MUSIC fans across the globe have welcomed the announcement of a new album and tour from South Lakeland’s British Sea Power.

The supersonic six-piece, led by Natland brothers Neil and Scott Wilkinson who met drummer Matthew Wood at Kirkbie Kendal School, Kendal, will release Machineries of Joy on April 1.

The tour kicks off in Exeter just four days later and, although the band are not playing in Cumbria, their loyal legions of fans from the county won’t have too far to travel to catch them live, as they are playing at Manchester Gorilla on April 12.

The group, which also features guitarist Martin Noble, keyboardist Phil Sumner and viola player Abi Fry, will also play Birmingham, Newcastle, Glasgow, Leeds, Nottingham, Cardiff, Portsmouth, Norwich and London on the 11-date tour.

Once you buy a ticket from the band’s website, you can also pre-order the new album, with the first 500 CDs and LPs pre-ordered coming with a limited edition bonus EP.

It will be interesting to see the musical direction taken by the group, particularly in light of last year’s series of six experimental demo EPs, which were released between January and June.

Their previous album, the victorious Valhalla Dancehall, from 2011, saw the band move closer to the stadium rock sound favoured by the likes of Arcade Fire and Manic Street Preachers, while also ushering in a more raucous edgy sound with songs such as Mongk II.

Scott, who is also known as Yan, said: “We’d like to think the album is warm and restorative Various things are touched on in the words – Franciscan monks, ketamine, French female bodybuilders turned erotic movie stars.

"The world often seems a mad, hysterical place at the moment. You can’t really be oblivious to that, but we’d like the record to be an antidote – a nice game of cards in pleasant company.”

Meanwhile, BSP have also launched a new-look website at the same address www.britishseapower.co.uk

Featuring an iconic black and white backdrop of mountains and strong use of green, the site sees BSP taking a ‘back to nature’ approach to things, and it is much more simple than the previous brightly coloured version which ran alongside the release of Valhalla Dancehall.

By launching three exciting new projects in the space of a few days, BSP have made 2013 a whole lot more interesting.

And The Westmorland Gazette could not be more excited about this. British Sea Power - we salute you!