That’s right. Great joy has come to Bury as Guy Garvey and his band of brilliant doom/joy merchants have been awarded the Mercury Prize. So well done them.
I’m not a big fan of the usage of ‘literally’ in many contexts, but Garvey was probaly correct in announcing the honour as “quite literally the best thing that’s ever happened to us.” It’s been a long time coming, but their finally starting to get the recognition they deserve. Whereas Coldplay and Snow Patrol have succeeded in taking over the world with similarly grand but ultimately soulless epics, Elbow have ground away in the background producing 4 of the 100 best albums of this millennium, proving themselves as ultimately the most consistent, enjoyable and credible British band of this decade.
I’m going to leave it there as I have to go meet some Americans off a plane. Read more here on this quite informative BBC article. And buy all their records as well. Elbow are amazing.
