CD - The Seldom Seen Kid - Elbow

9:14am Friday 28th March 2008

THE Seldom Seen Kid is the fourth album from Bury-based band Elbow, who were nominated for the Mercury Music Prize with their debut album Asleep in the Back.

Having not made it onto my radar up to now, Elbow seem to have plenty of die-hard fans, but this album failed to convert me into one of them.

With achingly long intros into every song and plodding chords that hold on past endurance, the tracks feel like demanding children tugging at your clothes with nothing interesting to say when you stop to listen.

I was waiting for some element of wit to bubble through the melancholy or a lighter note to break up the sinking mood, and they are there occasionally, with tracks like Weather to Fly and Audience with the Pope, which pitch their level of melancholy more thoughtfully, but it wasn't enough.

I was never sure what it was that made Radiohead transcend the barrier between overly-emotional music to slit your wrists by and pop classics, but whatever it is, Elbow didn't convince me that they had it, and eventually everything settled into an endless dirge.

AT

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