From the Sea To the Land Beyond

This soundtrack for a documentary culled from historical clips is yet another cinematic adventure by British Sea Power. Telling the story of Britain’s island life—its coastal culture morphing over the years through industry, the elements, war, and peacetime—the story may not move Americans in an equally patriotic way. Yet the music alone should stir quite a visceral effect. In the fine tradition of BSP’s regal rock music, these tracks are both grand and humble, exciting and lulling, fantastically beautiful, and at moments almost unsettling. Cinematically ripe and evocative in the most perfect of ways, this set transports listeners on orchestrated winds and buoyant indie-pop melodies that feel both familiar and new. “We’re all waving flags now,” John Smith intoned breathlessly on the band’s 2008 pro-immigration single “Waving Flags." On “Remarkable Driving Feat,” the same melody takes shape with clarion horns, graceful strings, and guitar notes that sparkle like a dappled ocean. The song “The Land Beyond” both opens and closes the film in new rigging (here, the first track and “The Islanders”). This may be BSP’s best work in the film realm yet.