Album Review: Do You Like Rock Music? by British Sea Power

On 2005's Open Season, British Sea Power traded in some of the chilly post-rock angst that fueled their 2003 debut with a more streamlined, radio-ready approach that left some listeners yearning for the lo-fi majesty of songs like "Carrion" and "Fear of Drowning. " Those tunes were still there, but they demanded repeated spins before revealing their fruits, a tactic that the stoic Cumbria, England, quartet employs again -- but with far more breathtaking results -- on its third full-length, Do You Like Rock Music? Tapping the collective talents of three producers -- Howard Bilerman (Arcade Fire), Graham Sutton (Jarvis Cocker), and Efrim Menuck (Godspeed You Black Emperor!) -- in numerous locations (Canada, Cornwall, and the Czech Republic, respectively), DYLRM should be a mess, but the band has crafted a wintry, nuanced, and bold collection of epic songs that integrate the sweeping theatricality of Arcade Fire-era indie rock without all of the insularity. This is music made for people, not a person.

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From its thunderous opening track, Do You Like Rock Music? answers that Brighton-based BSP are "All in It" in a way not heard previously. Their monstrous and altogether gorgeous wall of sound, once saddled with antithetical, inaccurate comparisons to the Cure (of all bands), here comes into its own. "Lights Out for Darker Skies," with its titular echoes of another war in another time, is, simply put, a masterpiece of modern Brit rock.

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