Logo
DiS Needs You: Save our site »
  • Logo_home2
  • Records
  • In Depth
  • In Photos
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • Search
  • Community
  • Records
  • In Depth
  • Blog
  • Community

THIS SITE HAS BEEN ARCHIVED AND CLOSED.

Please join the conversation over on our new forums »

If you really want to read this, try using The Internet Archive.

Elbow

Not a Job

Label: V2 Release Date: 23/02/2004

5611
asmith by Anthony Smith February 22nd, 2004

To say that Elbow are not a singles band is some understatement. When it comes to crafting pop gems set for soaring through the FM universe these guys have even less of an idea than Radiohead.

Guy Garvey, eyes glazed, stares at the frenzied energy and manic vitriol that dominates the indie charts and, with a shrug, lets his band ease out yet another of their world-weary anti-anthems.

The third track lifted from last year's dour opus 'A Cast of Thousands', 'Not a Job' is a mere slip of a song. It shuffles along with a melancholy tarred vocal that aches and throbs and is so close to giving up. You only have to listen to it the once for the bags to begin growing under your eyes, for its hangover to envelop you. Even the morphine induced chorus can't convince itself that life's worth living. It's probably how Coldplay will sound when Chris Martin's Hollywood life goes awry.

If all this should sound a little unappealing, just remember that Elbow's great strength is in the fact that their well-developed brand of bedsit miserablism never comes across as inauthentic. Their classy sorrow always rings true. Young indie pretenders like Keane and Snow Patrol might take note how the truly disconsolate actually sound.

  • 6
    Anthony Smith's Score
Log-in to rate this record out of 10
Share on
   
Love DiS? Become a Patron of the site here »


LATEST


  • Drowned in Sound's Albums of the Year 2025


  • Why Music Journalism Matters in 2024


  • Drowned in Sound is back!


  • Drowned in Sound's 21 Favourite Albums of the Year: 2020


  • Drowned in Sound to return as a weekly newsletter


  • Lykke Li's Sadness Is A Blessing



Left-arrow

Preston School Of Industry

Monsoon

Mobback
5609

The Vines at Camden Electric Ballroom, Camden, Thu 19 Feb

Mobforward
Right-arrow


LATEST

    news


    Drowned in Sound's Albums of the Year 2025

  • 106149
  • news


    Why Music Journalism Matters in 2024

  • 106145

    news


    Drowned in Sound is back!

  • 106143
  • news


    Drowned in Sound's 21 Favourite Albums of the Y...

  • 106141

    news


    Drowned in Sound to return as a weekly newsletter

  • 106139
  • Playlist


    Lykke Li's Sadness Is A Blessing

  • 106138

    Festival Preview


    Glastonbury 2019 preview playlist + ten alterna...

  • 106137
  • Interview


    A Different Kind Of Weird: dEUS on The Ideal Crash

  • 106136
MORE


    Interview


    DiS Meets Tori Amos: "You have to be able to si...

  • 95677
  • Interview


    Billy Corgan: "I have a problem with the way po...

  • 98775

    DiScover


    DiScover: My Brightest Diamond

  • 38509
  • feature


    Klaxons interview podcast & competition

  • 19907

    Interview


    "I didn’t think that Bridge Over Troubled Water...

  • 102774
  • Interview


    Travis: Album by Album with Fran Healy

  • 91230

    Interview


    DiS meets Sharon Van Etten: "It's the same pian...

  • 95341
  • Mixtape


    Mixtape #2: Foals

  • 30008
MORE

Drowned in Sound
  • DROWNED IN SOUND
  • HOME
  • SITE MAP
  • NEWS
  • IN DEPTH
  • IN PHOTOS
  • RECORDS
  • RECOMMENDED RECORDS
  • ALBUMS OF THE YEAR
  • FESTIVAL COVERAGE
  • COMMUNITY
  • MUSIC FORUM
  • SOCIAL BOARD
  • REPORT ERRORS
  • CONTACT US
  • JOIN OUR MAILING LIST
  • FOLLOW DiS
  • GOOGLE+
  • FACEBOOK
  • TWITTER
  • SHUFFLER
  • TUMBLR
  • YOUTUBE
  • RSS FEED
  • RSS EMAIL SUBSCRIBE
  • MISC
  • TERM OF USE
  • PRIVACY
  • ADVERTISING
  • OUR WIKIPEDIA
© 2000-2025 DROWNED IN SOUND