A particular lyric from Elbow’s “Scattered Black and Whites” — “I come back here from time to time” — was very much on point Sunday night, Oct. 5, at the Royal Oak Music Theatre.

It was the British quintet`s first trip to the metro area in eight years, and only its fifth time playing these parts overall. Over its 24 years of recording Elbow has been a major concern in its homeland — winning the prestigious Mercury Music Prize and a couple of Ivor Novello Awards — while building a niche following across the pond, but in just over an hour and 45 minutes on Sunday the band showed why it merits a far better stature than that.

Elbow’s music is hard to put in a particular box, other than one labeled “very good” or even “beautiful.” It’s not the typical kind of Britpop jangle; rather, it’s more

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