The Great Escape Preview: British Sea Power

Not only is British Sea Power's music well-thought out, but so are the stages they play on, often decorated with foliage and plastic birds. Their songs really are a visual experience themselves, playing images of overexposed sky again murky waters and distorted trees—but everything is beautiful. It's pop that is carried by intellectual narratives, referencing Dostoevsky and sentiments that are thoughtful and separated from daily emotions. Their Do You Like Rock Music was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize and the 1934 documentary Man of Aran was recently released with a soundtrack that they produced.

The Great Escape Preview: Wintersleep

Halifax band Wintersleep won a Juno Award for New Group of the Year after releasing their third album, Welcome to the Night Sky, in 2007. While their music can make them as canon as Canadian sweethearts Wolf Parade or Broken Social Scene, the melodies they produce are heavier than you might expect. The heaviness is not startling because it is loud, but because it seems to have come from another time—it's a heaviness that sets them apart from the other bands stepping onto the scene and creates an atmosphere that is both intense and reassuring.

The Great Escape Preview: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

Four-piece pop band The Pains of Being Pure at Heart is as endearing as being young, open, and free from social obligations. It's the feeling after waking up from a dream that is simple and unalarming, but refreshing enough to leave a tune playing in your head that you can't shake off for the rest of the day. Their noisy, melodic dream-pop is backed by a simple pulsing and distorted guitar riffs that urgently reminds you of how beautiful it was to be pure at heart. Their self-titled album was recently released by Slumberland Records.