Sea Power

Some bands feel a need to reinvent themselves every once in a while, and for Sea Power, all it took was to lop the "British" off the first part of their name. Though the reason behind the change was a desire to separate themselves from a rising tide of toxic nationalism in Great Britain, the result seems to have also put a spring in their step. While their more recent catalog includes releases where they scored a documentary film (2013's From the Sea to the Land Beyond), penned music for a video game (2021's Disco Elysium), and re-interpreted their songs with the help of a brass band (2015's Sea of Brass), 2022's Everything Was Forever is a powerfully effective summation of what they do best: making music that that's long on thunder and atmospherics, and built on a melodic foundation of widescreen grandeur. Everything Was Forever has all of that, and it also rocks – "Transmitter" has a tough, throbbing pulse and some gnarly guitar to go along with the massed vocal choruses, "Doppelganger" is a speedy charge through a cloud of well-focused anger, and "Two Fingers" offers some high-grade energetic snark as they play on the multiple meanings of the titular expression.

After scoring a documentary on the role of the ocean in English culture and consciousness (2013's From the Sea to the Land Beyond) and collaborating with a traditional U.K. brass band (2015's Sea of Brass), one could have been excused for thinking Sea Power had gotten out of the business of playing rock & roll. But as part of their formula of periodic stylistic change, they've circled back around to their trademark variety of U.K.

British Sea Power was founded in Reading in 2000. After 20 years and seven albums, they changed their name to Sea Power in 2021, which they justified as follows: "Recently, a certain kind of nationalism has been on the rise in this world - an isolationist, antagonistic nationalism with which we don't want to be confused. It has become apparent that the name British Sea Power can be misunderstood, especially if you don't know the band or their recordings. We always wanted to be an internationalist band, but maybe having a specific nation-state in our name wasn't the smartest way to demonstrate that."