Elbow – The Seldom Seen Kid

Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid

Amazon Review

There are few things in life quite so liberating as the opening track on an Elbow album–they’re like airlocks between the plainness of the outside world and the elaborate melancholic heave-ho that you are likely about to submerge yourself in. Following predecessors “Any Day Now”, “Ribcage” and “Station Approach”, “Starlings” opens their fourth album The Seldom Seen Kid rising from a bed of tumbling electronic subtlety like a depressed Atari game loading up, adding bare touches of piano, glimpses of ambient guitar, out of body background vocals, an understated pulse and a wisp of strings, before–EXCELSIS!–a fanfare avalanche of horns crashes the gate and elevates things to gasping palatial heights, before Guy Garvey’s inimitable gravel tone and wrenchingly poetic reinterpretations of the everyday announce their arrival proper. It’s astonishing, by far the most progressive moment on the album and if anything it sets the bar too high. But even when the pace dips, and songs like “Mirrorball” and “Weather to Fly” don’t distinguish themselves quite enough, their textural peerlessness remains. This is a beautiful sounding record. Their collaboration with Richard Hawley may be more of a curiosity than a thing of beauty, but the highs, the riffing cross-stitch of “Ground for Divorce”, the desolate grandeur of “The Loneliness of a Tower Crane Driver” and the enlightened string-laden anthem “On a Day Like This” (like their own Sound of Music–only substitute the Alpine peaks for a Manchester high-rise) number amongst the best of their career. –James Berry – click here to read original article

My Little empire Review

They have been around a while but with this album being nominated for a mercury music prize say them shoot up the chart and gain well deserved extra fans and a lot of air play. Lead singer Guy Garvey’s voice set the album and holds your attention thought out the album. The catchy “Ground For Divorce” is a great track and is an instance anthem.  On “The Fix” he collaborates with Richard Hawley on this song all about betting and bet fixing. And in “Weather to Fly” you can here the influences from Annie Lennox and the Eurthmics. This is a very good album and is worth a listen. Great music from one of England’s best bands. You will find youself humming along to alot of their songs.

Stand Out Tracks:

Grounds For Divorce
The Fix
On A Day Like This
Starling

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