Elbow's Guy Garvey Lifts Lid on 'Build a Rocket Boys!'

Elbow frontman Guy Garvey has spoken some of the influences behind the band's forthcoming album 'Build a Rocket Boys!'

Although much of the album was recorded in usual haunt Blueprint Studios in Manchester, the band also decamped to Scottish climes for a scene change.

Garvey told The Quietus, "The first song we completed was written and recorded on the Isle Of Mull. 'Jesus Is a Rochdale Girl' couldn't be simpler musically and lyrically.

"It's a list of the details I remember from my life when I was 22 written with the knowledge of how things would unfold. 'Jesus Is A Rochdale Girl' became the blueprint for the record."

The band's fifth album, 'Build a Rocket Boys!' is due out on March 7. First single 'Neat Little Rows' was released on Monday, Feb. 7, in the UK.

The theme of the record seems to be based around Garvey's life at 22, and is described as "the ups and downs of being young through the eyes of someone who loved and hated it all at the same time."

In describing the sound of the album, Garvey proved that if he ever decided to jack in the band, he may have a future as a music critic. "The music sounded to me like the muted heartbeat of someone restraining themselves, the splashes of clumsy colour from the keyboards being general excitement bubbling up over the sides."

The pressures of following up the success of 'The Seldom Seen Kid' -- which won the Mercury Music Prize in 2008 as well as garnering the band a Brit award and two Ivor Novellos -- seem to have only encouraged them.

"If anything it just gave us confidence. We had a conversation right at the top of making Build... and we agreed that as always we were just going to get stuck in."

Those wanting to check whether they've managed that successfully can judge on the band's extensive tour in March, which finishes at The O2 in London for two dates on March 28 and 29.

Watch Elbow and Richard Hawley Perform 'The Fix' Live