elbow release, 'sober', the band's latest single and the closing track from their forthcoming record, AUDIO VERTIGO ECHO elbow EP 5.
elbows fifth EP, set for release on June 6, was written by the band as a continuation of their fourth UK #1 album AUDIO VERTIGO, released in March of last year. AUDIO VERTIGO ECHO elbow EP 5 features last year’s one-off release ‘Adriana Again’ alongside three brand new and unheard tracks.
Packed with a disco stomp, ‘Sober’ is unlike anything else in the band’s canon yet immediately identifiable as them, the track was the first thing they worked on with drummer Al Reeves yet had to be set aside for the reset until now, where the new elbow approach found the track ready to be shot through with glitter and groove and joy.
Looking back lyrically while continuing to move forward musically, lead singer Guy Garvey describes the record as “finishing something for the band in lots of ways. We are having more fun in the studio than ever before. Craig’s on fire as a producer, Pete and Alex are the coolest rhythm section working and Pot’s unpredictable rhythm guitar has started working its way into such a soulful and accomplished place. The words are all stories from my past, sometimes joyful, often dark, but all of it exciting and mostly true. It feels like we’re having another go on the Waltzers after hours.”
Listen to ‘Sober’ on the Premier League playlist.
For long term elbow fans, the subjects of the four songs offer a basket of Easter Eggs to discover and enjoy. Lead track ‘Dis-Graceland 463-465 Bury New Road’ is named in honour of the former residence of the Seldom Seen Kid, Bryan Glancy. Reminiscing about an ‘old Victorian villa with no central heating that became a modern Angkor Wat’ following Bryan’s departure via a slide into ruin and decrepitude, the track revisits a perennial Garvey theme of the dawn and references Guy’s time as a 17 year old sofa surfer in the Manchester area. The topline melody for the track was written by Doves’ Jimi Goodwin, another long-term ally and friend of Guy and the band and is both a testament to Manchester’s musical legacy and a celebration of both youth and the joy of reflecting on past times in later life.
Echoes from the past surface in ‘Timber’ with ‘little laddie-o’, Guy’s name for son Jack, being a hand me down from his mum whilst adding to numerous songs in the elbow catalogue where “I give myself advice in a song”. The motorik rhythms of previous release ‘Adriana Again’ propel a song that mythologises the past through half true fragments of relationships and friendships.
To celebrate a hugely successful two years, elbow play a series of major headline shows throughout summer 2025, including a return to Latitude Festival.
