Machineries of Joy

Machineries of Joy is a studio album by British indie rock band British Sea Power. It was released in April 2013 on the Rough Trade record label.[5]

Machineries of Joy
Studio album by
British Sea Power
Released1 April 2013
GenreAlternative rock
Length43:04
LabelRough Trade
British Sea Power chronology
Valhalla Dancehall
(2011)		 Machineries of Joy
(2013)		 From the Sea to the Land Beyond
(2013)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic [1]
The Guardian [2]
Pitchfork Media [3]
Drowned In Sound [4]

The album's title track was released as a single in February 2013 in advance of the album release.[6]

To promote the album, the band announced a UK tour in April 2013.[7]

The album reached #2[8] on the UK indie album chart, and #19[9] on the regular chart. It also debuted at #15[10] on the Irish indie album chart.

Track listing

Rough Trade announced the track listing as follows.[11]

  1. "Machineries Of Joy" - 6:18
  2. "K Hole" - 3:25
  3. "Hail Holy Queen" - 3:20
  4. "Loving Animals" - 5:10
  5. "What You Need The Most" - 5:41
  6. "Monsters Of Sunderland" - 3:11
  7. "Spring Has Sprung" - 3:54
  8. "Radio Goddard" - 3:19
  9. "A Light Above Descending" - 4:11
  10. "When A Warm Wind Blows Through The Grass" - 4:40

Initial copies of the album were bundled with a bonus EP containing 5 tracks:

  1. "Facts Are Right" - 2.58
  2. "Fingertips" - 4.39
  3. "Baby Grey" - 4.35
  4. "Lullaby For What You Are" - 3.20
  5. "Chrysanthemum" - 4.27

Production

The band started writing the songs that would form the album at the start of 2012. These were released in the form of "enhanced demos" on limited edition EPs (see section BSP EP1-6). Later in the year, the band spent two weeks in the Welsh mountains working on completing the songs.[12] They recorded the album in Brighton[13] in November 2012.

Album title

The name of the album (and its title track) comes from a collection of short stories by Ray Bradbury, The Machineries of Joy.[12] Bradbury's work has influenced the band's songwriting in the past: "Something Wicked" (from The Decline of British Sea Power) refers to Bradbury's novel Something Wicked This Way Comes[14] and "Georgie Ray" (from Valhalla Dancehall) alludes in part to Bradbury.[15]

BSP EP1-6
Covers of a collection of BSP EPs 1-6

British Sea Power began working on the songs which would form the album in the first half of 2012, releasing six limited-edition demo EPs, one at each of their monthly Krankenhaus club nights in Brighton.[16]

Each is titled simply BSP EPx (sometimes described as simply BSP x), 'x' running from 1 to 6.

The cover of each EP features a picture of a bird or animal wearing a hat, drawn by band member Yan (Scott Wilkinson).

BSP EP1
  1. "French Pornographic Novel"
  2. "Lullaby For What You Are"
  3. "Baby Grey"
  4. "A Light Above Descending"
  5. "Fiery"

BSP EP2
  1. "Things Have A Way Of Working Out"
  2. "Up Against It"
  3. "Loving Animals"
  4. "Machineries Of Joy"
  5. "Motorway South"

BSP EP3
  1. "K Hole"
  2. "What You Need The Most"
  3. "When A Warm Wind Blows Through The Grass"
  4. "Brand New Century"
  5. "Evening Will Come We Will Sew The Blue Sail"

BSP EP4
  1. "Facts Not Right"
  2. "Fingertips"
  3. "Spring Has Sprung"
  4. "Monsters of Sunderland"
  5. "To The Show"

BSP EP5
  1. "Over Your Cities Grass Will Grow"
  2. "Wishful Thinking"
  3. "Radio Goddard"
  4. "Did You Recognise Yourself"
  5. "Scafell Hotel"
  6. "Wishful Thinking (bonus mix)"

BSP EP6
  1. "Warzone"
  2. "Sausage Roll?"
  3. "Dance Party"
  4. "Beautiful Fountains"
  5. "Hail Holy Queen"
  6. "Chrysanthemum"
  7. "Unto The End"
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References
  1. James Christopher Monger. "Machineries of Joy - review". Allmusic. Retrieved 18 April 2013.
  2. Maddy Costa (28 March 2013). "British Sea Power: Machineries of Joy – review". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 April 2013.
  3. Ian Cohen (3 April 2013). "Pitchfork: Album Reviews: British Sea Power: Machineries of Joy". Pitchfork. Retrieved 18 April 2013.
  4. Robert Leedham (27 March 2013). "British Sea Power - Machineries of Joy - Drowned In Sound". Drowned In Sound. Retrieved 18 April 2013.
  5. "British Sea Power Announce New Album 'Machineries Of Joy' Out 1st April 2013". Contactmusic. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
  6. "Hear British Sea Power's New Single 'Machineries Of Joy'". Rough Trade Records. 12 February 2013. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
  7. "British Sea Power Announce UK Tour". Retrieved 22 February 2013.
  9. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 23 March 2014. Retrieved 21 October 2012.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  10. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 12 February 2012. Retrieved 12 February 2012.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  11. "Release - British Sea Power - Machineries of Joy". Archived from the original on 14 February 2013. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
  12. Rob Pollard (8 April 2013). "Rob Pollard v British Sea Power: "We need a Chavez"". New Statesman. Retrieved 9 April 2013.
  13. CD sleeve notes - recorded at Brighton Electric Studios, Brighton
  14. David Harris (26 April 2011). "Interview: British Sea Power". Spectrum Culture. Archived from the original on 12 November 2011. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
  15. "British Sea Power newsboost archive". NEWSBOOST BEER OFFER. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
  16. "BRITISH SEA POWER PRESENT... KRANKENHAUS (Newsboost Krankenhaus Klubnacht)". 17 November 2011. Archived from the original on 7 March 2013. Retrieved 22 February 2013.

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