ELBOW - CAST OF THOUSANDS

They say that a band has their whole life to write their first album, and six months to make their second, which explains why some bands seem to fizzle out after a brilliant debut. It also explains the giant leaps that take place from album to album. Another problem facing musicians is that critics (and I guess since I’m writing this, I am one) have a year or two to get to love that first album, and only a handful of times to listen to the new release to determine whether it lives up to the promise of the first. It hardly seems fair.
My first listen to Cast Of Thousands left me a little cold. It was not as fresh and exciting to me as 2002’s Asleep In The Back. But over the next few days, I found myself humming the melodies, thinking of the lyrics, and just generally not being able to get enough of this disc.
There is an overall David Gilmore/Pink Floyd feel to this album, especially on "Fallen Angel" and "Switching Off", only with a lot more experimentation. Track four, "Snooks (Progress Report)" has a Peter Gabriel vibe to it, with jarring, metallic screams and noise in the chorus.
This album really plays with you. It has a real mellow feel on the surface, very sparse, but somehow full at the same time. Cast Of Thousands takes you completely by surprise, like In "Whisper Grass", where the sudden invasion of My Bloody Valentine feedback shakes you from the trance the rest of the disc puts you in. It’s a great album that keeps getting better every time I listen to it. It's on par with, if not better than, the album it took them ten years to write, Asleep In The Back.