In-Car Entertainment

In the period leading up to the 2002 Mercury Music Prize, Amazon had a huge sale of albums by previous Mercury nominees. I can't remember how much they were (they seemed really cheap at the time, but this was pre-Fopp, remember) but I remember being sufficiently piqued into ordering around fifteen albums. I used it as an excuse to try out a few bands I knew nothing about.

The plan backfired slightly: because all this music arrived at once, I never got a good chance to become acquainted with it all, and hence I mentally bracket it all together as 'those CDs'. Which means when I pick one out and it turns out to be quite good, I'm always pleasantly surprised.

That's what happened with Elbow. Only a couple of minutes into the first track and I was thinking, hey, this is pretty strong. It's a downtempo album, with dense synths punctuated by bright acoustic guitars - quite proggy in places, really. There's definitely plenty of instantly accessible stuff here, though - unlike so many similar albums I've heard. The arrangements are free from plodding and self-indulgence, plus there's some real emotion. We're almost in Radiohead's territory, just not quite as polished or pompous.

Accessible it may be, but then I'm struggling to recall precise details of specific tracks. There's a lot of emotive indie around these days; without a snappy riff or a hook-laded chorus, it's difficult to lodge in the mind. So I'll make a point of listening to Asleep In The Back again soon. That way, something might start to stick.