I would most definitely like to hear a different tone to the 6th album, but I am one not in favour of anything too boisterous as I really don't think it suits them. Do they have the energy for it at gigs, either? Guy Garvey has admitted he can't run around like Chris Martin, and energetic songs need energetic performances...

I seem to remember the band confirming that they will not lose their restraint and subtlety following the surprising success of "Lippy Kids" - originally intended as an album-only track and so popular they released it as a single.

I agree with respect to the "cosy" factor though - I think Elbow need to go dark for this next album, perhaps a tad more dramatic. I want to see experimentalism, but I still want to feel like I am listening to Elbow, not Coldplay, not Muse, but Elbow (love the other two btw, but they're all so different).

Leaders was a livelier album than AITB and COT, but it was like whale music compared to proper arena rock...... this is not Elbow's forte..... quiet and intimate is. This doesn't mean they can't go a little up tempo, but I think they particularly excel at the quiet, brooding stuff.....Scattered, Switching Off, Great Expectations and so on.

The trouble with most bands is, they just get happier. Coldplay's overwroughtness these days is a prime example. They're a far cry from the restrained melancholy of "Trouble". This does mean that they either write happy stuff (which is not really my bag, personally) or they attempt to channel unhappiness they once felt, or through others......and risk it coming off as simply crap. The gloom of their first two albums was utterly visceral and true.....so I have a strong feeling that this next album will need to be about something topical, political, external to their immediate emotions and lives. To write songs about their emotions and feelings now would probably give us tons more of that cosiness and would overspill into utter schmaltz.

In this way, I do feel the next album will be a somewhat less personal affair, and more of a topical, musical commentary.....observational music from the brain and the eyes,....perhaps via the heart (it is Elbow after all) but not perhaps directly from the heart.

Craig's now tweeted that they may have the opening track "in the bag"...HUZZAH!

Such great news to hear that they're on the road to getting the next LP out there. And it's interesting to see the discussion from all you folks regarding what you thought of the last album, and what you hope will happen on the next one.

Personally, I enjoyed BARB, for what it was. It wasn't meant to be TSSK part II, or part 2 of any other previous album, for that matter. It just served as a snapshot of where they all were and what they were focused on in their lives at that time, and it worked well in that capacity. I don't know if wanting/expecting any particular sound is the way to look at it (heavier/louder, more intimate/delicate, etc.). There are certain qualities I hope to see, rather than any particular style or lyrical content: honesty, emotional integrity, uniqueness, and top-notch musical craftsmanship. If that's what we get on No. 6 it'll sound like a proper Elbow album, and no matter what they're singing about I'll be happy as a clam.

It'll be wonderful - I have absolutely no doubt in that.

looking forward (as always) to some new material.
...but we have to appreciate the volume we've had from them too.
I'm sure you'd all agree we've been spoiled over the years compared to most artists.

Exciting news reading Craig's tweets and moving on at such a pace. 2012 looks to be another great year in the Elbow stakes.

Wonder if it's worth having a trip down to Blueprint and hanging out - or does no one do that sort of thing anymore???

Thanks mate!

Angry, definitely. I think they could pull a political album off really well. Politics have always been there in some form on all of their albums, and Garvey has been quite outspoken about the current status quo. I seem to recall his mentioning that the recession and current status quo may form much of the backdrop to the next album around the time of the the release of BARB. Again, it doesn't have to be the Manic Street Preachers - it can still be Elbow. I don't think they could be anyone else - they're too unique.

Leaders was political at times, but it was an album about relationships first and foremost - the title track was quite a misleading label in a sense....no pun intended. Not a bad thing, necessarily, because it meant that the agenda wasn't blitzkrieg. Elbow's trademark is their subtlety and I think the second any of us sense they are hitting us over the head with anything, that's when the alarm bells will ring.

They won't. Bring on album 6!