Details
Track Listing
1. Man of Aran
2. South Sound, The
3. Come Wander With Me
4. Tiger King
5. Currach, The
6. Boy Vertiginous
7. Spearing the Sunfish
8. Conneely of the West
9. North Sound, The
10. Woman of Aran
11. It Comes Back Again
12. No Man is an Archipelago
| Details | | Producer: | Graham Sutton, Robin Mahoney | | Distributor: | Alternative Dis. Alliance | | Recording Type: | Studio | | Recording Mode: | Stereo | | SPAR Code: | n/a |
Album Notes
British Sea Power: Phil the Wandering Horn, Abi Fry.
Audio Mixers: Jac Nott; Graham Sutton.
Their most ambitious outing yet, British Sea Power's fourth album functions as the soundtrack for the 1934 film of the same name, a part-fiction, part-fact documentary that captures the daily struggles of a small family living on the Aran islands off of Ireland. The spare, haunting, and unmistakably oceanic music pairs wonderfully with the film, reflecting the calm majesty of a quiet sea, the harrowing strains of raging waves, and the pathos of the islander's treacherous and meager existence.
The instrumentals here--many exceeding 10 minutes--provide a dramatic and satisfying listening experience apart from the film. Strings, pianos, and the shimmer of slide guitar dominate, although "Come Wander with Me" features a wistful vocal that turns the song into the album's centerpiece. Casual listeners expecting mid-tempo rockers will be disappointed, but fans of the band's previous maritime imaginings will appreciate how far their band has come as musical craftsmen.
Industry Reviews
3 stars out of 5 -- In conjunction with MAN OF ARAN, it works brilliantly. The ebbs and flows they bring to their albums only enhance the man-at-war-with-nature visuals...
[T]he band manage to inject real drama into the majestically discordant, Sonic Youth-influenced 'Spearing The Sunfish'...
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