For those in the know the release of the debut material from British Theatre has been one of the most anticipated moments of 2012. Formed of ex-Oceansize men Mike Vennart and Richard ‘Gambler’ Ingram, British Theatre have celebrated their one year anniversary, and the anniversary of the sad demise of their previous band, with the unveiling of imaginatively titled three track release “EP”.
First things first, this isn’t an Oceansize record. That is not to say that it is a total diversion. As Mike has himself admitted, the very fact that it is his distinctive vocals on top of the mix means that there is automatically some continuity. There are also musical hints though. The intro to “Little Death #3 (6th Gen Degrade), has a whiff of more contemplative material from Oceansize’s fourth, and ultimately final, “Self Preserved While the Bodies Float Up” album. Perhaps rather than continually comparing the two it would be best to think of British Theatre as something rather like what Oceansize might have sounded like somewhere down the line, if they had done a Radiohead and almost exclusively abandoned proper rock music for a while.
Without wishing to write too much to Oceansize’s still loyal fanbase here, the musical elements of this project arguably have more in common with Gambler’s solo ambient drone records than anything else the two men have been associated with. Oceansize may have always been founded upon texture but it was texture when you could always tell what instrument was playing. Here Mike and Gambler have decided that the creation of ambiguous sound backdrops is just as valuable as a wall of delay-affected guitar. Keyboards and synths are the dominant instruments on display, although there are some truly delicious guitar tones present too when the mood takes them.
What you may be thinking is that I haven’t got around yet to saying if these tracks are any good or not yet. Well, the reason for that is that it depends entirely on what you want from these two men. If a second coming of Oceansize is really what you are in search for then there are plenty of excellent bands out there who can give you that fix to some degree, but British Theatre aren’t really one of them. This EP is not totally removed from the legacy at all, but it is defiantly different - and one gets the impression that these differences will only become more apparent by the time a full-length album is released later this year. I can only give you my impression, and personally I think what sounds a bit like a Stars of the Lid / Oceansize collaboration has to be one of the best ideas in history. I love it.
You can get away with paying next to nothing for it as well so frankly it would be insane of you to not at least give it a try, whether you loved Oceansize or not.
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First things first, this isn’t an Oceansize record. That is not to say that it is a total diversion. As Mike has himself admitted, the very fact that it is his distinctive vocals on top of the mix means that there is automatically some continuity. There are also musical hints though. The intro to “Little Death #3 (6th Gen Degrade), has a whiff of more contemplative material from Oceansize’s fourth, and ultimately final, “Self Preserved While the Bodies Float Up” album. Perhaps rather than continually comparing the two it would be best to think of British Theatre as something rather like what Oceansize might have sounded like somewhere down the line, if they had done a Radiohead and almost exclusively abandoned proper rock music for a while.
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