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Ahead of the release of their tenth studio album, Audio Vertigo on 22 March (via Polydor/Geffen), elbow reveal another new track titled “Balu,” providing further hints for fans of the ‘gnarly, seedy grooves’ that power the album.
“Balu” shares much musical DNA with the wider album; a focus on rhythm, a willingness to experiment with new sounds, and a love of beats that reflects the freedom the band felt throughout the recording process. Arriving alongside the new song, an official music video for “Balu” which you can check out below.
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Early critical responses to Audio Vertigo, have been overwhelmingly positive with MOJO delivering a 4-star review and noting that ‘their tenth is suitably landmark’ whilst PROG thrilled to ‘the energizing lattice of fizzing synths’ that is “Balu” before declaring that ‘their 10th LP is special.”
Back in January, elbow released the album’s lead single, “Lovers’ Leap” which Under The Radar Magazine included in its ‘Best Songs Of The Week’. The new tracks offer fans the first taste of new music from the band since 2021’s critically lauded Flying Dream 1 marking a definite shift from that record’s intimate and delicate soundscape.
Audio Vertigo was recorded throughout 2023 at the band’s individual studios, Migration Studios, Gloucestershire, and finalized at the band’s facility at Blueprint Studios, Salford, the album marks a significant step change for the group after Flying Dream 1. In the words of lead singer and lyricist Guy Garvey, Audio Vertigo was built from “gnarly, seedy grooves created by us playing together in garage-y rooms,” and is both more direct and sonically varied by purpose than its predecessor.
Characterized by the band as “an album heavy on stomp, swing, and infectious oil-can funk beats,” Audio Vertigo sees elbow on the front foot, fusing their love of varied and various styles on a collection that ranges from the Beastie Boys meets John Bonham breaks of opener “Things I’ve Been Telling Myself for Years,” to the lead single “Lover’s Leap” and the infectiously funky “Balu.”
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