I sometimes forget that, even though I think a band is big shit, not everyone has heard of them. I was genuinely surprised when I made a post of various Mark Lanegan videos a little while back, and it helped people discover him for the first time.
In that vein, I’ve been listening to a lot of Elbow this weekend, and while I surmise that they are a decently big deal in the UK, they don’t seem to be as known as they deserve to be Stateside. They traffic in full, lush, sweeping arrangements set off by Guy Garvey’s gritty, wrought vocals (keeping his accent beautifully intact and not trying to sing like an American, thank you very much – I love Garvey’s voice to pieces, if you can’t tell). Their songs are tailor-made to be played with a full orchestra, and, hey, whaddya know? They’ve done just that. Here’s a selection from a concert Elbow played with the BBC Concert Orchestra and choral group Chantage.
“Starlings”
“Grounds for Divorce”
“An Audience with the Pope”
“The Fix” with Richard Hawley
“One Day Like This”
And, as a bonus, the song that introduced me to Elbow, a thoroughly delightful, off-kilter cover of Destiny’s Child’s “Independent Woman”.
