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Paedantic Basterd · 12-09-2011, 04:43 PM

Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid (2008)
Genre: Indie Rock, Chamber Pop

When you're traveling on a fixed budget, you tend to take advantage of simple pleasures and available opportunities to make it to the end of the day on track. Never underestimate the entertainment value of a museum, or the nourishing power of free toast. Typically my favourite cities are those burgeoning with so much character simply treading their streets is a cultural experience like no other. This is how I ended up in an art gallery in Manchester facing a rusty, dampened painting of a square, thinking about Elbow.

The original artwork of the Seldom Seen Kid was smaller than I'd imagined, no larger than a birthday card, off-center and runny around the edges, but the more I considered where I stood, the more sense it made. It had rained early that morning, turning the coarse brown brick rich and vibrant. The windows shone reluctantly in the morning sunlight, off-white abstractions of sky. Wet confetti littered the streets. Chewing gum and cigarette butts. The hallmarks of daily life. Gritty, but lively.

This is my first impression of Manchester, captured implicitly in The Seldom Seen Kid. There's a certain pleasure to be had in listening to music born out of the environment you're traveling, a certain connection to be made to where an artist was writing from, and Seldom Seen is the most representative of the Manchester I saw. Guy Carvey has a voice like steam, like ale. It rises, smoky and strong over the soaring string arrangements on The Loneliness of a Tower Crane Driver. The Bones of You evokes the texture of the city in a thick, buzzy bassline. Grounds for Divorce brings attitude through its snarky guitars.

Unfortunately, Carvey does come off as a bit of a sap, alternating between engaging storytelling and blind, hopeful romance, the latter of which is alienating in its sweetness. It's an admirable style, detailed and visual, even when saturated with romantic optimism. I relate to The Seldom Seen Kid best in the abstract; defining a world through texture and wonder, rather than literal interpretation. I can't consistently connect to this album, but at times I pause to consider its birthplace, and there is something to be said for setting foot on a bustling street, smoke and rain in the air, towered over by chimneys and wires, and feeling that it all makes sense.

12-09-2011, 04:43 PM	#98 (permalink)
Paedantic Basterd Music Addict Join Date: Sep 2010 Posts: 5,184	Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid (2008) Genre: Indie Rock, Chamber Pop When you're traveling on a fixed budget, you tend to take advantage of simple pleasures and available opportunities to make it to the end of the day on track. Never underestimate the entertainment value of a museum, or the nourishing power of free toast. Typically my favourite cities are those burgeoning with so much character simply treading their streets is a cultural experience like no other. This is how I ended up in an art gallery in Manchester facing a rusty, dampened painting of a square, thinking about Elbow. The original artwork of the Seldom Seen Kid was smaller than I'd imagined, no larger than a birthday card, off-center and runny around the edges, but the more I considered where I stood, the more sense it made. It had rained early that morning, turning the coarse brown brick rich and vibrant. The windows shone reluctantly in the morning sunlight, off-white abstractions of sky. Wet confetti littered the streets. Chewing gum and cigarette butts. The hallmarks of daily life. Gritty, but lively. This is my first impression of Manchester, captured implicitly in The Seldom Seen Kid. There's a certain pleasure to be had in listening to music born out of the environment you're traveling, a certain connection to be made to where an artist was writing from, and Seldom Seen is the most representative of the Manchester I saw. Guy Carvey has a voice like steam, like ale. It rises, smoky and strong over the soaring string arrangements on The Loneliness of a Tower Crane Driver. The Bones of You evokes the texture of the city in a thick, buzzy bassline. Grounds for Divorce brings attitude through its snarky guitars. Unfortunately, Carvey does come off as a bit of a sap, alternating between engaging storytelling and blind, hopeful romance, the latter of which is alienating in its sweetness. It's an admirable style, detailed and visual, even when saturated with romantic optimism. I relate to The Seldom Seen Kid best in the abstract; defining a world through texture and wonder, rather than literal interpretation. I can't consistently connect to this album, but at times I pause to consider its birthplace, and there is something to be said for setting foot on a bustling street, smoke and rain in the air, towered over by chimneys and wires, and feeling that it all makes sense.