Up And Rising: Elbow
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Initially, British quintet Elbow was lumped into the seemingly endless mass of bands which sprung up after the release of Coldplay’s 2000 megahit album Parachutes. Although Elbow’s debut, Asleep In The Back, was released only a year after said international stars broke onto the scene, the group certainly did not jump last minute onto the dramatic, string-based drama pop scene.
Perfecting their sound since the early ’90s, the group has enjoyed longstanding critical accolades. Unfortunately, this has not bumped them from obscurity in the States. Yet the rave reviews keep on coming and continue further with yesterday’s release of the group’s fourth disc, The Seldom Seen Kid.
Perhaps the best words to describe The Seldom Seen Kid are “grand” and “pretty.” A band of dynamics, Elbow uses keyboards and guitars to mine the loud-quiet-loud phrasing that groups such as Nirvana and Pixies helped to trademark. But the music of Elbow is far more regal, exploding out in textures as if the band featured hundreds of members.
The grandiose is reigned in tastefully by the smoky beauty of lead singer Guy Garvey. Although his tender vocals may initially draw comparisons between him and a Chris Martin / Peter Gabriel hybrid, there is far more subtlety in Garvey’s work, with ambitious runs and phrasing. Lyrically, the singer writes in a blend of the overbearing and simple, all with a touch of sarcastic wit - after all, how many vocalists could pull off lines like “Cramming commitments like cats in a sack” and “I can’t move my arm / Through the fear that you will wake” in the same song (”The Bones Of You”) without sounding entirely daffy?
Elbow’s majesty deserves to be heard by the masses, but given that they have played this long without the commercial success they deserve, the group will likely remain an underground sensation. But one day, Elbow will hopefully get the chance to play their epic anthems in the filled arenas they were written for.
“Starlings” (from The Seldom Seen Kid): Download
“Grounds For Divorce” video (from The Seldom Seen Kid):
Categories: Up And Rising Wednesdays
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