Elbow

Guy Garvey: Don't give up the day job.

The Seldom Seen Kid is the new album from Mancunian rockers Elbow. An apt title too as the output from Guy Garvey and co has hardly been prolific.

Only the fourth album in 15 years, it would put The Stone Roses to shame if only they were still around.

But when an album is a good as The Seldom Seen Kid it’s clear that Elbow have taken their time to craft a melancholic rock record that is up there with the North-west’s finest albums of the last decade. The Verve’s A Northern Soul and Doves’ debut Lost Souls are moody bedfellows.

New single Grounds For Divorce sets the tone for the album, it’s not been a happy time for Elbow, relationships have broken down, the ‘Seldom Seen Kid’ of the title was a close friend who passed away and the band were without a record contact and perilously close to freefall.

But they’ve emerged from the abyss and the quality is on the record in swathes, the epic The Loneliness of a Tower Crane Driver is inspiring, as are the rich soundscapes of Mirrorball and Starlings.

The gruff Garvey has also carved a bit of niche for himself as BBC 6Music DJ, he stands out amongst the many Northern rent-a-gobs on the station – it could have been a new labour of love, but he’s managed to poor enough soul into The Seldom Seen Kid that we will be happy to wait another five years for the next epic, as long as he’s still on the wireless in the meantime.

We say: Bleak, lonely, melancholy – it’s a beautiful record.

They say: ‘This is surely one of the year's best records.’ The Times

Best track: The Loneliness of a Tower Crane Driver – as epic as a John Ford western.

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