Elbow

Elbow's fourth studio album features the highly crafted arrangements the Manchester band has been known for since forming in the late '90s. While their earlier stuff drew comparisons to Coldplay, here Elbow move far beyond the strictures of dreamy radio pop and into a constantly shifting point of attack. Messing with major changes in mood (all of them various shades of depression), careening tempos, and the pitting of slick studio sounds against warm sections of almost lo-fi-ness, main instigators Guy Garvey and Mark Potter come on like filmmakers as much as indie rockers.