Leaders of the Free World

In a parallel universe, Elbow would command as much adulation and hyperbole as Coldplay and Snow Patrol. But, like their fellow Mancunians I Am A Kloot, they release albums and anthems into the world with nary a fanfare.
But, like their fellow Mancunians I Am A Kloot, they release albums and anthems into the world with nary a fanfare.
But why not in this universe? Coldplay’s lighters-aloft epics may hit you with sheer brute force, but Elbow’s music tends to tug the inside of your eyelids downward – in the best possible way, of course.
If the former are the undisputed juggernauts of the genre (trading as they do in expansive, heart-on-sleeve anthems), Elbow’s understated brand of earnest romanticism tends to creep into the brain while the listener is unawares, building from a trancelike whisper to a skyscraping scream.
It being their fifth year and third album, they’re certainly getting into the stride of their gloomy, if wholly endearing, misery. Guy Garvey’s sweetly gruff, yearning vocals nicely complement the layered complexity of songs like ‘Station Approach’ and the endlessly brilliant ‘Leaders Of The Free World’. Meanwhile, ‘An Imagined Affair’ is positively ripe with gentle, sweeping gorgeousness. The current single, ‘Forget Myself’ does hurtle along with the energy and urgency of a true crowd-pleaser, but scratch the surface and the band’s apparent fragility is there for all to see.
If X&Y seemed to equal the sound of life squared, this album is the sound of life wrapped in several delicious layers. Seems that being under the radar at large is a supremely, unspeakably beautiful place to be.