Album Review: British Sea Power - Machineries Of Joy

British Sea Power are kooky. There. It's been said. From their niche instrumental-heavy music to lead singer Yan's (aka Scott Wilkinson) curious descriptions of their work, “The new album touches upon various things, including French female body builders turned erotic movie stars” (say what now?), the group adore and embellish all that is unashamedly quirky.

Machineries Of Joy sees the freewheeling sextuplet's aching, ethereal tunes overlain with futuristic sci-fi effects in something of a nod towards the late, great sci-fi writer Ray Bradbury (they did, after all, steal the album's title from a collection of his short stories).

The title track opens the album, with soaring Sigur Ros-styled strings blanketing the sound, thanks mainly in part to the avant-garde mixing from Ken Thomas, who worked with the Icelandic group on their 1999 release, Ágætis Byrjun.

The dry and quirky Loving Animals turns down the gentle and amps up the psychedelic burn, with a misplaced cherubic-sounding choir poking through here and there, and Yan even managing a breathless Brit-pop punk sound, before launching into some maniacal lyrical freestyling that even includes a few monkey sounds. Umm… okay.

A trumpet, a la 1930s big-band style, bursts open the guitar-heavy Monsters Of Sunderland, with the group's warbling power chords making a triumphant return in When A Warm Wind Blows Through The Grass, a track so gentle it could act as a kind of meditative chant. Its simple chord progression loops over and over beneath Yan's lackadaisical vocals that whimper, “When a warm wind blows through the grass”.

The indie troubadours say they made the album in the hope that it would provide some kind of antidote to this “mad, hysterical place”. Mission accomplished – almost.