Login
Elbow’s new album, their fourth to date, The Seldom Seen Kid. The great thing about Elbow is that you know that on the first listen, all the tracks will sound the same. It’s only as you play the album over and over, that the swarms of unrelated sounds gradually coalesce into recognizable melodies, vocals, etc. The lyrics are personal, meaningful and compact. Phrases are only repeated to build tension and release, and there isn’t much that you could actually call a chorus or a verse. This is more like poetry set to a sonic background. The package itself has a wonderful booklet containing the lyrics alongside artwork by rail enthusiast Oliver East. For the first time the band have done everything themselves, recording, mixing and producing. The album is mastered using a dynamic system that makes it sound too quiet, in fact you are advised to TurnMeUp to experience the fullness of the sound (I turn everything up to 11 anyway).
1. 'Starlings' starts the album with a clockwork, gentle wash of background noise, somewhat similar to Genesis’ 'Carpetcrawlers' before being punctuated by, seemly random, bursts of short-lived orchestral chords. Great waves of sound surround Guy Garvey as he begins to sing “so yes I guess I’m asking you / to back a horse that’s good for glue / if nothing else”.
2. 'The Bones Of You' is one of the emotional high-points of the album, with a soaring, infectious chorus “five years ago and three-thousand miles away”. We are borne along on waves of flamenco riffs. As the track fades, you can faintly make out the strains of Gershwin’s 'Summertime', and pedestrians can be heard walking passed the studio.
3. There are gorgeous touches of piano through 'Mirrorball' that gradually transform into lush stringed sections.
4. If you’re after monstrous guitar riff and bass runs, check out the middle of 'Grounds for Divorce'. Done with a kind of country-style, with plenty of big whoa, whoa, whoas, pedal steel guitars, and handclaps.
5. I found 'An Audience With The Pope' slightly plodding but with an interesting, Chinese sounding intro.
6. If I had to pick perfection from perfection it would have to be 'Weather To Fly'. Starting with high-pitched vocals over piano, it drifts into beautiful lyrics, touched with Sigur Ros styled horns, the melody looping round and around, with Peter Gabriel-esque vocals.
7. 'The Loneliness Of A Tower Crane Driver' (I kid you not) has drum-beats striding in huge boots all over it. In the middle is a quiet section before the whole thing builds up into a gigantic industrial rhythm.
8. Elbow are nothing if not different, but 'The Fix' is different even for them. Co-written by and featuring on guitar and vocals the Sheffield troubadour Richard Hawley, this track tells the story of a horse race fix. The sordid tale is unfurled along a furtive bass line and some sneaky brushing on snare drums.
9. 'Some Rio't comes in with a Pink Floyd-ian start over Craig Potter’s keyboards. There are no drums at all. Guy Garvey is almost reciting the lyrics. Ethereal.
10. A passionate celebration comes with 'One day Like This'. Lots of strings. A soaring chorus. A choir sings “so throw those curtains wide”. This is a happy clappy anthem in the style of Sgt Pepper. “Holy cow I love your eyes.”
11. The final track proper is 'Friend Of Ours', written, I suspect, in memory of “Bryan” who died two years ago and to whom the entire album is dedicated. Starting with acoustic guitar, the track gradually eases in a plaintiff piano and the lightest of brushing on the snares. Guy’s vocals are gentle, cracking with emotion. Later we get the string and brass and even electric guitar, but this is terribly subdued stuff. Heart-rending music.
12. And finally, the bonus track, 'We’re Away'. A crooner’s song, I can imagine Guy on stage, in a suit, singing into a bulbous microphone like some high pitched Frank Sinatra.
Very highly recommended.
