New album

Less, it turns out, is more for the British band Elbow. Ahead of their seventh studio album, the rockers lost a founding member, but the new music they deliver is among the best they’ve made in years. Little Fictions, Elbow’s first CD since 2014’s The Take Off and Landing of Everything, has typical band touches — a swelling orchestra, the unmistakably smoky voice of Guy Garvey and some moderately depressing lyrics. Despite the past, the album is easily one of the band’s most accessible. That may be due to a major change in their engine room. This is Elbow’s first release as a four-piece group, following the departure of drummer Richard Jupp, and that has resulted in some airy, electronic beats at the heart of many songs.