Pitched at the tempo of a cat taking a nap in the sun, Elbows ninth album, 2021s Flying Dream 1, is the kind of enveloping recording that works best in one long, slow afternoon listen. The album was largely written remotely while the band was isolating during the COVID-19 pandemic and then recorded live at the empty Theatre Royal in Brighton with producer Craig Potter. The result is a gorgeously rendered production that has the feeling of an intimate concert, bringing the acclaimed groups moonlit chamber pop into vibrant clarity. Once again at the center of Elbows warm sound is vocalist and songwriter Guy Garvey, whose Mancunian tenor lilt and knack for crafting deeply literate and poetic songs draws you ever deeper into the bands nuanced jazz- and classical-influenced arrangements. Bandmates and brothers Mark and Craig Potter add deft layers of piano and guitar, while bassist Pete Turner grounds the bands sound with his deeply resonant acoustic upright basslines. Also on board are a handful of guest musicians, including drummer Alex Reeves and clarinetist/saxophonist Sarah Field, as well as backing vocalists Jesca Hoop, Wilson Atie, and Adeleye Omotayo, and London Contemporary Voices member Marit Rokeberg, all of whom add their own richly attenuated contributions to Elbows songs. Theres a sense on Flying Dream 1 that Elbow are thinking back on their past, their youth, and people theyve lost, including Garveys mother-in-law, famed actress Diana Rigg, who died in 2020. Its a sound perhaps best expressed on the symbolic and deeply metaphorical Is It a Bird?, in which Garvey imagines the death of a loved one as something transformative. He sings, Is it a bird?/Is it a plane?/Or is it a jettisoned beautiful warriors soul/Blazing cross the sky on its way back home? It might take some time for Flying Dream 1 to fully grab you, but when it does, the albums measured, artful introspection is hard to shake. ~ Matt Collar

Rovi