UK indie rock crew British Sea Power will henceforth be known as Sea Power. The change was announced on the band’s website overnight, along with details of a new album.
“When we came up with the original band name, Britain no longer ruled the seas,” the band wrote in a statement. “The band name was intended with a kind of wry humour. The idea of British sea power in the historical sense was an obsolete thing. It was now just the name of a rock band.”
However, the band members’ perspectives have changed. 20 years after Sea Power’s formation, jingoistic nationalism is now commonplace, and nowhere more so than in Tory-led, post-Brexit Britain.
“In recent times there’s been a rise in a certain kind of nationalism in this world – an isolationist, antagonistic nationalism that we don’t want to run any risk of being confused with,” the band said. “It’s become apparent that it’s possible to misapprehend the name British Sea Power.”
In contrast to the resurgent nationalism across Europe and America, Sea Power subscribe to a more utopian ideology. “We’ve always been internationalist in our mindset, something made clear in songs like Waving Flags, an anthem to pan-European idealism,” they said.
Though, just in case the name change is perceived as an attack on the band members’ native region, they point out that “removing the word ‘British’ does NOT indicate any aversion to the British Isles whatsoever.” To the contrary, they feel “immensely fortunate to have grown up in these islands.”
The new album – the post-punk sextet’s first as Sea Power – is called Everything Was Forever and it’s out on Friday, 11th February 2022. The single ‘Two Fingers’ is out now.
