New Music Reviews: Elbow-Build A Rocket Boys

Ever wonder what the perfect follow up to Peter Gabriel's 1986 blockbuster hit "So" would sound like if he didn't take six years to put it together and come up with the mediocre "Us"? Here's your heir apparent Pete. It's British based band Elbow and their fifth proper release entitled "Build A Rocket Boys". Lead singer Guy Garvey has the same pipes that led some of Gabriel's most loved ethereal ballads down the same avenues (according to Q magazine, Garvey even visited Gabriel's studio for inspiration and ideas when writing the album).

After winning the Mercury Prize in Britain for their last album, Garvey goes more introspective and churns out tales of childhood nostalgia and images of a place he can never go back to. It's like he is singing odes to memories of days gone by in a touching black and white film with the rain falling mightily on the characters he serenades. And he's doing it straight from the hip. On "Jesus Is A Rochdale Girl" he mournfully sings "I have a single heartbreak/I celebrate and mourn/A single shining sister/And all the tricks of dawn." Sound dramatic? Well it is....and I love it. Everything is so meticulously placed right down to a trodden gospel choir spilling out "With Love" over several different crescendos or backing up Garvey and a spare piano on "The River". The beauty here, as Thom Yorke once put, is "Everything's In It's Right Place". And the strength of "Build A Rocket Boys" is that this a well thought out and executed album, from songwriting to inspiration to thoughtful low key anthems.

Elbow hails from the same class of British bands such as Doves, Travis or Starsailor, a class that lets emotions override the midtempo grooves of the songs as these bands at the turn of the century became a sort of "New Britpop" to lead the way into a new century. But while a lot of those bands have fallen out of flavor to newer and younger bands throughout the decade, somehow Elbow trudged along and find themselves at the top of their game. Age has done Garvey and his gang wonders.

The key element to "Build A Rocket Boys" is reserved reflection. The eight minute opener "The Birds" gently glides along a backbeat until bursting into graceful strings that swoon in around the five minute mark and deliver this to another level. The aforementioned "With Love" borrows Garbriel's love for instrumentation (the right instruments, something a lot of indie bands could learn that you can vary instruments without throwing everything and the kitchen sink into a song) and joining together four different song parts that all culminate to a nice finish. And while most bands would use a choir to make a grandiose expression in the chorus, they deliver it in a reserved fashion. If you want something a little upbeat, listen to the churn of "Neat Little Rows" complete with a shining keyboard bit in each chorus with Garvey joining "Lay my bones in cobblestone." Or if you want a feel good singalong, try the beautiful feel good vibe of "Open Arms".

"Build A Rocket Boys" most striking moment comes on the second song as Garvey visits childhood memories as he watches himself in his youth remembering how they were perceived: "Lippy kids on the corner again" and giving them encouragement to move on "Build a rocket boys". It's an absolute stunner in its hushed beauty and simply sparse arrangement. On first listen, or two, some may find this a bit too hushed and precious. Multiple listens reveal new elements and beauty around each corner. The same can be said for all of "Build A Rocket Boys".

It could be that I'm the same age as the guys in Elbow and an album comes along every once in awhile that hits you at the right time in your life. "Build A Rocket Boys", right now, is for me that album. A set of songs that paint a picture of lost times and how those times don't paint who you are today, but yet serve as a compass to how you got where you are. At least that's how I perceive it. It's a quiet reflection that is never boring, yet can be perceived boring if not in a reflective state of mind. It's the most tender thing I've listened to since I've started this blog early last year. It's my current obsession and I highly recommend it. I look forward to Elbow conquering arenas next, because something this grand can't be kept in a bottle forever.

Grade: A (A very strong A)

JHO Picks:
Lippy Kids
With Love
Neat Little Rows
Jesus Is A Rochdale Girl
High Ideals

Source: http://www.jhostation.com/2011/05/new-music-reviews-elbow-build-rocket.html

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