Once again, I've taken several months off. And I hope that a band called Elbow that made an album in 2008 doesn't totally suck. We shall see.
"Starlings" is mostly a quiet droning vibraphone playing two chords endlessly, though occasionally there will be a loud BWAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!! from a brass section. The melody ain't that bad, though the lead vocalist's voice leaves something to be desired. Funny lyric: "I guess that I am asking you to back a horse that's good for glue and nothing else."
Elbow is a very British band in that the lead singer's accent is very thick. I might be a bit biased against such a thing after listening to the catalog of one Ed Sheeran. But I'm also not a huge fan of Elbow's need to be so twee while also crowding their music with so many instruments. At least they're more interesting than Arcade Fire.
By the time I reach "The Fix" I realize that the album has been pretty dour. I'm reminded a bit of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, maybe because the guest vocalist on this track sounds a bit like a vampire. Is "vampire rock" a genre? If it were that's how I'd classify "The Fix" and the middle portion of The Seldom Seen Kid.
After that though I thought the album ended solidly. "One Day Like This" is very uplifting, a bit faux-epic but not annoyingly. The Seldom Seen Kid is a bit overstuffed but there are a few good songs. I really didn't expect to wind up liking an album made within the last 10 years but I kinda did. 3 stars.
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