Elbow – The Seldom Seen Kid
Guy Garvey’s Manchester band Elbow have, since 2001, resided in that limbo just shy of mainstream success, consistently putting out high quality albums and earning much critical acclaim – and such famous fans as U2, Blur and R.E.M. This fourth LP has a lot in common with previous releases, featuring the familiar blend of melancholy yet bold instrumentation, and emotionally provocative lyrics about love and loss reminiscent of Doves. However, although the song writing is generally impressive and unpredictable, the melodies are not clearly-defined enough to ensure the same kind of success that Doves achieved with ‘The Last Broadcast’ and its strong selection of singles. It is perhaps unsatisfying then, that many lesser bands who could be considered Elbow’s peers – the melodic but increasingly Coldplay-imitating Snow Patrol, and the Joy Division-emulating Editors – are enjoying far greater success presently, despite their lack of Elbow’s more personal lyrics and bold instrumentation.
Elbow’s sonic landscapes on ‘The Seldom Seen Kid’ benefit from an increasingly varied musical palette, now encompassing electronica on ‘Starlings’, a flamenco influence on ‘The Bones Of You’, plus brass flourishes and choir-like backing singing on various other tracks. Also now, colourful filter effects lend the melancholy vocals a further enigmatic quality, although also significantly mask the lyrical content.
Criticisms to be made of ‘The Seldom Seen Kid’ include the album’s overall tortoise-pace, which finds the band rigidly returning to reverb-heavy guitar arpeggios and keyboard atmospherics, alongside rock steady drums and bass parts that refuse to lose their cool. A result of this is that I often found myself wishing the band would shake things up a little more as I suspect they’re capable of – but that’s just not Elbow’s style. The drums and strings (and backing vocals) do pick up for ‘On A Day Like This’, but I think it would be fair to say that there is nothing here as immediate as ‘Fugitive Motel’ or ‘Grace Under Pressure’. That said, the rockier ‘Grounds For Divorce’ is a strong single, and television performances including an airing on ‘Friday Night With Jonathan Ross’ should ensure that this collection of songs will not underachieve too badly, if at all.
