Elbow have unveiled their new single ‘Balu’ ahead of their upcoming tenth studio album ‘Audio Vertigo,’ due out on March 22. Described as a gritty, synth-heavy track, ‘Balu’ is accompanied by a music video featuring black-and-white clips of the band live, intermingled with more abstract footage of a mystery character in a mask. Frontman Guy Garvey explained that the song shared many similarities with the rest of the album with a focus on rhythm, experimentation with new sounds, and beats. Elbow has already played lead single ‘Lovers’ Leap’ live on ‘The Graham Norton Show’ in January ahead of the album’s release.
Garvey revealed to NME that the forthcoming album is “big fat record” that has “got some dirt under its fingernails.” It deals with some pretty inky stuff, from maniacal rants from the point of view of a frontman who’s lost his mind to really awful portraits of toxic relationships failing, all set to a very thick, guitar, drum, and groove-based groove. It’s produced by Craig Potter, and Al, the drummer, has been writing more on this record. Garvey described the album as having a mixture of sounds ranging from Stiff Records and Elvis Costello to what Afrika Bambaataa was doing in his early years, with influences like The Meters.
Elbow will embark on a UK and Ireland headline tour in May, with The WAEVE opening for them. The WAEVE is the duo made up of Blur’s Graham Coxon and former Pipettes member-turned-Mark Ronson collaborator and singer-songwriter Rose Elinor Dougall. Fans can find the tour schedule and any remaining tickets at Ticketmaster
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