The Delays
Faded Seaside Glamour LP
Thursday 29th of April 2004
Soft vocals from the higher end of the scale, warm guitars with just a hint of crunch and little hints of something from each of the decades of modern music creates the sound of the Delays.
The mix of melancholy and hope means that the comparisons to Radiohead must be tempered by equal measures of La's references.
'Wanderlust' opens the record with some ambient steel drums and incredibly high vocals. The tune has a laid back dreamy feel that makes you feel like you are laying back on a sofa with sunlight finding it's way through gaps in the curtains. The slightly poppier 'Nearer Than Heaven' has the sound of the sixties embedded in almost every part, from the drums to the harmonies in the chorus.
'Long Time Coming' contains the best melody on the disc, with the vocals dropping down a fair bit and containing a slightly ruffled edge. The first three tracks chart an evolution that allows an amount of continuity between the songs whilst slowly taking things in a different direction.
This is continued with 'Bedroom Scene', which leaves the vocals in the same range as the previous number, but adds in some different style on the guitar, which has a Mike and the Mechanics feel with palm muted chords during the verse and some U2 style riffs in the chorus.
'No Ending' slows things down with some subtle drums similar The Cure's 'Jupiter Crash'. The vocals keep things lively in this track and the guitar goes on little runs that, although loose and relaxed, fit perfectly to the mood of the song.
The whole album manages to keep the theme going with each song either fitting within the Delays slightly janglier sections, like 'You Wear the Sun' and 'Hey Girl', or into the slighly more downbeat introspective style of 'There's Water Here' or stiking out in it's own direction like 'Stay Where You Are', which is the most individual track on the album.
Maybe the only downside is the lack of the more individual moments. 'Stay Where You Are' is the only song that has it's own creativity and doesn't instantly bring to mind another artist. The overall sound may not be instantly appealing to a lot of people either.
However, the instant attraction to the pop songs will inevitably lead people to the less transient moments that the Delays have to offer and punters after a record to replace the gap in their cd collection that was created when they got tired of Franz Ferdinand will find that the Delays will sit there a lot longer and make more jouneys to the hi-fi cabinet.
Author: Steve
Label: Rough Trade
Found in: Record Reviews
Official Rating
We rated this record 4 out of 5.