Elbow's last 'album'

Band talk about The Seldom Seen Kid

23 Jan 08 - Elbow say they're embracing the album format for the last time on their new record.

The Seldom Seen Kid is released on 17 March, and frontman Guy Garvey has been talking to 6 Music about it.

He says, as the way people listen to music is changing, they wanted to make the most out of the album format while they can:

"MP3 culture and download culture has meant that songs are sold on an individual song basis - on the quality of an individual song."

"But we very definitely wanted to make one last 'album,' if you know what i mean, in terms of - we are an album band, very definitely, and even if it's picked apart it's meant to be listened to start to finish."

"It's segued, the tracks run into each other and the themes run all the way through."
Guy Garvey

And he explained what about the record makes it work so that it should be listened to in full:

"It's segued, the tracks run into each other and the themes run all the way through."

"The best way to get the full, y'know, the work we've put in, the two and a half years we've put into the record, has been to do with how it's ordered, how long it is, what comes after what comes after what."

It's been three years since the release of Leaders of the Free World, as the band was forced to find a new label after the collapse of V2.

They're now signed to Polydor imprint Fiction. Now four albums in to their career, Guy Garvey told us how the record compares to their previous work:

"I think when you finish a record it's always the favourite thing that you've done. This one though, was loved sooner than most.

"With Cast of Thousands and Leaders of the Free World it took me a good few months before I could listen to the record with any objectivity but this record has had so much attention focused on it for so long.

"We are sure of every note, every beat, every word and we are very proud of it." 

B-sides album on the way

Guy also revealed, exclusively to 6 Music, that the band are planning a b-sides album:

"Which in itself we are classing as a fifth album because we are so proud of the material on there. With the exception of one song that shall remain nameless of the 65 songs that we have released so far, we are very proud of them all. "

"The b-sides album Dead In the Boot will come out later."
 
The first single from The Seldom Seen Kid will be Grounds For Divorce and you can hear it just after 7.30pm on 6 Music on the Marc Riley show tomorrow night (24 Jan).

Lucy O'Doherty