Travis

While we all wait the next Elbow album, Scottish post-Britpop band Travis released their latest this week, their first album in five years, Where You Stand.

Like a lot of people, I discovered Travis with The Man Who (thanks, in my case, to a warm review for it in People), and it quickly became one of my favorite albums. The release of The Invisible Band solidified them in my mind (I especially loved "Sing" and "Flowers in the Window"), and a few years later their songs found their way into the Muzak rotation in the video game shop that I managed. 12 Memories followed a few years later, and after that came The Boy With No Name. And if I didn't buy these albums on day one, I certainly had them within a month, but it seemed like Travis was a band that put out good, creative stuff but that didn't excite anyone.

Where You Stand won't change that perception, but it's still a good and enjoyable album. I find myself listening to "Moving" and "Warning Sign" almost obsessively. There's nothing on this album that really strikes me as wrong. I don't lose interest in it. It's pleasant. It's a Travis album.

And it'll fill the gap for me until the next Elbow album.