ELBOW - The Take Off And Landing Of Everything

Kategorie: CD-Reviews | Genre: Artrock, Alternative/Indie | Heft: Jahrgang 2014, eclipsed Nr. 158 / 3-2014 | VÖ-Jahr: 2014 | Wertung: 8/10 | Label: Fiction | Autor: ST


In an interview during the release of "Cast Of Thousands" in 2003, Guy Garvey was asked: "Did you manage to be so unhappy this time that you could write new songs, or did you have to give a girlfriend the go-ahead again to get into the right mood? In his song lyrics Garvey often works with personal things, deals with his fears and uncertainties, and the band covers these soul landscapes with a mostly melancholic sound spray. So the question was certainly not just teasing. And it would be appropriate just today, with the release of the sixth Elbow album. In the meantime it has become known that Garvey separated from his long-time partner Emma Jane Unsworth during the recordings. According to the Englishman, who turns forty on 6 March, this has had a lasting influence on the album. So the ten new pieces are permeated by Elbow's typical melancholy. It has become a quiet record that you can listen to as it withdraws into itself. A few piano chords dribble, sometimes an acoustic bass hums, at the next corner a soft drumbeat waits. Elbow's sound reaches the full fat stage in only a few songs like the wonderful "Fly Boy Blue/Lunette" or the overwhelming title track, which made her superstars in her home country. The musicians recorded parts of the album at Real World Studios. They had already taken advantage of the amenities of Peter Gabriel's high-tech headquarters on their debut. Although Garvey's voice coloration and the band's basic direction will always provoke a comparison with Gabriel, there is only one piece with "New York Morning" that could actually come from him. Otherwise: Elbow are completely with themselves. They've calmed down. Wonderful!

Top track: My Sad Captains

Back to overview