With a knowing nod to their Mercury Prize-winning 2008 album The Seldom Seen Kid, Elbow have unveiled the lushly orchestrated lead single for their forthcoming ninth studio album Flying Dream 1, which is slated for arrival November 19th. As with the album of the same name, “The Seldom Seen Kid” pays homage to the band’s fellow Manchester musician Bryan Clancy, who passed away in 2006.
Marking the follow-up to 2019’s Giants Of All Sizes, the new project’s genesis took lockdown-mandated root in the respective home studios of the band’s four members (Guy Garvey, brothers Craig & Mark Potter, and Pete Turner). The group subsequently convened at the Brighton Theatre Royal to refine and record the album, the experience of which was filmed for a complementary documentary.
Elbow’s new album ‘Flying Dream 1’ arrives in stores November 19th | Pre-Order
“We realized we were making a record free of the usual creative guidelines,” Garvey explains in an official statement. “We love patient, quiet, whole albums like the last Talk Talk records. John Martyn’s Solid Air and Bless the Weather, PJ Harvey’s Is This Desire?, Chet Baker Sings, the Blue Nile’s Hats, Kate Bush’s Hounds of Love & Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks. We’ve always written songs like this, but it felt natural to make an album that focuses on the gentler side of our music. There have been challenges, but through them writing together remotely was a lifeline. It’s bruised and wistful, nostalgic, and thankful. We’re so lucky that all our family and friends are safe. It’s about that love.”
Watch the official video for “The Seldom Seen Kid” and the Flying Dream 1 album trailer for below.
PRE-ORDER Flying Dream 1 via Elbow’s Official Store
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