What else can you say about a band like Elbow? Graced with one of the greatest songwriters of his genre, Guy Garvey, the quintet from Manchester has just released an album of such beauty that pedestals are already being constructed in your local record store to place the album on. Garvey lost his precious not book, the one he wrote all his lyrics in, over a year ago, but has risen from the ashes of that near disaster to pen an instant classic. From the first single, ìFallen Angel,î the bandís washy, atmospheric Coldplay-meets-Doves sound, aged to perfection under terminally grey Manchester skies, grabs you and wonít let you go. Spiritual brethren to the aforementioned Doves, Elbow take the quieter, more windswept route: where the Doves aim for the far reaches of the galaxy, bouncing their guitars off every inch of the sky, Elbow is content to mine the depths of human emotion. Piano, strings and Garveyís voice are usually the lynchpins to the Elbow sound, but donít for a minute equate that with staid songwriting: this is next level stuff. Garveyís voice often worms itself inside your skin, getting into your ribcage and playing Pong with your heart, pinging about the inside of your ribcage like a Superball in a wooden hallway. ìSwitching Offî and ìNot A Jobî are perfect examples of this, the vocals and instrumentation swelling in tandem, overtaking you with its sonic beauty. And to reward the US buyers for waiting so long for the release, the American version of Cast comes with a bonus disc of CD-Rom goodies, including the videos for “Fallen Angel” and “Fugitive.” So go collect your reward already.

Elbow
V2

1. Elbow Frontman At A Loss For Words
2. Elbow Complete Sophomore Album
3. Live – Elbow Return With Tunes Aplenty In London
4. Elbow Expects New Album To Come Out This Year
5. Asleep At The Back