10. Little Fictions / Elbow

Elegant, stately, and sharp, Elbow is a crown jewel of British songsmithing.  Along with its spectacular album Little Fictions, the band released a 28-song best of collection in 2017, lending credence to a career-spanning greatness that is often taken for granted.  Many of The D Man's favorite tracks did not even make the cut, another sign of a band with enduring staying power.

Elbow's seventh record is another triumph of craft, melody, understated emotion, and clever lyricism.  Little Fictions finds Guy Garvey newly in love in a post-Brexit world.  Written around the time of his wedding, the record stokes inner fires with subtle, beautiful tracks like "Kindling" and "Head for Supplies," and then soars with sweeping manifestos like "Magnificent (She Says)" and "Gentle Storm."  While his writing always romanticizes relationships of the heart, and then dips into homefront nostalgia and the passing of time, it has a little extra vinegar from recent political disappointments.

Hands up if you've never seen the sea
I'm from the land with an island status
Makes us think that everyone hates us
Maybe darling they do
But they haven't met you
They only know the villains at the tiller
And they gambled the farm on a headline, Jesus
Getting harder to see what they're doing 'til its done
And they're never gonna make an arrest on Fleet Street

"K2" is one of the best political songs of the year; witty and multi-faceted, Garvey shares deeply pessimistic British sentiments, worrying over little-man syndrome and the risk of cutting ties.  Nevertheless, Garvey cannot shake his native optimism, closing the song with a fierce hope.

Yes and I'm given to believing in love
I've written the word in my blood
And I perch on a shelf of the K2
Made of the believers that love
Opens the fist just enough for a hand
To slip into the hand

Over the past decade, The D Man's fondness for the Mercury Prize-winning band has increased with each album.  This is decidedly adult, hipster-free fare, so there is no reason to argue with rock critics who find the band too staid or polished.  When you find me a band that has written songs as strong or touching as this, this, this, or this, we can then have a meaningful conversation.