The Seldom Seen Kid CD

Jewelcase mit ganz leichten Abnutzungen. Sonst gepflegter Gebrauchtzustand.

ACHTUNG: Kein Versand an Packstationen!

Guy Garvey's got a great voice, and good thing, too. As Elbow have morphed from ambitious but sterile art-rockers to something slightly more visceral, his singing-- equal parts Peter Gabriel and Talk Talk's Mark Hollis-- has been one of the few elements linking the Manchester band's varied output. It's also what's helped Elbow stick out a bit from the choirboy pack of Chris Martin, guy from Keane, et al. At the same time it's not a very rock'n'roll voice, which perhaps explains how, despite some degree of hype, Elbow have always fallen just shy of expectations.

Fitting, then, that "Starlings"-- the first track on Elbow's fourth album The Seldom Seen Kid-- is all about expectations, or at least subverting them. The track begins with an intense cacophony before settling into a vaguely Polynesian groove; a sole orchestral stab blasts out as quickly as it disappears once again. It's a full two minutes before Garvey even sings, and by then one would be forgiven for thinking that, modest melody aside, expectation is all the suspensefully static track has to offer. Yet Elbow are album artists, first and foremost, and in that context it's hard to come up with a better way to ease into The Seldom Seen Kid. Indeed, the similarly exotic second track "The Bones of You", with its flamenco underpinnings and Gershwin coda, stands in stark contrast to its predecessor, and it's here that the benefits of Garvey's voice really come into play. Were he to rise to a pained falsetto, "The Bones of You" would invite endless comparisons to other, slightly more conspicuous British art-rock bands. That Garvey sounds so comfortable in his skin even as his band sheds its own from track to track helps thread the self-produced disc, suite-like.
(Pitchfork)

Guy Garvey Doves I Am Kloot Turin Brakes Gomez Badly Drawn Boy Athlete Editors Ocean Colour Scene