After seventeen years of producing haunting and beautiful music, Elbow's recent discovery in the mainstream culminated in their triumphant win of the Mercury Prize for
The Seldom Seen Kid, their fourth incredible album out of four. Rarely do any bands show such consistency as the Bury men, who were nominated for the same prize for their debut,
Asleep In The Back.
The Seldom Seen Kid opens with "Starlings", a beautiful bearing of Guy Garvey's soul. To hear a man admit his faults in such a way as when Garvey sings "I know I'm asking you / to bet on a horse that's good for glue / and nothing else," the first of many similarly poignant lines, Garvey breaks hearts with his honesty.
"The Bones of You" is a love song with a melody so lovely that without the lyrics you can tell exactly what Garvey feels in this summery future single that aptly ends with an excerpt of "Summertime" by George Gershwin. "Mirrorball", sounds similar to much of Elbow's back catalogue. This is possibly the only issue that could be raised with this otherwise practically perfect album. This problem, however, goes out the window with Track Four.
The album's lead single, "Grounds for Divorce" is a bluesy stomp with a powerful fuzzbox riff and tinges of keyboard to remind the listener that this is Elbow one is hearing, not Led Zeppelin. It sounds amazing, with Guy singing about how he is powerless to stop his alcoholism, constantly falling into the "[Drinking] hole in [his] neighbourhood down which of late [he] cannot help but fall," while also making it a heartfelt tribute to Brian Glancy, a friend of the band who died during recording and to whom their Mercury Prize was dedicated.
Other highlights include "The Loneliness of a Tower Crane Driver", an orchestrally-tinged ballad about the highs and lows of fame which, like everything else on the album, sounds truly like a labour of love. "Some Riot" has a beautiful chromatic piano part and sounds so personal and claustrophobic that one almost feels intrusive listening to Garvey's innermost thoughts, mourning the loss of a friend [Glancy] once again, singing "When will my friend start singing again?" as if he is unable to deal with the grief.
Second single "One Day Like This" is possibly their best song to date, a wonderfully epic ballad singing about the simple joys of love in the summer and was undoubtedly one of the biggest singalongs of the festivals this year with the joyous refrain "Throw those curtains wide, one day like this a year will see me right," detailing the height of euphoria of love and the realisation that the world is, ultimately, a beautiful, despite after all the despair of earlier tracks.
This is an outstanding album, and, save for Burial's dubstep masterpiece Untrue, the only serious contender for the Mercury. Garvey writes spellbinding lyrics and sings with such a raw, open sound that his genius can no longer be ignored. With The Seldom Seen Kid's chart success and now the Mercury, will this be Elbow's long overdue acceptance as one of the best bands in Britain?
