Elbow had already been together for nearly a decade when their debut album, Asleep in the Back, dropped in 2001. Unhip even among the unhip bands vying to become the "next Radiohead," playing the underdog worked out well for Elbow-- both at the start and over the span of three critically acclaimed and modestly successful records. After 2008's The Seldom Seen Kid took home the Mercury Prize, Elbow earned platinum status in Britain. Even in the U.S., "Grounds for Divorce" and "One Day Like This" have shown up on TV (even if you were looking at George Clooney the whole time). So what happens now that more people have expectations of Elbow?
A good part of what makes Elbow so beloved is they've always felt impervious to either trends or expectations. Singer Guy Garvey even admitted recently his life isn't providing grist for his typical lyrical gloom. Instead, on Build a Rocket Boys!, the band finds itself camping out in its childhood hometown and reminiscing about days gone by. If that sounds like a return to much-beloved Asleep in the Back closer "Scattered Black & Whites" or Leaders of the Free World's "Station Approach", that's true thematically. The gorgeous "Lippy Kids" harkens back to the Talk Talk spirituals of their early work, but what's remarkable about it is the totality of its lyrical warmth. Garvey avoids lionizing a specific time period, instead offering an empathetic survey of the banality and confusion of childhood-- two features of it that you never seem to outgrow.
But sonically, Elbow continue down the narrow corridor they've established in recent years-- immaculately recorded and stripping away nearly every bit of ethereal studio magic. (It's hard to remember that they used to make records people could conceivably get high to.) It only sounds like rock music when they're going out of their way to announce it as such, as on stomping lead single "Neat Little Rows".
But more than ever, Elbow are hitching their fortunes to their lead singer, and with that, Rocket is by a large margin their quietest record to date, the closest thing to a Garvey solo album we've heard. That's in the quite literal sense: a rhythm section that could always be relied on for crucial texture and propulsion goes missing for large stretches of time. Still, putting Garvey's charmingly tattered burr at the center is a wise move; it's rangy, warm, and no longer making any bones about its resemblance to Peter Gabriel.
But there's a sneaky risk to it, since what has troubled Elbow from the beginning is that while Garvey is a phenomenal vocalist and wordsmith, the dots don't always connect to form memorable songs. That's particularly glaring during Build a Rocket's pokey midsection, which abates melodically and hangs on to Garvey's redolent lyrics for dear life. On the other side, for a band who's often held up to an alternative to Coldplay's more bombastic healing powers, Elbow's never met a gospel choir they didn't think could boost an anthem up to the rafters. But unlike the overblown "With Love", "Open Arms" rings true, a celebration that no one's beyond the convalescent power of the conditional love that one's family or hometown can offer.
"Open Arms" in particular makes the case that the missteps and borderline mawkish sentiments of Build a Rocket Boys! can be attributed to the degree of difficulty involved with making grown-up music about youth without resorting to smugness, sensationalism or pandering. It's no slight to say the record's distinguishing quality is the one Elbow has had since the beginning, an honest humanity that's imperfect but can be appreciated if you live with it.
