Delays, Star Tiger, Star Ariel

Posted on 28th May 10 by Ciara O Brien | 0

Southampton indie-rock quartet Delays are set to release their eagerly anticipated fourth album Star Tiger, Star Ariel on June 31^st this year. Delays are somewhat of a strumming contradiction as, following their 2004 debut Faded Seaside Glamour, they were heralded as indie’s new ‘IT’ kids and compared to giants like the Stone Roses. Six years on, the group have been together for almost a decade and somehow have not yet become a household name, something that this new release might change.

Delays, Star Tiger, Star Ariel

Perhaps the thing that seems to be blocking Delays from reaching that level of household name is that they exist in an aural grey-area, in one of those areas of music that has so many hyphens that it barely makes sense anymore. They’re indie-pop-rock, or something to that effect, and these generic labels are something with which the group themselves seem to struggle at times.

With Star Tiger, Star Ariel, they want to be released from such barriers and have set out to really peel away the excess in terms of their sound. The result is mixed, overall their sound is simpler and darker than their previous efforts, but some tracks struggle to be freed from their pre-written formulas and become tracks which would have worked better on one of their previous albums.

One of these tracks is the albums debut single Unsung. It is a track bursting with a sense of enthusiasm which isn’t echoed in the overall melancholy. It is hard to fit this track into the album, as a debut single, it works, but in relation to the rest of the album it seems misplaced. It is a burst of sunshine in an album that sounds more like a bleak forest at night.

Front man Greg Gilbert says of the album “This record is about being found being lost, and the dream of being found. It is our most personal record, and, more than anything, is a soundscape for our home.” Without reading this statement, and the knowledge that the album was created by renewed inspiration in childhood haunts, it would exist as a fairly average indie-pop album. When we realise it is an album of being lost, it becomes something more. The album tells a story and gives us a palpable feeling of being lost and the childish wonder of exploration in each track.

The album opens in a deliciously odd manner. The first track Find A Home is not the enthusiastic opener we expect from the debut single and doesn’t build the energy of the album up as expected. It is a lilting lullaby with a sprinkle of David Bowie oddness thrown in for good measure. It seems an odd opener for such an upbeat album, but, as it’s an album about getting lost, it simply lulls us into a false sense of security and aids in our getting lost in the rest of the album.

Lone Estate was something of a low point on the album for me, whilst the melody sounds quite like the brilliant Straylight Run, the lyrics begin to verge heavily on cheese, and it’s very hard to overcome that and enjoy the song.

Gilbert’s soaring falsetto becomes their trademark in this album. It is his effortless command over his vocal chords which creates the necessary emotions that build the atmosphere of the album as a whole. Tracks like Rhapsody are infectious and impossible to resist, sizzling to breaking point and becoming the perfect recipe for dark-pop success. Brilliant Sunshine leads you into thinking you’re listening to some of Take That’s new stuff until the chorus takes us into chanting perfection which defies you not to sing along.

Delays are the kind of band who fit together and each member brings something to the mix. Although they may not look it, they are more than just four pretty indie boys. This album has its low points, it’s not perfect, but, as a whole, it makes you forget that an ash cloud has you grounded and you want to wander and get beautifully and magically lost in the world. The album’s title is ingenious as the group seem to have existed in some kind of magical vacuum themselves, and they hope that any misgivings about them might also go ‘missing without a trace’.

For a taste of what’s to come with this album, visit the band’s official site where they are giving away the debut single Unsung.

Drop-d Rating: 7/10

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Tags: Brilliant Sunshine, David Bowie, Delays, Faded Seaside Glamour, Find A Home, Greg Gilbert, Lone Estate, Rhapsody, Star Ariel, Star Tiger, stone roses, Straylight Run, Take That, Unsung