Giants of All Sizes

During the writing and recording of Giants of All Sizes three people close to the band died: Guy Garvey's father Don died of lung cancer in March 2018, and in October 2018 two close friends of the group who lived and worked in Manchester, Scott Alexander (owner of live venues Big Hands and the Temple) and Jan Oldenburg (owner of the Night and Day Café, where Elbow gained their first record deal), both died unexpectedly within eight days of each other.[2][3] The album's liner notes carry a dedication to all three men.[4] Garvey stated that these deaths greatly affected the band and influenced the "darker place" that the album comes from. "Dexter & Sinister" is a reference to the left and right sides of a heraldic design – Manchester's coat of arms includes a shield with an antelope and a lion as supporters on either side, and Garvey said that he now pictured the shield without the two animals, representing the fact that Alexander and Oldenburg were no longer around.[2]

Other songs on the album also touch on the subject of death. "The Delayed 3:15" tells the story of a man who committed suicide by throwing himself under a train that Garvey was travelling on between Manchester and London, causing the train to be held up while the body was retrieved. Garvey had been trying to write lyrics during the journey for the song's music, which had been composed by guitarist Mark Potter, and he noted that the spot where the suicide occurred was one of the less picturesque places along the train route, and that the man had therefore seen no beauty in the act he committed.[2][5] "Empires" acknowledges that someone somewhere in the world is always affected by deaths, natural disasters or job losses,[2] and also describes Garvey's belief that Brexit will trigger the eventual break-up of the European Union.[6]

Another recurring theme on the album is the divisions in societies. "Dexter & Sinister"'s title alludes to the sharp division in the UK between the voters of the Leave and Remain sides in the Brexit debate. "White Noise White Heat" expresses Garvey's anger at the neglect by the authorities that led to the Grenfell Tower fire and the lack of justice for the affected families in its aftermath, stating that it was "because they were poor". "Doldrums" describes an event in Vancouver, where Garvey was accompanying his wife Rachel Stirling while she was filming The Bletchley Circle,[5] when he saw a well-dressed woman walk down the street past homeless men, who stepped aside to let her through, and she never acknowledged them.

Garvey also stated that despite the album's subdued tone, the record tries to find comfort in personal relationships. "My Trouble" and "On Deronda Road" are tributes to his wife and son, respectively, with the latter describing the happy memory of a bus journey Garvey made with his young son in south London, passing the Deronda Road bus stop. On closing track "Weightless" Garvey notes the similarities and connections between himself, his newborn son and his dying father, and said, "Jack's arrival really helped me through Dad's death, because it made Dad's death part of things, rather than the end of things. And it made my own life part of things, rather than the point of things."[5]

The album cover artwork is a stock photograph from Visual China Group (VCG) licensed to Getty Images, showing a crowded Chinese swimming pool in summer. Garvey explained to Music Week that the band had wanted to use an image that showed as many people as possible, to depict a wide range of human emotions and interactions, and which could be opened out to display a larger photograph on gatefold versions of the album.[1]

The band shared the album's first single, "Dexter & Sinister", online on 1 August 2019[7] and made the song available to purchase as a download and as a single-sided 10" vinyl record on 2 August 2019.[8] On 7 August 2019 it was announced that Giants of All Sizes would be released on 11 October 2019.[9] A second single, "Empires", was made available to stream and download on 21 August 2019.[10] "White Noise White Heat" was shared online as the album's third single on 3 October 2019.[11]

On 7 October 2019 it was announced that to celebrate National Album Day on 12 October, a special "don't skip" CD version Giants of All Sizes featuring the entire album as one single track would be available for that day only.[1] A UK tour in March and April 2020 in support of the album was announced on 20 September 2019.[12]

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
AnyDecentMusic?	7.9/10[13]
Metacritic	84/100[14]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[15]
The Daily Telegraph	[16]
The Guardian	[17]
The Independent	[18]
Mojo	[19]
Paste	8.0/10[20]
Q	[21]
The Times	[22]
Uncut	[23]

Roisin O'Connor of The Independent called it "perhaps their greatest album since their Mercury Prize-winning breakthrough The Seldom Seen Kid" and "more explicit statements on social and political affairs than we're used to from Elbow".[18] The Guardian's Alexis Petridis called it "a succession of troubling songs", noting the references to Grenfell Tower fire and deaths of Garvey's father and two close friends, and that Giants of All Sizes "digs into prog's more disruptive side, the wilful awkwardness expressed by its jarring time signatures, unpredictable shifts and knotty cramp-inducing riffs", but concluded that the album "is richer and stranger than anything they've released since their commercial breakthrough" and that the style suited them.[17] In Q Dorian Lynskey said that for much of the album "Elbow use ominous rhythms and keyboard drones to paint with a different palette: bruise-violet and midnight blue". He stated that Garvey's vocals were also changed, "willing to sit with his fears than chase them away with optimism and charm".[21] Steven Edelstone of Paste noted that "Garvey's lyrical frustration with the outside world is accompanied by louder and heavier instrumentals than anything we've heard since The Seldom Seen Kid's 'Grounds for Divorce'" but that although the music and lyrics expressed anger at "post-Brexit malaise" and death, the band find hope for the future in family and friends.[20] Writing for Mojo, Victoria Segal said that "grand images ... are used to describe bereavement, decline, a nation in a state" and that "Elbow reflect an unruly world here, but if they sometimes lose faith, they never lose heart."[19] A negative review came from Will Hodgkinson of The Times, who felt that "Elbow's trademark hypnotic tastefulness has merely been welded on to a bit of heavy subject matter and the result is naggingly unsatisfying."[22]

All music written by Elbow, all lyrics written by Guy Garvey.

1. "Dexter & Sinister" – 7:00 on physical and download versions, 6:40 on streaming version
2. "Seven Veils" – 4:36
3. "Empires" – 4:00
4. "The Delayed 3:15" – 3:25
5. "White Noise White Heat" – 3:56
6. "Doldrums" – 3:02
7. "My Trouble" – 5:18
8. "On Deronda Road" – 4:02
9. "Weightless" – 4:45

Credits adapted from the album's liner notes.[4]