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WHITE NOISE WHITE HEAT
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‘GIANTS OF ALL SIZES’Ahead of their eighth studio album release, Manchester band elbow have released a new track, ‘White Noise White Heat’ today. Listen HERE.
‘White Noise White Heat’ sees elbow at their most musically and lyrically direct, drawing on the darker themes and more strident tones that marked much of their debut, ‘Asleep In The Back’ and it’s follow up ‘Cast Of Thousands’.
‘White Noise White Heat’ is a motorik, metallic soul-blast, soaked in rage and doubt over the artist’s role in documenting genuine tragedy, following London’s 2017 Grenfell Tower fire. Guy stresses that this is not a song about Grenfell but rather his reaction. After twenty years of living his life in public through his lyrics and believing that music can be a positive force, this was the moment of true artistic self-doubt: “I kind of renounce all our previous records with this track, or what we are best known for. What is the point of uplifting songs in the face of this horror?”
The track also marks out the change in musical approach that characterizes many of the tracks on ‘Giants of all Sizes’. Less compromise, more taking tracks to their logical conclusion, its stark and direct composition matches its unvarnished lyrical approach.
‘Giants of All Sizes’ was recorded at Hamburg’s Clouds Hill Studio, The Dairy in Brixton, 604 Studios in Vancouver and Blueprint Studios in Salford, with additional recording taking place at various band member’s home studios in Manchester, and will be released in North America on October 11 via Polydor / Verve Label Group.
Lead singer and lyricist Guy Garvey describes the album as “an angry, old blue lament which finds its salvation in family, friends, the band and new life.” It is a record that lyrically takes in moments of deep personal loss whilst reflecting its times by confronting head-on, the specters of injustice and division not just in the UK but across the world. It is a record that could only have been made in the 21st Century.
Given such bleak, if ultimately redeemed subject matter, it is also perversely the most relaxed record which elbow have made in some time. On ‘Giants Of All Sizes’ each band member extended their usual process of working on demos alone and followed their vision to its conclusion rather than, as Craig Potter puts it, ‘taking the edges off things to find compromise’. In tandem with this, they returned to playing live in the studio, encouraged to experiment with the banks of analogue equipment at Clouds Hill in Northern Germany, giving songs a looser, more live feel.
As with their previous four studio albums, ‘Giants Of All Sizes’ was produced and mixed by keyboard player Craig Potter. Guests across the album include Jesca Hoop, The Plumedores and South London newcomer Chilli Chilton.
‘Giants Of All Sizes’ is out October 11. Pre-order HERE.
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