Elbow have spent the past couple of years in lockdown quite reflectively, reissuing vinyls of all their previous albums, adding previously unavailable live albums onto streaming, and releasing a 20th anniversary edition of their debut, Asleep In The Back, complete with their earliest EPs and B-sides as bonus tracks. This mentality has clearly rolled over into this new record, with tracks like the title track and The Seldom Seen Kid referencing previous songs and albums in the bands catalogue. Written in lockdown, and then recorded in the Theatre Royal in Brighton before it reopened, the record sounds both live and warm; yet airy and quiet - like Guy Garvey and co are playing to an empty audience. Which is kind of what they are doing.
Written without the usual idea of an album cycle consisting of radio-ready singles and performing live on tour; the band has gone further down the subtle and gentle route they have been starting to head towards with their past couple of albums. This is the biggest departure from the anthems of The Seldom Seen Kid and Build A Rocket Boys era of the band. There's not a single soaring anthem for TV montages or crunchy, bluesy guitar riff on here. All 10 tracks are slow, patient ballads with beautiful instrumentation reflecting on good times gone by and the small joyous things in life that we all had to focus on to get by during much of 2020 and 2021.
In typical fair for Elbow, the songs here are quality. This is a band that just doesn't release bad songs, even 9 albums in. However, I will say this is perhaps the Elbow album I've connected with the least on release. I think its more due to where I am in my life currently, 2021 has been a whirlwind, and songs about quiet moments with your family and memories of old friends. I feel like I would've found more connection to this record if it actually came out in lockdown; rather than the frenzied rush of life afterwards. Like I said, though, it is still a quality record with some really enjoyable songs on it.
The two singles are particular highlights, being truly beautiful ballads that just feel so pure and heartfelt. Six Words is a patient love song that slowly unravels from stripped back, plucked orchestration to a much fuller and warmer sound filled with drums and bass. The Seldom Seen Kid is an ode to Bryan Glancy, a late friend of the band, and captures the feelings of nostalgia and longing so perfectly. Garvey sings to his wife "Babe, if you met him" and it feels so bittersweet and pure against the open airy woodwind instrumentation and emotional piano solo.
The first half of the record on the whole feels quite cold, almost as you can feel the emptiness of the theatre. Flying Dream 1 and Is It a Bird feel stark and simple, barely filling the mix out with a lot of empty space. They have some beautiful lyrics and melodies, but they don't flaunt them. After the Eclipse sits in-between them and is certainly a much warmer sounding song. It is dreamy and woozy, with very Pink Floyd-esque guitar lines and vocal melodies. It sounds just like a hazy summer sunset, but is still very reserved and timid. Calm and Happy rounds out the first half with perhaps the calmest and simplest song yet. Here you can really feel the emptiness of the theatre; with the revering twangs of the guitar of the walls. All of these songs are really well written, but their placement makes the record feel like it takes a while to get going. The only song that feels like it fully unravels and lets itself go in the first half is Six Words.
The second half kicks off with the much more melancholic and powerful Come On, Blue. It's still a slow tune, but the waves of hazy synths and Guy's much more prominent vocals make it feel so much more present than a lot of the first half. The Only Road is much more up-tempo and upbeat. The plodding drums and simple strummed guitar fit perfectly to the lyrics about Guy Garvey going on a road trip with his wife and child. It might be the cutest and most wholesome song the band has ever made, and they have always been ones for soppy sentimentality. Red Sky Radio (Baby Baby Baby) is this half spoken word, half sung song with some beautiful elements to it. The lyrics are great, and the instrumentation is the most powerful on the record up to that point. But it doesn't quite come together, I think due to the songs deliberately off-balance nature. Like it is a really beautiful song at its core, but trying desperately to be rough around the edges and unkempt. The closer is the closest we get to a traditional Elbow anthemic single, being a euphoric blue-eyed soul song dedicated to his young son, aptly titled What Am I Without you. The electric organ and bouncy 60s doo-wap rhythm give it a really timeless nature and is such a hopeful way to end quite a quiet and reflective release from the band.
Elbow are my favourite band, and their records always end up being the soundtrack to my life at various stages; so while I'm not quite in love with Flying Dream 1 right now, I know there will be a day when I will be head over heals for this record. As it stands right now, Elbow's song writing and musicianship is as still as on point as it always has been, and reflects a level of stability and content that I'm sure I would connect with I wasn't in such a hectic stage in my life.
Top Tracks: After The Eclipse, Is It A Bird, Six Words, Come On, Blue, The Only Road, The Seldom Seen Kid, What Am I Without You
7/10
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