Three years ago, Elbow, a four-piece group from Manchester, England, pulled out all the stops with Leaders of the Free World - a dizzying array of hooks and clamors so filled with symbolism and messages it felt like an M. Night Shyamalan film put to music. Aside from the politically charged title track, Elbow unleashed a cosine of emotion with each track, sending a shockwave that resonated with fans until the group returned to the studio in 2008 for its latest album, The Seldom Seen Kid.
From the ringing bellows of the first track, The Shining,"" to the coy, reverberating outro of the final track, ""Friend of Ours,"" The Seldom Seen Kid is an album founded on passion and artistic whim. The album on the whole does not fluctuate in tempo but maintains a contemplative march from track to track despite the stirring changes executed both by instruments and vocals. Singer/guitarist Guy Garvey haunts and croons with each track, modeling a voice similar to an aged, weather-torn Peter Gabriel.
Never is this link more prevalent than on the album's first single, ""Grounds For Divorce,"" which has the driving beat of Gabriel's famous ""Sledgehammer,"" though it adds an exciting layer of fuzzed-out, Brit-pop guitar licks that fashion the structure of a Genesis hit. ""Bones of You"" and ""The Loneliness of a Tower Crane Driver"" stand out as vintage Elbow tracks - menacing, dreamy and complex in composition. ""Mirrorball"" also continues in this vein, though it has many qualities that would fit perfectly in a movie soundtrack. The sleaziest Elbow song comes in ""An Audience With The Pope,"" an unsettling track based on political symbolism that showcases spine-chilling piano drags after each chorus.
The album reaches an emotional peak with ""Weather To Fly,"" which acts as an ode to the band and how their lives were when the group began playing together: ""Pounding the streets where my fathers feet still / Ring from the walls, / We'd sing in the doorways, / Or bicker and row / Just figuring how we were wired inside.""
""On a Day Like This"" acts as the climax to the album, powered by strings, a full choir and an upbeat melody as Garvey belts: ""So throw those curtains wide / One day like this a year'd see me right.""
""Friend of Ours"" returns the listener back to earth as the band swoons with an epitaph for - according to many sources - English singer/songwriter and friend of the band Bryan Glancy, who died in late 2006. The song is so deep and filled with sorrow, the listeners too, feels like they've lost one of their own.
Elbow is a quiet leader of the art-rock genre and is spearheading the niche without boasting the image of starving hipsters unleashing a grab bag of bells and whistles. Instead, the portly group let their talent and creativity make up for being non-photogenic. Through a rich, effervescent sound, The Seldom Seen Kid supports Elbow's ability to separate pretentiousness from genius.
