From Manchester to Manhattan, Elbow share inspiration behind new album

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/jan/09/elbow-guy-garvey-new-album-manchester-new-york

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Elbow's new album is largely inspired by Brooklyn, in New York. Due out in March, the group's follow-up to Build a Rocket Boys! is apparently as much about the trendiest borough in New York as it is about Manchester, the band's hometown.

"I'm having an intense love affair with Brooklyn," frontman Guy Garvey told Q magazine. "One overarching theme on this record is me flitting between Manchester and New York." That has been the theme of the singer's Twitter account: alongside recent tweets about the Manchester Central Library and Garvey's BBC Radio 6 Music programme, he has noted New York's friendly street sweepers, Brooklyn's ukulele obsession and a brush with the moustache-freezing polar vortex.

Despite Garvey's affection for the outer boroughs, he said he could never live in Manhattan because it's not British enough. "The energy of Manhattan I can only dip into," he explained. "I need the option of a cosy pub and a quiet chat."

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The group renamed their album from Carry Her, Carry Me to The Take Off and Landing of Everything. "The title's now from a song [on the album]," Garvey explained. "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 40 mark ... and yet I wanted to remain celebratory about that. Everybody's feeling relief, with remorse, next to joy, next to loss." Accordingly, the title track is a "huge, cacophonous thing", inspired by Primal Scream and Spiritualized.

As with 2011's Build a Rocket Boys! and 2008's Mercury prize-winning The Seldom Seen Kid, The Take Off and Landing of Everything was reportedly recorded at Elbow's studio near Manchester, with mixing and production by keyboardist Craig Potter. The album will be released on 10 March and a UK arena tour will start in Birmingham on 5 April.

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