The Upcoming
  • Culture
    • Art
    • Cinema & Tv
      • Movie reviews
      • Film festivals
      • Shows
    • Food & Drinks
      • News & Features
      • Restaurant & bar reviews
      • Interviews & Recipes
    • Literature
    • Music
      • Live music
    • Theatre
  • Fashion & Lifestyle
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
  • What’s On
    • Art exhibitions
    • Theatre shows
  • Tickets
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Support us
    • Contact us
  • Interviews
  • Competitions
  • Special events
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Sundance London
      • Cannes
      • Locarno
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • RSS

CultureMusicAlbum reviews

Guy Garvey – Courting the Squall

Guy Garvey – Courting the Squall | Album review
30 October 2015
Isaku Takahashi
Avatar
Isaku Takahashi
30 October 2015

Music review

Isaku Takahashi

Courting the Squall

★★★★★

Highlights

Angela’s Eyes, Courting the Squall, Electricity

Links

Twitter Facebook Website

Already gaining considerable recognition as frontman of successful English rock group Elbow, Guy Garvey takes up the occasion to release his first solo album, Courting the Squall. Seeking to convey his distinctive musical character, the album navigates listeners through a unique musical journey that doesn’t “fit the Elbow template”.

The album ventures into various stylistic territories, kicking off with an energetic overture. Angela’s Eyes is an affirmation of Garvey’s artistic intent: to delve into styles and influences beyond the niche Elbow has found in the musical mainstream. Led by the Northern-tinged vocals of Garvey, it glorifies in an unashamedly funky groove with strutting guitar chords, razor-sharp synth patterns and heart-pounding beats and rhythms – the fundamental qualities to rebound energy back and forth between himself and a stadium-rock audience. By contrast, Electricity stands out as a unique number, which sees Garvey and American singer Jolie Holland side-by-side meandering through a hazy late-night jazz backdrop filled with delicate piano figures, melodious saxes, a sonorous bass line and gentle drums hit with a brush stick intonation.

While this solo opportunity is a chance to make a statement of creative intent, Garvey does retain some Elbow-like anthemic influences throughout the album, particularly in title track Courting the Squall and Broken Bottles and Chandeliers. The gentle ballad ambiance of Courting the Squall showcases the classic Garvey falsetto vocal tone, married with a march-like beat, lyrical harp phrases and sparkling percussive timbres. On the other hand, Broken Bottles and Chandeliers is a much more rapturous affair, with rich brass and choral harmonies and textures ringing feelings of euphoria.

Courting the Squall is an record of two perspectives. While it does store glimpses of Elbow-influenced familiarity, it is perhaps not a record to be greatly passionate about for Elbow enthusiasts. If one could look at it another way, this album gives us a preview of the musical directions Guy Garvey could potentially explore further in his career.

★★★★★

Isaku Takahashi

Courting The Squall is released on 30th October 2015, for further information or to order the album visit here.

Watch the video for Courting The Squall here:

Please accept YouTube cookies to play this video. By accepting you will be accessing content from YouTube, a service provided by an external third party.

YouTube privacy policy

If you accept this notice, your choice will be saved and the page will refresh.

Related Itemsreview

More in Album reviews

Kaleo – Surface Sounds

★★★★★
Georgia Howlett
Read More

Syml – Dim EP

★★★★★
Sylvia Unerman
Read More

The Fratellis – Half Drunk Under a Full Moon

★★★★★
Georgia Howlett
Read More

Dry Cleaning – New Long Leg

★★★★★
Mark Worgan
Read More

The Snuts – WL

★★★★★
Francis Nash
Read More

Mike Clerk – The Space Between My Ears

★★★★★
Georgia Howlett
Read More

Max Richter – Voices 2

★★★★★
Catherine Sedgwick
Read More

Evanescence – The Bitter Truth

★★★★★
Emma-Jane Betts
Read More

Ben Howard – Collections from the Whiteout

★★★★★
Mark Worgan
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap

Music review

Isaku Takahashi

Courting the Squall

★★★★★

Highlights

Angela’s Eyes, Courting the Squall, Electricity

Links

Twitter Facebook Website

  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • London’s best pizzas for takeaway and delivery
    Food & Drinks
  • The Year Earth Changed
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Cruise – Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Syml – Dim EP
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Birdy at Wilton’s Music Hall Online
    ★★★★★
    Live music
  • London’s Michelin-starred restaurants open al fresco right now – and all those re-opening in May
    Food & Drinks
  • Ride or Die
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Dad Stop Embarrassing Me!
    ★★★★★
    netflix
  • Live from the Barbican: Moses Boyd
    ★★★★★
    Live music
  • Weezer with the LA Philharmonic and YOLA at the Walt Disney Concert Hall Online
    ★★★★★
    Live music
  • London’s Michelin-starred restaurants open al fresco right now – and all those re-opening in May
    Food & Drinks
  • Live from the Barbican: Moses Boyd
    ★★★★★
    Live music
  • The Secret Connection – Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Cruise – Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Birdy at Wilton’s Music Hall Online
    ★★★★★
    Live music
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Support us
  • What, when, why

Copyright © 2011-2020 FL Media

Gigi at the Tabard Theatre | Theatre review
Xanadu at the Southwark Playhouse | Theatre review