16 December 2022
Newsdesk
By The Sea come from the lineage of firework pop, bursts of colour and squeeze-your-hand intense love aligned with grey skies & work things. Recall the first time you heard The Chills’ ‘Pink Frost’ or Television Personalities’ ‘How I Learned To Live The Bomb’? That’s the encounter.
Liam Power formed By The Sea in 2011, the band’s debut single ‘Waltz Away’ coming out on The Great Pop Supplement label that year. In November 2012 the band released their self-titled album through Dell’Orso and GPS. The NME noted how there was “a beautifully bruised element to this Wirral act’s debut from the subdued, morbid production to Liam Power’s heroically battle-weary vocals”.
They have also often been tagged for their kitchen-sink dramas, though they’re more akin to something like ‘Wish You Were Here’, both funny and dark without being maudlin. There’s an end of pier melancholy to By The Sea records though, something more than a scribble of sentiment on a souvenir postcard.
For their second LP Endless Days, Crystal Skies the band turned over production duties to their friend Bill Ryder-Jones (formerly of The Coral) and released that bounty of pop in 2014. It’s a partnership they have retained for the new third album Heaven Knows Magnolia.
Initially released digitally in October, the album now gets its delayed physical release on purple vinyl today, 16th December. The song 'Bedbound Melodies' is also a co-write with Bill.
The track listing of Heaven Knows Magnolia is as follows:
1. ESP
2. Heaven Knows Magnolia
3. Desire Paths
4. Shall We Put On How I Long?
5. Harry And Stevie
6. Bedbound Melodies
7. Anywhere You Like
8. Carl’s UFO
9. Love Letter
10. Mt. Pleasant
11. The Let Downs
To coincide with the vinyl release, the band will release a new single, ‘Anywhere You Like’. Talking about the single, Liam Power said:
It’s about the absolute love and joy of coming home from being away and realising what you've got. I used to listen to old CBS 50s radio horror theatre shows to help me get to sleep when I got home. Feeling like it was where I belonged, but out of time at the same instance.
