Elbow's fifth studio album has a tough act to follow - Seldom Seen Kid won the band a long overdue Mercury Prize in 2008 with brilliant songwriting and heart-tugging emotion.
According to some critics, the new album will appeal to their traditional fans as well as those newly attracted to the
arena anthem pop of their last album.
And you can hear the evidence - the album's eight-minute opener, The Birds, harks back to the soft throb of Any Day Now from their 2001 debut, Asleep in the Back, but also builds to an orchestral, soaring climax along the lines of several of Seldom Seen Kid's tracks.
Neat Little Rows, the first single and most accessible track, has the same feel as Grounds for Divorce, the first single off the last album, while many of the other songs are quieter, yet lyrically powerful.
Let this one grow on you.
4/5
