Garvey summed up the album’s fitting title: "It's to do with the fact that there have been [so many] life events. There are five members of the band—people have split up, got together, had children. It never stops, this stuff. Especially round the [age of] 40 mark . . . and yet I wanted to remain celebratory about that. Everybody's feeling relief, with remorse, next to joy, next to loss. But I think laughing very hard and worrying very little is a good way to keep young.”
Elbow confronts mortality with eloquent courage; it is difficult for Garvey's lyrics to be anything but well-considered and articulate. The band’s classic musicianship is the sound of aging gracefully, accepting what must be accepted, but leaving enough room for a kind of respectable defiance, a type of self-actualization in the face of the coming night. Be brave, dear souls, we are all in this together.
So it goes on the moving nostalgia of “My Sad Captains,” which is carried by a lilting waltz and repeating refrain of sad-eyed trumpets. The title is taken from a line in
Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra,
in which Antony speaks about his drinking partners (“Come, let’s have one other gaudy night; call to me all my sad captains;
fill our bowls; once more, let’s mock the midnight bell.”). Garvey’s vocal prowess, a British treasure by
now, chronicles the whimsies of all-too fleeting alliances.
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.
