Elbow

The group came out of Bury and spent years developing before releasing Asleep in the Back in 2001. The debut's unsettled textures and unusual rhythmic shapes established an identity well before a wider breakthrough. Garvey could sound bruised or reassuring within the same passage, and the instruments often seemed to work around the natural movement of his sentences.

Cast of Thousands and Leaders of the Free World followed, refining the combination of intimate observation and expansive band playing. Elbow were never simply a vehicle for a singer over a neutral backing track. Keyboard colour, bass movement and small rhythmic decisions could determine the emotional direction of a song as strongly as the words did.

The Seldom Seen Kid arrived in 2008 and won the Mercury Prize. Grounds for Divorce has a muscular, almost grinding central riff, while One Day Like This turns a simple refrain into a communal release. The album's title remembered Manchester musician Bryan Glancy, giving its mixture of celebration and loss a particular personal context.

Build a Rocket Boys! in 2011 placed recollection and belonging near the centre, especially on Lippy Kids. Its quieter passages reveal how much the band can do with restraint. The big public chorus is only one part of Elbow's language; the pause before a line, an exposed keyboard figure or the way Garvey names a small detail can carry as much weight as the eventual swell of sound.