New world leaders?

In the fall of 2003 the British rock orchestra Elbow released the highly acclaimed Cast of Thousands, an album that firmly put them on the rock map. With a music that is both mellow and rich, airy and rhythm heavy, they've carved out a niche for themselves in the history of rock - somewhere inbetween Genesis and Coldplay.

Now they're out with a new album, Leaders of the World, which holds few musical surprises but is carried on the strength of its melodies and the emotional voice of Guy Garvey - a modern day Peter Gabriel.

The album kicks off with the fairly intense Station approach which ends in a round of applauses, and well deserved too - it's among the stronger tracks.

I never know what I want
but I know when I'm low
that I need to be in the town
where they know what I'm like
and don't mind.
[Station approach]

In between the more energetic material the album is rich of the same mellowness that made its predecessor such a great album. Among the better songs of this type are The stops, the beautiful An imagined affair and the thoughtful and quiet The everthere.

But it's the energetic songs that stand out, if anything really does; along with the opening track and Mexican Standoff it's the 6 minutes long title track that for me provide the most memorable moments from this album.

I'm sick of working for a living,
I'm just ticking off the days till I die.
I miss you Louise,
and the sickest little pleasures keep me going in between pulling teeth.
[Leaders of the free world]

All in all Leaders of the World is a good follow-up to Cast of Thousands. There are no big surprises here and it may lack the highest peaks of its predecessor - but the overall song quality is truly excellent.

The year of Arab Strap

The year 2005 has turned out a very productive year for the Glasgowian duo Aidan Moffat and Malcolm Middleton. This summer and autumn each of them released their own solo albums, Aidan in the form of his alter ego Lucky Pierre - with the experimental electronica album Touchpool - while Malcolm released another great melancholica album with his Into the woods (see a previous review in this blog).

Now, near the end of the year, they're back together as Arab Strab with their sixth proper studio album, The Last Romance. My initial reaction was that they've made another very typical Arab Strap album, a bit lighter than their previous albums perhaps but still with that melancholic piano and guitar carrying the melodies and with Aidan uncovering his feelings about women, relationships and sex. This is indicated already on the opening song, Stink, which is a very typical Arab Strap song. Here are the first few lines:

Burn these sheets that we've just fucked in
My weekend, weekend, I've been sucked in
Just one more time and then you'll get tucked in
I think you may still be my best

Come with me cause I need a thrill now
It's okay cause I'm on the pill now

Stink is followed by one of the album's highlights, [If there's] no hope for us. Musically it has a feeling of The Cure but the mixture of Aidans rusty voice and the nice female vocal also brings back the memories of the Fairytale of New York on which the lovely voice of the late Kirsty MacColl was balanced by the drunkard voice of Shane MacGowan. Unfortunately the CD inlet doesn't identify the female singer.

There are many other good songs on the album but my personal favorite so far is the lead single, Dream sequence, which is being driven by a dominant piano and nice low-key guitars in the background. It certainly has a hit potential!

Though it's too early to rate this album - it's a grower - I'm sure it will bring the band new fans and keep the old ones happy. It's a great work of art and another interesting look into contemporary life in urban Scotland!