to do, it’s a cool thing and it smells nice. And it casts good shadows. The new thing is that we have a polar bear onstage, although it’s big so we may have to save it for some of the higher-ceilinged venues! We’re also working on some visuals, projections and that sort of thing.”
Touches such as the unusual stage props, as well as the group’s tendency to play unusual locations (including a space observatory and the Czech Embassy in London), and their appearances on shows such as the BBC’s Countryfile – where they discussed their interest in bird-watching – have combined to earn British Sea Power a reputation for eccentricity. Presumably they just go with stuff they find interesting.
“I always think if you’re interested in something, you can write a four-minute song about it,” says Wilkinson. “Or at least try – and some of them work. You write the song, and suddenly two years later the album’s out, and you’re doing things like playing football with Wilko Johnson from Dr. Feelgood – we did that before a show at Canvey Island, when we trained with the Canvey Island football team! It was great because Wilko is one of my favourite guitarists. So, these things happen through coincidence. I’ve been thinking I need to refocus and write some songs about riches or gold, see where that leads. Maybe go the hip-hop route!”

Machineries Of Joy is out now on Rough Trade