The Delgados are from Scotland and belong to the same generation of
Glasgowian folk-popsters as Arab Strap and
Belle And Sebastian.
Rather than simply pursuing the British school of trivial pop that stretches,
largely unchanged, from the Beatles to the Smiths, the Delgados dared
to experiment.
The first single, Monica Webster (february 1995), the
EP Lazarwalker (Radar, 1995)
and second single Cincentre (1996)
recalled a lo-fi version of the Pixies' oblique
hard rock.
The Pixies similarity remained in the best tracks out of
Domestiques (Chemikal Underground, 1997):
Under Canvas Under Wraps,
Big Business In Europe, while the catchier
Sucrose, Tempered Not Tamed and Akumulator
reveal commercial potential.
Pavement and
Velocity Girl
inspired the dissonant lo-fi sound that took over
in the most creative tracks:
Leaning On A Cane, a duet between the two singers that is propelled
by cello lines, and One More Questions, that swims in
xylophone tinklings.
Peloton (Chemikal Underground, 1999) introduced
baroque arrangements and signaled the metamorphosis to come. The singles
Everything Goes Around The Water and
Pull The Wires From The Wall were far more refined than anything
they had done before.
If Repeat Failure captured the limelight with its catchy refrain,
it was the subtle songwriting of songs such as
Blackpool,
Actress and
Weaker Argument Defeats The Stronger that set them apart.
The transformation from noise-pop to sumptuous orchestral pop was complete on
The Great Eastern (Chemikal Underground, 2000). The new sound buried
Alun Woodward's and Emma Pollock's unexceptional vocals under a heavy coating
of sound (No Danger). Their vocal harmonies were nonetheless used to
mesmerizing effects in Thirteen Guiding Principles.
The band's complex, artificial, technicolor structures compared favorably with
Mercury Rev's.
This was hardly the same band that cut Domestiques.
Hate (Mantra, 2002), produced by
Dave Fridmann (Flaming Lips, Sparklehorse, Mercury Rev),
was even more lushly orchestral.
The production is a little too smooth and bright, but this album is the
natural next step in the Delgados' evolution towards a highly chromatic
psychedelic sound. What is still missing is the emotions.
Lush sound and oneiric atmosphere suffocate the angelic lullabies of
The Light Before We Land or Woke From Dreaming.
With the exception of the anthemic Coming in from the Cold,
songs are content to float in the ether of their dense arrangements.
The album's centerpiece is the negative philosophy of
All You Need Is Hate (a surreal revisitation of the Beatles' original),
The Drowning Years (the most bombastic song on the album)
and Child Killers (a seven-minute existential torture),
which justifies the band's success.
Universal Audio (Chemikal Underground, 2004) marked a
retreat to power-pop (the Kinks-Squeeze axis, not the Beatles-Oasis hell).
As it is often the case with power-pop, one listens to the first few songs
(Everybody Come Down, I Fought the Angels) and then
starts yawning, no matter how polite and diligent the rest is.
For such an accomplished set of ditties, it is incredibly difficult to
listen through till the end of the album.
Maybe it should have been a four-song EP instead of a full-length album.
Whatever the cause, the effect is to send the Delgados back to the drawing
board, and back to their beginnings.
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(Translation by/ Tradotto da Luca Battistini)
I Delgados sono scozzesi e appartengono alla stessa generazione di popstar
folk di Glasgow quali Arab Strap e
Belle And Sebastian.
Piuttosto che limitarsi a seguire la banale scuola pop britannica, che si
estende senza grossi cambiamenti dai Beatles agli Smiths, i Delgados ebbero
il coraggio di tentare la via della sperimentazione.
Il primo singolo Monica Webster (febbraio 1995), l'EP
Lazarwalker (Radar, 1995)
e il secondo singolo Cincentre (1996)
ricordano una versione lo-fi dell'obliquo hard-rock dei Pixies.
La somiglianza con i Pixies continua nelle migliori tracce di
Domestiques (Chemikal Underground, 1997):
Under Canvas Under Wraps e
Big Business In Europe, mentre le piu' orecchiabili
Sucrose, Tempered Not Tamed e Akumulator
rivelano un potenziale commerciale.
Pavement e
Velocity Girl
sono fonte di ispirazione per il lo-fi dissonante che prende il controllo
dei brani maggiormente creativi:
Leaning On A Cane, un duetto tra i due cantanti sospinto da linee di
violoncello, e One More Questions, immerso in tintinnii di xilofono.
Peloton (Chemikal Underground, 1999) introdusse
arrangiamenti barocchi. I singoli
Everything Goes Around The Water e
Pull The Wires From The Wall sono molto piu' raffinati di qualunque
cosa i Delgados avessero composto in precedenza.
Se Repeat Failure cattura le luci della ribalta con il suo ritornello
orecchiabile,
e' il sottile songwriting di canzoni quali
Actress e
Weaker Argument Defeats The Stronger che li distingue davvero.
The Great Eastern (Chemikal Underground, 2000) continua a seppellire
le voci ordinarie di Alun Woodward e Emma Pollock sotto una pesante patina
di suono (No Danger). Ciononostante, sono le loro armonie vocali a
generare effetti ipnotizzanti in Thirteen Guiding Principles.
Le strutture della band (complesse, artefatte, in technicolor) reggono
positivamente il confronto con quelle dei Mercury Rev's.
Si stenta a credere che questa sia la stessa band che ha inciso
Domestiques.
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