Giants Of All Sizes

英国のオルタナティヴ・バンド elbow の8thアルバム。

2年ぶりの8thアルバム。独ハンブルグのClouds Hill Studio、英ブリクストンのThe Dairy、米ヴァンクーヴァーの604 Studios、英猿フォードのBlueprint Studiosで、全4作同様、キーボードのCraig Potterがプロデュースとミックスを担当。Jesca Hoop、The Plumedores、Chilli Chiltonがゲスト参加。

Loss is a part of a life this long sings Elbow frontman Guy Garvey on Dexter & Sinister, the sanguine opening cut on the venerable post-Brit-pop groups eighth full-length effort Giants of All Sizes. The follow-up to 2017s relatively buoyant and unsurprisingly chart-topping Little Fictions, the nine-track set retains the hard-won wisdom of its predecessor, but theres a strong current of unease running through the proceedings. Awash in the damp grays and socio-political malaise of the Brexit era, Garvey and company deftly navigate the brackish waters with an amalgam of empathy and steely acceptance. Filtering the discord through their signature blend of dreamy, prog-tinged Brit-pop and pragmatic, yet erudite working-class poetry, the band looks to glitchy electronics and lurching beats early on in the proceedings before settling into more familiar midtempo and piano-forward balladry. Dexter & Sinister, with its knotty rhythms, elliptical melody, and arm-hair-raising guest vocal from Jesca Hoop, sets an awfully high bar, but the hymn-like Seven Veils, which manages to feel both meditative and propulsive, and the slow-burning Delayed 3:15 are textural marvels that, like most Elbow songs, reward repeated listenings. Garvey remains the groups greatest asset. With his warm flannel croon, devotion to friends and family, and innate ability to find small stories within much larger frameworks -- Baby, empires crumble all the time/pay it no mind/you just happened to witness mine -- he and his bandmates have been helping to make the existential pain of life relatable for over two decades. The aptly named Giants of All Sizes draws from every era of the group, and lands somewhere between the widescreen dynamics of their Mercury Prize-short-listed debut, the workmanlike grandiosity of Seldom Seen Kid, and the aching melancholy of The Take Off and Landing of Everything. ~ James Christopher Monger