Seafood - Signal Sparks

Seafood used to be one of those great bands who somehow defied the fact that they were from the U.K., playing a smooth blend of alternative rock that anyone conscious during the nineties would have enjoyed unless they'd been lobotomised. Now, after ten years in the game, like almost everybody else of their time, Seafood have eased up and gone epic, singing with falsettos and writing songs like the Manics did just before everyone stopped listening to them. Fair enough, Signal Sparks is still better than everything else circulating that you'd associate with the Chris Martin-school, but why does growing older so often go hand in hand with growing a bit duller and singing songs about remembering how lucky we are to be alive? [Chris Nordeng]