British Sea Power "Brass at Sea" with NASUWT. Review at De La Warr Pavillion Bexhill, England 24.10.14

British Sea Power "Brass at Sea" with NASUWT. at De La Warr Pavillion Bexhill, England 24.10.14 the original show: http://www.sagegateshead.com/event/british-sea-powers/ Brass in popular music generally has recently been revisited, updated and pushed forward by Matthew Herbert Big Band, Acid Brass, Ol Dirty Brasstards, the Hackney Colliery Band, Hot 8 Brass Band, Youngblood Brass Band and several brass specific festivals like BRASS where this piece was commissioned and played first. This concert featured British Sea Power with Peter Wraight who also has worked with Matthew Herbert Big Band] and Durham's NASUWT working through a more than 15 years of BSP tracks. The NASUWT being founded in 1877 and short for The National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers Riverside Band. Looking at this wide ensemble filling up the entire state - the promoter in me was totting up the costs of Durham to Bexhill train fares, hotels, of bringing such a big band down…. As a promoter, the last time I put on British Sea Power [on an infamous night with Faust] where Faustian pacts were apparently broken and one of BSP got clocked in the eye for a likely imaginary transgression…. Kirsten Reynolds [of Headbutt, London Dirthole, etc] still laugh about that night as she assumed the lead role in the "11 screaming women" asked for on the Faust rider. I'm glad I don't promote too many shows like that anymore. The human in me wondered about each of the players [not the battle hardened BSP band] but the Brass - being so far away on a night when they might be home watching telly with their families after a long week at work, or perhaps playing in another band… but to be here on this stage…. in Bexhill… there are a lot of them... the nature of a big band situation as a player often isn't that rewarding. Things to think about before you join a big band, I suppose. So here - in what is a beautiful windswept Pavilion on the sea - I know it well because in the summer I swim over the 5 miles here from my house at Hastings in open sea …. The venue itself is functional - all seated with 2 stalls on either side - all facing forward - and an upper tier that was closed tonight. [i wish there were more in as the room needs that to absorb some of the big sound]. During the sound check it was obvious that there is quite a lot of reflection in the room - which created some interesting late reflection points when it was empty. When full - it was a bit of a unique experience - in that the all-seating [and remarkably no smart phone carrying audience] created a sedate feeling - along with the wash of sound --- added up to be a most tranquil journey through mid tempo, soft edged numbers. One would guess, that the intelligence of this crowd, if locked in, could solve quite a few of the world's middle class problems. Indeed, the set list - starting with Heavenly Waters and running through many of the ballads and softer numbers were yet even softer in the arrangements, necessary for this large racket [said the nicest way] to really work. Now with BSP [headline shows] you are liable to get a clash of topiary, flags, lights, films and the vagaries of a creative, restless band at its peak… Tonight - the nearest i can describe it is a late October Christmas show special taping in about 1978. The arrangements were concise, dazzlingly good at points and largely wonderful. I did crave a bit more individuation and more solo work - and also some experimentation - but for a work only to be played 3 times [in Durham last summer] and Bexhill, Barbican [which on the night experienced a power cut that cancelled the show!] - you can only push the band so much…. And with that - the achievement becomes, in reflection, even more impressive. Special credit must go to the arranger, conductor Peter Wraight who forged a sound that had nuance, colour and a beauty ---- the sea of brass - that possibly was envisaged at the beginning. . . spectral but also Kitsch, luminous - and very jolly. Its inescapable with the Brass palette. The NASUWT provided an huge counterpoint - and once you forgot about their genial exploitation, lost families and missed TV dinners - the sequences especially in the opening sections of the show. As for BSP. They're BSP… The fact that they did 2 of my favourite tracks - Wooden horse [the original track is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmUNxS1EYx8] and Smallest Church - was delicious. They also out Arcade-ed the Fire - at many points making tracks like Atom - which are great regardless into sonic fireworks … a few days short of the bonfires --- yet bringing the smouldering to what is admittedly a very reserved crowd. By the encore - of Waving Flags, The Great Suka and Warm Wind - I had moved into the foyer as the sound was getting much on these old ears… and through a single set of doors the mix was even better… walking outside the venue just in the last minutes The sound was even better - the brass and BSP working this show to the bitter end - and then sea waves, light rain - the night mixing in with the last phrases of this audacious collaboration. Almost impossible to sum up but as the project is out of time, , as I am still trying to remember melodies of the 1970s American Christmas specials of old … This was a taping and concert that I want to see again - but at Christmas, at home half asleep, drunk in front of the fire.