979. Seldom Seen Kid - Elbow

Elbow were the almost forgotten British indie band of the early 2000s. Overshadowed by the behemoth that was Coldplay, not as cool as the Arctic Monkeys, and still not with the cachet of the dying embers of Blur, Oasis, et al, it was via their Mercury Music success in 2008 that they received a second wind. This event was refreshingly referred to as "the best thing that ever happened to us" by Garvey. Since then, he has become something of a national treasure, with a radio show on BBC 6 Music.

The album's title comes from the nickname given to a friend of Guy Garvey, Bryan Glancy, by Guy's father. He passed away in 2006, and the final song on the album is dedicated to him. Seldom Seen Kid received critical acclaim and commercial success that trumped the band's previous three albums. It was rated in the top twenty albums of the year by Q, NME and the Fly, and went on to also win Brit and Ivor Novello Awards. 

The opener, Starlings, is the archetypal Elbow song - full orchestration, poetic lyrics, and a slightly meandering approach to this profession of love. The Bones of You is slightly edgier (emphasis on the slightly there), and certainly more purposeful, but with more opaque lyrics. I often find that I can skip over the words of the song without worrying too much as to what they mean, as I'm too busy enjoying that great bass-driven bridge section, for example. The words of Mirrorball are excellent, however - touching without being overly mawkish; "We kissed like we invented it" was a favourite of Chloe's. The imagery of the moon as a mirrorball, and the streets as an empty stage, are very evocative over the top of that delicate piano-guitar combo. Grounds for Divorce is an excellent song - a track I sort of knew, but have enjoyed getting under the skin of. It's drunken-sing-along good with a twanging acoustic guitar riff in the background that has to be sampled by a rapper somewhere, and that chorus is just classic distorted chords perfection. This is definitely a track that will end up on my mixtapes in the future (I haven't made a mixtape in years, but my intentions are good). An Audience with the Pope has a lovely sentiment in one sense, although with a slightly obssessive undertone. The Fix is a great narrative song about a horse-racing scam, and Guy Garvey's voice is at its best in this song, with a much greater variety of tone. I also enjoy the creepy bit after each verse that is straight out of The Specials' Ghost Town. One Day like this was a single off the album, and has been used in countless adverts and TV shorts (see also Blur's Universal), and should work better than it does for me. I sometimes enjoy it, and sometimes just find it a bit too 'by numbers'. Some songs don't quite hit the mark, such as Weather to Fly and Some Riot, that have all the components of being a decent song, but just don't really go anywhere, in my opinion.

This is a very good album that I thought would be a great album a couple of days in. It has all the ingredients for being a real grower, but I think it just lacks a bit of variety. I'm sure Elbow fans would be up in arms about that claim (sorry, I couldn't resist), but when you've heard one guitar and piano verse-choruse-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus with lush strings and gospel-like backing voices, it loses its power a bit. So, I enjoyed it, but it didn't really redefine my musical boundaries.

Chloe's rating: 7

Chloes's favourite track: 1. Starlings

Olly's rating: 7

Olly's favourite track: 4. Grounds for Divorce

Next week's album is 821. Fuzzy Logic by the Super Furry Animals. I know it pretty well, but I'm more than happy to devote another few hours to it.