British Sea Power-Waving Flags

British Sea Power have always found their strength in eloquence—rockers with a dash of gentility and songs as visceral and they are pensive. But now it seems like they’re over-exerting themselves a bit. Whether ‘Waving Flags’ is dabbling in irony or not (it’s hard to tell with an album titled Do You Like Rock Music?), British Sea Power are inadvertently flattening their appealing eccentricities. The single’s jingling guitars, church-choir vocals, and nauseating amount of reverb amount to a stadium-sized sound that doesn’t quite fit the band. They used to be the charming gentleman at the dinner party. Now they’re becoming that really loud guy who won’t stop singing U2 songs all night. [Jorge Marticorena]