No sooner do I talk to NPR about kids music than word comes down that British alternative rock band Elbow, who just won the Mercury Prize for best British album of the past year, are working on a kids music album and accompanying animated film. "We initially thought that it would be great to make music for children because the lads in the band have got kids and they were saying how little really decent music for children there is," said lead singer Guy Garvey, in a crushing blow to the British kids music genre. (Note: when it comes to kids music in Britain, he's right.)
The Billboard article goes on:
Elaborating on plans for a proposed animated film to accompany the album, Garvey cited Jeff Wayne's 1978 concept album "The War of the Worlds," based around H.G. Wells' novel, as a loose inspiration for the project. Band members would take a direct hand in choosing who will animate and voice the film, once a theme and narrative has been decided on.They didn't cite the album that immediately came to my mind when I read the article -- Harry Nilsson's The Point!, but seeing as it's 37 years old at this point, perhaps that's not surprising."I thinking that's it going to be something to do with flying [in] dreams," says the singer. "It's got to be something that not only works for us, but that works for the kids and when it's read to them that they can get into. That's what I love about it. It's the most honest thing that we could do right now."
It doesn't sound like the album's coming out anytime soon (they're recording on another "adult" album at the same time), and given the time required to do the animation, my guess is that it'll be a good year before we hear (and see) the results. (Hat tip: Idolator)
