Seas of Mirth

Seas of Mirth

Seas of Mirth are a Nottingham group whose music mixes progressive folk, progressive rock, dark cabaret, pirate and steampunk influences with an aquatic theme. They have been active for the last decade and build a sound around changing styles and genres rather than a fixed approach.

Albums and sound

The band’s third full-length album, Sub Marine Dreams, develops their ocean-based ideas into a linked sequence of ten tracks. Its material moves through psyche, dark funk, jazz, disco, ambient, latin and chime-pop, and the group have been compared with Cardiacs, Stereolab, Talking Heads, Parliament, Animal Collective and Frank Zappa.

Live performances

In performance, Seas of Mirth place emphasis on presentation as well as music, using large luminous sea-creature props and interactive elements for the audience. They tour extensively in the UK and Europe and have appeared at Boomtown, Bearded Theory, Bestival, Nozstock and Beat Herder.

Reception

The band’s live sets attract positive notice, with Mark Radcliffe describing one as “a splendid set” and PROG magazine calling them “refreshingly ridiculous”.