Just discovered today that English indie band British Sea Power has dropped the "British" part from its name and will henceforth be known as Sea Power. My first inkling was when I saw a Youtube video by someone called Sea Power, which made me wonder if it was BSP, a band I've loved since 2004 or so, but with whom I've lost touch in recent years (as I have with all bands, frankly).
So I went looking around, and found that they had indeed changed their name, and they explain why here. It's hard to disagree with their reasoning, especially given the turn that British politics has taken since June 2016 (but also that it was taking long before then). With the Tories spending the last decade ginning up xenophobia and isolationism by invoking the so-called glorious past, especially the Empire and WWII, it must feel increasingly difficult to maintain a name like "British Sea Power".
They say in that Guardian article that the name was originally intended, in part, as "1950s situationist", but I can also imagine that there are sections of the British music-listening public that couldn't pronounce that word, let alone define it (not that I can really define it either - I assume it has something to do with Dada?). And not to put too fine a point on it, especially since I've only seen them live twice, but you can imagine a section of their fans that maybe doesn't understand that the WWI uniforms, lyrics invoking places in Britain, and all other trappings isn't meant to be an uncritical lionization of Britain's past.
That is to say, were there fans at BSP shows who weren't in on the joke? Did BSP worry about getting co-opted by skinheads the way Madness, Morrissey and Joy Division have been, to varying degrees? If so, it's a shame to see them giving up the fight against people like that.
My only quibble (and it's truly just that) is that Sea Power doesn't have the same ring as British Sea Power. Realistically, I don't see why it should change my opinion of their first two albums, The Decline of British Sea Power and Open Season, as some of the most distinctive and idiosyncratic music in my collection (outside of the avant-garde that I have). The first album, Decline, is so much about Britishness that I couldn't help but love it, while Open Season in my memory sounds like a Victorian trophy cabinet - though that might just be because of songs like Victorian Ice and Oh Larsen B.
Much of my most British music is strongly urban, tied to cities like London, Manchester or Glasgow, but Sea Power's the only one that seems to engage with the countryside, the past and the forgotten parts of Britain (like their song Canvey Island, off third album Do You Like Rock Music?). Their singular vision was demonstrated nicely by their writing a new score to Man of Aran, a 1920s documentary about people living on the desolate west coast of Ireland; and also by selling mugs emblazoned with British Tea Power (one of which I have back in London).
I have no reason to expect that the name change heralds a shift from these themes. But as I say, it feels a little like they're ceding the fight over what's "British" to the worst proponents of the term, right at the time when England, and Britain more generally, needs someone to articulate a left nationalism that encompasses a nautical (as opposed to naval) tradition of the country, and that champions appreciation of nature and the countryside as something for all people, rather than the Tory/nimby impulse to keep the countryside green for the landowners.
It's interesting that they received a lot of interview requests from far-right channels like GB News and Russia Today in the wake of their name change, because it's hard not to see it as a salvo in the ongoing culture war. I applaud them not talking to those outlets, and I wish them success in their next albums - my Great British Music Relisten hasn't arrived at SP yet, but I'm looking forward to it.
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