Noble Dreams And Gentle Expectations - Build A Rocket Boys! by Elbow

Big league now lads - something that has been indicated by the fact that I've already had quite a few comments pointed my way regarding the new Elbow album arriving under the heavy weight of expectation. Riding the wave-crest that comes from producing 2008's anthem / sporting montage d'annee doesn't leave you with much room to manouevre. Not that many people are actually interested in the motivations and influences of your next work, just point them towards the next 'One Day Like This', and you shall have fulfilled your purpose on this earth.

How delighful then that Elbow have turned out to be contrarian little buggers, eh? Guy Garvey has already stated that "subtlety" has been allowed its full rein, and that the band want this album to take time. They may not get the people that thought they were dead radical by buying The Seldom Seen Kid this time round, they may not have tapped the nation's musical arteries quite as readily, but they have made a significantly better record.

A pause - I am NOT trying to be revisionist here. The Seldom Seen Kid deserved it's many plaudits, and I certainly don't begrudge a band with Elbow's track record getting a pay day as a result, yet for me it was less the anthemic side of the record that resonated - tracks like Mirrorball, Weather To Fly, Friend Of Ours and the stunning The Lonliness Of A Tower Crane Driver. They delivered their emotional punch through nuance, atmosphere and restraint, and were a sight more satisfying as a result. And it is this which informs Build A Rocket Boys!, a record which perhaps stands as the very antithesis to our current cultural regime, and elevates its makers to even more statuesque levels.

These songs drift and envelope, providing the space for the narratives, stories and characters within to be fully realised. Nothing is rushed or forced, and whilst there is a dynamic to the music, that is never the sole focus or the core of the piece. The music is a perfectly paced backdrop for Garvey's explorations of home and belonging, friends and friendships, memory and identity. The Birds is eight opening minutes of muted groove, insistent yet mellow, whilst The Night Will Always Win is so sedate that if it moves at all it pulses and breathes almost imperceptably. Neat Little Rows ups the tempo, combining that signature junkshop-lite rythmn with bluesy guitars, as does High Ideals, and Open Arms is the closest thing to anthemic, but even then it holds back just enough.

Lippy Kids is a wonderful charge to fighting against the wastage of youth and grasping the nettle of ambition, a plea for children to know what, tragically, they often cannot until they are much older:

"Do they know those days are golden? Build a rocket boys Build a rocket boys! "

Open Arms perhaps offers some hope for redemption for these kids, or can be seen as offering up merely the healing power of the connectivity of home:

"We got open arms for broken hearts Like yours my boy, come home again Tables are for pounding here And when we've got you surrounded The man you are will know the boy you were "

Jesus is a Rochdale Girl is built upon gently rolling acoustic guitars, and is (ANOTHER!) great example of Garvey's ability to connect with simple detail rather than wordy embellishments:

"I have a drop-leaf window With cats and broken yards Sunflowers and paint cans And stolen shopping carts"

whilst With Love has (musically) an easy, almost childlike sensibility to counterpoint the gravitas of words like

"When your dentures prevent your smile These adventures will Fill your eyes with love".

Dear Friends bookends the record with a love song to friendship, the kinds that are measured across years and more:-

"You were with me today You are here in my head, In my heart .... You stuck a pin in the map I was in And you are the stars I navigate home by".

I still hold a huge sense of regret that I have never been able to express how much my friends mean to me with such simple eloquence.... Elbow had, last we heard them, just been given the keys to the gilded palace of national favouritism, but by sticking with and celebrating the value of where they are from and what they know best, they have - mercifully - been able to give that a swerve. If you are prepared to let a record live with you and grow with you, Build A Rocket Boys! will become an old and trusted friend.