Elbow – Build A Rocket Boys!

I accepted long ago that I was amongst a rather small minority who renounced Elbow for being no more than the successors of Coldplay. Come on; was ‘One Day Like This’ really that incredible? The music may have been pretty blissful, but I could never get past Garvey’s lumbering voice. It all became a little clichéd, right? Maybe I just wanted to rebel against the masses? Maybe I never gave Elbow a chance? Let’s hope, for the sake of my acceptance on Muso’s Guide, that’s changed.

Elbow - Build A Rocket Boys!

Well, on some levels my opinions have changed and on others they haven’t. The soundscapes are still stunning. Elbow are one of the best bands in the world at creating incredible compositions, but Garvey’s voice still bellows like a fog horn. If you’re willing to work around that slight hindrance there is something rather wonderful to be had on Build A Rocket Boys!

Clocking in at 8 minutes ‘The Birds’ is a lengthy opening salvo and on first listen is a bit of a drag. Given a chance though, it does reveal a charm seemingly vacant on first spin. Its eighties arcade influenced synth infused with sweeping strings gives Elbow’s music a new dimension. ‘Lippy Kids’ is, I imagine at least, the musical equivalent of walking in on Natalie Portman in the shower – she knows she’s out on display yet she’s unflinchingly confident of her beauty. ‘Lippy Kids’ is all about Garvey’s vocals standing alone, exposed and to be fair to the man, it’s staggeringly good.

‘Neat Little Rows’ has urgency flowing through it, with a feel much like ‘Grounds For Divorce’. While ‘Jesus Is A Rochdale Girl’ is opposingly devoid of any such urgency with its acoustic guitar, polyphonic keyboard and ballad subject matter. ‘The Night Will Always Win’ seems purposeless as a song in itself and could so easily have been tacked onto the end of ‘…Rochdale Girl’ where it would have been hard to recognise them as two separate entities.

‘High Ideals’ will immediately stand out as, the stand out track. Its tight piano arranged with unstable guitar all draped over gushing brass and flowing strings all give what is clearly the desired feeling of heartbreak. All while Garvey continues to impress with his dreariness, “Oh settle down little heart of mine, Oh settle down you’re doing double time“. ’Dear Friends’ ends Build A Rocket Boys! On a perfect note of melancholy. Garvey turns in an album capping performance while the rest of the band harmonises neatly during the song’s concluding moments.

Build A Rocket Boys! is chock full of striking and moving music. On first listen it will often feel lacking in pace. However, given your time, there are many gems to be found. Has this always been the case with Elbow’s albums? The answer is, more than likely: yes. So maybe I was just too ignorant to accept it in the past. Maybe it was all beautifully original rather than annoyingly clichéd. And maybe on reflection I’ve been overly critical of Guy Garvey’s vocals in the past, but obviously, I’m far too proud to admit to any of those failings!

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