CD of The Week

There is no better way to remain grounded and focused after the success of an album like The Seldom Seen Kid, than to go back to where you came from - to the start of it all. Now with a Mercury Prize and the recognition they deserve, these five old friends in Elbowfinally find themselves at a point where they can boast about achieving the level of success they had always dreamed of. But boasting is hardly their style and they have chosen instead to express this chapter as a more intimate celebration of the journey itself, reaching back to their boyhood and the youthful optimism that fueled their initial drive to become who they are today (20 years deep and still making magnificent compositions together). That is where their fifth, self-produced album, Build a Rocket Boys!, blasts off.

Music in general has the power to bring us to another level in so many ways, and with Elbow you are more likely to come out a changed individual after you’ve journeyed through one of their songs. It’s much like our journey through life, really — and this album, unlike The Seldom Seen Kid, is more reflective than reactive to that journey. Most of the songs are full of strong or sudden crescendos or decrescendos and sudden bursts of sound such as sharp strings or suggestive piano notes pirouetting around a mesmeric bass line (most noticeable in “High Ideals”). Of course, we’ve come to expect nothing less from Elbow and they certainly have not disappointed us here. The album itself is a symphony of intricate layering, harmony, and depth, not to mention memory- evoking lyrics.

Where The Seldom Seen Kid had sharp angles and abrupt turns, this album is softer and subtler, building only when necessary, as in the middle of album opener “The Birds” (3.5 min. into this 8 min. song) where the brilliant energy you almost gave up on finally arrives. But even with only the simplest components present at the beginning of “The Birds,” in the gentle adagio of “The Night Will Always Win” and pulsating “The River,” it is still just as fulfilling for the listener to imagine adding their own personal touch to the depth that so perceptibly connects each open space and suspended verse.

With each transition from these softer pieces comes the driving motivation of songs like “Lippy Kids,” “Neat Little Rows,” and “Open Arms” with their larger than life capacity. The sensual “Jesus is a Rochdale Girl,” with its unique accordion chimes, brings a certain yearning for the past to our ears and sets the tone for the whole album in that way. In fact, the lyrics in “The Birds” are about frontman Guy Garvey reaching back as an old man, holding on to a lost affair (and now “The Birds (Reprise)” will make more sense). “Dear Friends,” the album’s closing song, speaks volumes about the band’s past and the strong bond between bandmates (“You are the stars I navigate home by.”). It’s good to see that the boys of Elbow have remained true to themselves, as this album is full of the emotion and creativity that will keep you listening to and rediscovering it (and yourself) for a long, long time.