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.