Guy Garvey has warned Elbow’s new album is "very bleak".
The ‘One Day Like This’ hitmaker insists he and his bandmates – bassist Pete Turner, keyboardist/producer Craig Potter, guitarist Mark Potter – are "proud" of ‘Giants Of All Sizes’ but it’s not very "uplifting" because the 45-year-old singer "can’t find any joy" in the world.
He said: "It’s certainly not an uplifting album. It’s very bleak.
"We wanted to make a record that reflected how we felt and was made in the times that it was made.
"I can’t find any joy in these times. Elbow are making work we are proud of despite what is going on.
"Everyone is f***ed so it’s a dark record. And we are a band not known for that. We are known for the opposite, but I don’t want to listen to happy music when I am sad. You want something to connect to.
"’Giants Of All Sizes’ is a record of the times."
Guy admitted a lot of the lyrics on the record are "personal and political" because of his strong views about the state of the UK amid such uncertainty surrounding Brexit, as well as being shaped by other tragedies.
He told The Sun newspaper: "That’s the backdrop of the record. Personally, I’m really not looking forward to not being a part of Europe.
"There’s this horrible division down the country with everybody thinking they are right…
"It’s definitely wearing it all on its sleeve. Some of the lyrics were so personal and political, there was some debate as to whether we should go there. But I can’t help these feelings.
"I’d just moved to London when Manchester Arena was bombed, then Grenfell happened so close afterwards…
"[With Grenfell] people were dying because they were poor.
"The slow erosion of civil liberties has led to health and safety checks not being carried out and poor people not being looked after and burning to death on account of people cutting corners.
"And no one will go to jail for that. Then the Manchester Arena bomb was such a hideous, evil thing, done by a son of Manchester.
"How are we that disconnected? How the f**k does one of your kids get that lost and indoctrinated by this evil s**t and kill children?"
Elbow’s bleak new album
