Ahead of the second annual National Album Day tomorrow, Elbow frontman Guy Garvey has spoken to Music Week about why the LP needs to be protected.
Garvey's band, whose biggest selling record is 2008's triple platinum The Seldom Seen Kid (1,103,722 sales, OCC), are serving as ambassadors of the BPI and ERA-organised event alongside Mark Ronson, Mahalia and Lewis Capaldi.
"You’ve got to keep the album alive," Garvey told Music Week. "This is a way of listening to music that the artist often cares about a lot more. This isn’t dipping in, it’s not music as a commodity, it’s sitting down to enjoy something that’s been prepared for you. And little things like this just remind people to treat music with respect.
"If an album band or album artist presents you with something in an order, with a sleeve image and a name, there’s probably a journey in it for you. And you get a deeper satisfaction from listening to an album."
We're doing our job, which is protecting an area of music that's really important
Guy Garvey
Elbow
To coincide with National Album Day, Elbow are releasing a special limited edition of their upcoming album, Giants Of All Sizes, as one single track. The ‘Don’t Skip’ CD edition of the album will be available in stores and online on October 12 only.
“If it just keeps the idea fresh," said Garvey, speaking in the latest issue of Music Week. "We’re doing our job, which is protecting an area of music that’s really important.
"Because it’s largely free, it’s tempting to think people don’t value it. But I promise you, if you play our album through a good pair of speakers, you’ll hear where all the work has gone.
"We always relish the details in the albums that we love, whether it’s Public Enemy’s screaming samples, or Talk Talk’s period of quiet with just an AC-30’s vibrato flickering, those details are all messages from the artist to the listener.”
Despite the current trend towards shorter songs, Giants Of All Sizes' lead single Dexter & Sinister clocked in at an epic six minutes, 40 seconds.
"The most important thing was that people got it," laughed Garvey. "So far, people have got it. It is what it is, it was made in the time it was made, and we’re enormously proud of it. But of course you want it to connect. It’s an old cliché isn’t when people say, ‘We made it for ourselves and if anyone else likes it, it’s a bonus’. That’s not true. You make music for music lovers.”
Subscribers can read the full interview with Garvey here.
