Elbow

British band Elbow emerged into the spotlight through a cinematic sonic palette and an emotional breadth that defined their well-received 2001 debut Asleep in the Back, thereafter sustaining a run of comparably resonant and elaborately textured releases. Although their opening trio of records positioned them as notable figures within the British music landscape, the expansive fourth album The Seldom Seen Kid ultimately secured their standing by capturing the 2008 Mercury Prize and establishing a model of in-house production that would shape later efforts such as 2011’s Build a Rocket Boys! and 2014’s The Take Off and Landing of Everything, the latter becoming the group’s initial British number-one album. In the process Elbow garnered Brit and Ivor Novello honors while their catalog received prominent placement during the 2012 London Olympic Games, including a closing-ceremony performance. Both 2017’s Little Fictions and 2019’s Giants of All Sizes topped the U.K. charts, after which the band issued 2021’s Flying Dream 1, captured inside Brighton’s Theatre Royal, and followed in 2024 with the propulsive, rhythm-driven Audio Vertigo.

Vocalist Guy Garvey, drummer Richard Jupp, organist Craig Potter, guitarist Mark Potter, and bassist Pete Turner first crossed paths in the early nineties as students at a college in Bury. Relocating a short distance southward into central Manchester, the musicians passed through several formative phases before Island Records took notice and offered a deal in 1998. Universal’s acquisition of Island months afterward resulted in the group’s release from the roster; a subsequent arrangement with EMI likewise unraveled, prompting a move to the independent Manchester imprint Uglyman, which put out the EPs Newborn and Any Day Now. Those well-regarded releases secured a contract with V2, leading to the 2001 arrival of the similarly anticipated Asleep in the Back, a Mercury Prize nominee that reached American listeners in early 2002.

The 2004 follow-up Cast of Thousands earned further critical praise, after which Leaders of the Free World, shaped by political developments and media conduct, surfaced in autumn 2005 and The Seldom Seen Kid arrived in 2008. Although Elbow’s earlier albums had already achieved notable British success, The Seldom Seen Kid marked their first multi-platinum release, surpassing one million copies sold and earning the 2008 Mercury Prize. Songwriting for the next project commenced in 2010, yielding Build a Rocket Boys! the following year and the 2012 B-sides collection Dead in the Boot.

During that summer the specially commissioned track “First Steps” served as the theme for the BBC’s Olympic coverage while Elbow performed two numbers at the games’ closing ceremony, boosting renewed interest in their catalog. Sessions for a sixth studio album, ultimately titled The Take Off and Landing of Everything, unfolded at Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios in Wiltshire toward the end of 2012 and concluded in the band’s own Salford facility the next year. After the January unveiling of the single “New York Morning,” the album reached stores in March 2014 to strong notices, debuting at the summit of the British charts and attaining the group’s highest American placement to date at number 83.

An EP titled Lost Worker Bee appeared in July 2015, after which Elbow entered a brief hiatus. During the pause Guy Garvey issued the solo set Courting the Squall in autumn 2015, and drummer Richard Jupp departed in March 2016. The band resurfaced in February 2017 with the British chart-topping Little Fictions, again produced by Craig Potter as had been the case for every album since The Seldom Seen Kid. Two years later they delivered their eighth long-player, Giants of All Sizes, featuring guest contributions from Jesca Hoop, the Plumedores, and Chilli Chilton, which also entered the U.K. charts at number one.

Remote writing sessions prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic took place throughout 2020, after which the musicians convened inside the shuttered Theatre Royal in Brighton to track 2021’s immediate, organic-sounding Flying Dream 1, returning them once more to the British top ten. In January 2024 the single “Lover’s Leap” introduced their tenth album, and the March release of Audio Vertigo revealed a leaner, groove-centered approach.