British Sea Power may now be split between Sussex and the Isle Of Skye, but Brighton still played an integral role in the band’s soon-to-be-released fifth studio album Machineries Of Joy.

As part of the writing process, the six-piece hosted a monthly club night, Krankenhaus, at The Haunt in Pool Valley, where over six months they explored their old material and showcased new tracks.

“We played pretty much our whole back catalogue,” says guitarist Martin Noble. “It helped, reminding ourselves of those songs.

“We might have lost our way on our previous album [2011’s Valhalla Dancehall]. We put 13 songs on it which made it an hour long. All the other records have been shorter and more concise – they flow better as records. We were determined to do that this time around.”

To coincide with each club night, the band recorded an EP of five demos, which were given out to the first 100 fans coming through the doors.

“We would play one or two of the new songs every night,” says Noble. “It was good for us to be able to write them, play them and then be able to go away and play them some more before we went into the studio.

“It’s almost what a band does on its first record – they play the songs inside out before they record them. You get that magic when everybody is working and pushing it on.”

The fact that everyone had to make an effort to get into the rehearsal room also helped focus the band.

“If we’re going to be together for two weeks, we will graft, so to speak,” says Noble. “When we were all living in Brighton it was easier not to focus on things.”

The band has also expanded its permanent line-up from the original four-piece of Noble, drummer Matthew Wood and songwriting brothers Scott (aka Yan) and Neil (aka Hamilton) Wilkinson, to include long-time cornet and keyboard-player Phil Sumner and the viola of Abi Fry.

“It was easier as a four-piece to hear each other and play off each other,” says Noble. “The way we work now is somebody will pretty much write most of the song and then the band will fill in around it.”

Perhaps more than their other albums, Machineries Of Joy underlines the different faces of the band, from the raw power of K Hole and Loving Animals, to the softer What You Need The Most and Hamilton’s Hail Holy Queen.

“We had 30-odd demo tracks,” says Noble, adding that many of the tracks will be made available on a limited edition C90 cassette tape.

“There are so many ways we could have gone.

“We’ve done a couple of soundtracks recently. We really like that way of working and were considering whether we should go down that route.

“We like doing live shows too, though, and that could have been quite boring. We made sure there were some energetic ones on the album to get the pulses racing.”

British Sea Power’s soundtrack side began with 2008’s score to the silent documentary Man Of Aran.

Since then they have recorded a soundtrack to the coastal-themed From The Sea To The Land Beyond, which was premiered at last year’s CineCity, and have gone laptop electronic on the as yet unreleased space-documentary Out Of The Present, which premiered at CERN nuclear research centre in Switzerland earlier this year. Noble admits that score will be difficult to reproduce live onstage.

To reflect the band’s different facets, Monday’s homecoming is set to follow a different structure from previous British Sea Power shows.

Fans should get down early to see the six-piece perform a largely acoustic opening set.

Then the band will return after support band East India Youth’s set to play a rock show – complete with video projections and a possible new addition to the company.

British Sea Power used to be joined on stage by a big black bear, Ursine Ultra, who had featured on the cover of second album Open Season.

“We are trying to find a white bear outfit as there is a polar bear on the cover of the new record,” says Noble.

“We should have retired our black bear long ago to be honest. He’s in a bit of a state. “We’re hoping to bring Bi-Polar Bear on for both sets.

“There are so many sides to the band – it’s really hard designing a set with the amount of material we’ve got. This is a way of splitting the moods up a little bit, so it’s not so schizophrenic.”

  • British Sea Power play The Old Market, Upper Market Street, Hove, on Monday, March 25. Doors 7.30pm, SOLD OUT. Call 01273 201801 for returns.