Sea Power Everything Was Forever

Golden Chariot

Records, out Friday

★★★★★

The sextet became Sea Power last year after being British Sea Power since their formation in 2000, fearing the name had connotations with ‘adversarial nationalism’. They haven’t lost their potency or the ability to surprise. After building with some typically close harmonies, Two Fingers finds a punkish punch. Transmitter springs to life with guitars reminiscent of Echo & the Bunnymen’s Will Sergeant. Doppelganger’s call-and-response style is made for the live arena in which they excel. ‘Yan’ Scott Wilkinson, one of two brothers in the band, reaches for a falsetto in Fear Eats The Soul and sings ‘I sit in my chair and I smile. I sit in my chair and I cry’. We Only Want To Make You Happy feels like an ocean-going vessel breaking the waves, as if evoking their name. Sea Power come in peace but their eighth album will win the battle for your heart and mind.