WITH 2005's Leaders of the Free World, Elbow shifted focus from the personal to the political and with good cause - it was the mood of the times. Today we need to look closer to home to find the answers and, right on cue, Guy Garvey and the chaps have delivered their most complete album to date.
Self-produced and self-contained, the record holds some stunningly realised musical episodes from the rocky nuances of Grounds For Divorce, through the economic electronics of opener Starlings, to the clanky, swampy, industrial Stax ballad stylings of the epic Loneliness Of A Tower Crane Driver.
The Fix finds Richard Hawley joining Garvey for a northern tango in which two grifters plan their marks; while album closer Friend of Ours pays moving tribute to Bryan Glancy.
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