Review: Elbow drop dreamy and wistful new album Flying Dream 1

: by Joe Sharratt; in Reviews; on 07 December 2021

Bury’s finest four-piece are the latest outfit to drop the lockdown album; a record constructed remotely over the course of the pandemic, backdropped by the sizable tilt of unreality it brought with it. It’s no surprise then that, straight away, what hits you about ‘Flying Dream 1’ is its haunting quality, a gentle otherworldliness that is rich and compelling.

Opening and title track, and the third single taken from the record, Flying Dream 1 instantly launches you into this effect. “I seem to remember my first flying dream,” frontman Guy Harvey explained on the band’s official Facebook page. “Who knows if it’s a memory or a memory of a memory but it was in the house that my mother still lives in. I suppose in a way it’s a gently encouraging sentiment in the same vein as ‘Lippy Kids’ and it’s all set in the same place.

"The piece of music that Craig [Potter, the band’s pianist] put together is just astonishing”, Harvey added. “I lived in it for weeks and weeks before settling on a lyric. It was Craig’s idea to make it the title track of the album, which is apt as it opens the album and perfectly sets the tone for what we were wanting to do across the whole record."

It’s a nostalgic yet comforting song, and that feeling lingers long through the rest of the record. Six Words is built around a beautiful looping keyboard melody that scurries off down myriad other auditory paths, while The Seldom Seen Kid is an emotive affair about the loss of the Manchester musician Bryan Glancy, a dear friend of the band whose sad passing also inspired the 2008 Elbow album of the same name.

These heartfelt moments are what Flying Dream 1 does so well. It might not have the swagger of some of Elbow’s past work, but it’s a fine and tender record that fans and newcomers alike should enjoy.

Flying Dream 1 tracklist: