British Sea Power
What is it?: In 2009, between BSP's third and fourth LP's, they decided to tackle something a little different. Man of Aran is not an original album, as much as it is an exercise in unleashing and repurposing the band’s signature ethereality in the service of someone else's vision - in this case a new score to an existing film. But Man of Aran, the film, itself had a convoluted backstory: it was a fictional documentary that purported to show a way of life on the fringes of Irish society, and in doing so it was able to break new ground by playing outside the rules. Little wonder then that this project attracted British Sea Power specifically, as they had some experience with using tried and true modes in order to create novel narrative terrain.
Why isn't it on vinyl?: Honestly? No clue. Look, this thing hit in the spring of 2009, right in the beginning stages of what some have termed “the vinyl boom.” The indie world, to which BSP had been a welcome and unquestioned addition, had fully embraced records by this time, and the mainstream-music world was beginning to open its arms to the possibilities. Add to that, essentially all their other work exists on vinyl, so it has nothing to do with the band themselves, their stature, or their label (the good pioneering folks at Rough Trade). All signs point to "this should totally fucking be on vinyl."
Why should it be?: BECAUSE!! As alluded to before, there is a gorgeousness here, a richness in the deep-sea calm of each instrumental presentation. The melodic motifs are more breathtaking upon each successive iteration. The dynamic shifts here would be served by the vinyl format in ways that would deliver chills and heartskips in between long stretches of meditative relaxation. As an added bonus, the band has since stated that they recorded this live in one stretch, and that is amazing from any number of technical perspectives. For these and many other reasons, Man of Aran as a vinyl record would be a place of comfort, of welcome, of deep understanding and solace for anyone exposed to it. It would be magical, and it should exist.
But OK, maybe there are copyright issues with doing so since it is in some way attached to a film property, I'm not a licensing rights specialist so I can't say if that holds water or not. But good luck convincing me that those things would be insurmountable if they were to exist. And maybe, just maybe, some of the label heads or even the band wanted the music to be presented as an alternate but intrinsic supplement to the film. I totally get that, but the logic falls apart when one realizes that it exists on CD and it is available to stream - there is no way to know if people are then consuming it in that potentially "preferred" way.
Just listen to the distantly echoing plink of the leadoff theme, "Man of Aran." Listen to the wave-riding shifts of "Conneely of the West." Listen to the world-building tradecraft in the movements that comprise "Spearing the Sunfish" and "It Comes Back Again." Escapism is the fabric of this work's being, and it deserves to be appreciated on its own through a rebirth in our consciousness. Man of Aran needs the chance to bloom into a new springtime where all its storms and dew falls can be rediscovered.
We don't deserve this on vinyl, but we need it. Perhaps now more than ever.
