September 23, 2008 16:04

Elbow set to begin work on children's album Elbow Tickets

Mercury Prize winners take inspiration from HG Wells for new project

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Elbow are working on an album of children's music and animations.

The band, who recently won the Nationwide Mercury Prize for their LP 'The Seldom Seen Kid', are set to head into the studio to start preliminary work on the album before heading out on tour on October 6, reports Billboard.biz.

Singer Guy Garvey revealed that the band were saddened at how little serious music is currently aimed at children.

"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," he said.

"The first thing to do is find the story and that's great fun to research. I want to do something that really fires kids' imaginations. I think you can go somewhere in writing for children that you can't do with adults. I think adults would just say 'Oh, that's bizarre' and shut their ears. Whereas [when writing for children] you can really go absolutely nuts and kids will follow you and love it."

The album will be accompanied by an animated film, with Garvey declaring Jeff Wayne's classic 1978 album 'The War Of The Worlds' (based on HG Wells' novel) as a prime influence.

Garvey also confirmed that Elbow will work on their official fifth album alongside the children's project, although he was unsure which would be completed first.