The Art of Longevity The Art of Longevity Season 3, Episode 5: Sea Power, with Yan
In a warm and whimsical conversation with Yan (Scott Wilkinson) of Sea Power, I learned to appreciate just what this unique band has achieved. With the recent name change, I might suggest the band wears its status as National Treasure with a certain irony. But over the course of two decades the band has made a batch of fine songs, really solid albums, award winning soundtracks and plays sold out, highly renowned live shows. Sea Power also had some hits in the early days but the band's true supporters are its core fan base, who buy all their records and see them live repeatedly, religiously you might say.
Those fans, and the band's creative momentum, have pushed Sea Power to get better and better. 2017’s album Let The Dancers Inherit The Party was a fine record, with across the board four star reviews.
Yan: “It did okay, not as well as some people might think. It didn’t do an Ed Sheeran or anything like that”.
Well it looks like that might change with new L.P. Everything Was Forever, an amalgam of everything the band has done and have ever sounded like, wrapped within some genuine quality songwriting, the sort that can be achieved only after a band has put in its time working together as one. As we published this episode, Sea Power is vying for a number one position on the UK album charts, with their main rival being...the ginger genius himself (who said the band can’t sell as much as Ed Sheeran?).
That might say more about the chart than it does about the popularity of Sea Power, but it’s a remarkable achievement nonetheless. Yan himself is less sanguine about all this than he was when the band formed:“I thought we were destined to do really well. That the world would fall gently at our feet”.
Perhaps the world is. Just a gentler and longer fall than the band expected. Everything Was Forever should be the start of a new journey for a band with a new name.
“I saw this album as both the last record and the start of anything new, if it is going to happen. Getting the best of our influences over the years, before we move on to something new or, just stop”.
It's pretty clear that the music scene is better off if that new something does happen. Whether we are British or otherwise, we could do with Sea Power.
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