Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid

Artist: Elbow
Album: The Seldom Seen Kid
Genre: Britpop
Rating: 3.5 of 5


The Seldom Seen Kid is a delightful experience. The band have managed to come up with a well-crafted piece of art.

Either through extensive use of synthesizers or different instruments it would seem that much thought and consideration was put into the choice of textures to use on each track. So much reading between the lyrics is necessary to enjoy the emotions that the sounds help create. The opener, "Starlings", uses brass sounds that provide a sense of panic, strings to soothe and xylophones to keep a heartbeat. The line "You are the only thing in any room you've ever been" resonates even after the song dies down.

"Mirrorball" is set up to be another quiet song but bringing the drums to the fore-front a touch and keeping a constant rolling piano instill urgency into the song. "Friend Of Ours" closes the album while bringing the tempo so slow that you can just let go of anything that might be ailing you. I can just hear the voice of a hypnotist as they perform their trade.

I must say that I find this album sounds like a version of Sting who has discovered a plethora of new sounds in today's synthesizers.