In just over a week, Manchester England's emotive rock quintet Elbow will reach a milestone. The combo, fronted by Guy Garvey and his smoky dulcet tones, will issue their fourth album, 'The Seldom Seen Kid,' April 22.
It's a major feat as few non-platinum selling UK acts have managed to release four albums in America.

"It's a funny one," Garvey tells Spinner of their impending Geffen release. "I remember years ago, when we were doing the first album, it was like, 'What are we gonna call it?' and I said, 'Why don't we call it 'Disc 1 of 4.' I couldn't imagine being this far into our career [back then]. I'm really glad we have though and I'm really glad everybody's still into it enough."

In fact, the band was into making a fourth album quite a bit, absconding away to their own backyard -- Manchester, UK -- where keyboardist Craig Potter took over production duties. "[It's] certainly a labor of love," Garvey says. "It feels like it used to do, in the old days. It's a lot easier to feel that 'us against the world' thing if there's virtually no one else in the room."

While they laid down the effort, Elbow labored on something else too -- getting out of their deal with V2. Though they eventually managed to split legally with the imprint, there was a time when Elbow thought 'The Seldom Seen Kid,' wouldn't actually be seen in stores.

"The plan was always to just make the record and if there was some kind of legal trouble, then go in the press, requesting people download it for free and figure out how to make money down the road," Garvey explains. "But we always knew the record was coming out. It was just very frustrating when we didn't know where or with how much coverage."

And that struggle helped out with the album's 11 songs (12 if you're counting bonus cuts). "The frustrations, if anything, they gave it more of a conspiratorial vibe," Garvey says. "Tough times are a really good reason to get creative. It's that 'We'll show 'em' kind of attitude."