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    Delphic

    Acolyte 7 ( 2010 )
    Clarion Call / Doubt / This Momentary / Red Lights / Acolyte / Halcyon / Submission / Counterpoint / Ephemera / Remain

    I'll get it out of the way. Factory Records. New Order. Manchester. No Peter Hook. Yes, Delphic and New Order are mentioned together every time anybody goes anywhere near a Delphic review or article in the press. It's a bit mean on Delphic I suppose, especially as this is just a debut LP. Still 'us' press need something to draw people in and so do average music listeners. Actually, Delphic are a bit more than just New Order for the 21st Century. They've grown up not with Iggy Pop but with Chemical Brothers - more Orbital than Kraftwerk. Several band-members did serve time in various indie-rock also rans in Manchester though, critiscm where critiscm is due, but we all have to start somewhere. I'm not going to make a big point of it, because your influences and roots are nearly always going to be more apparent on your debut than they are (hopefully) come the time of your 3rd album. One more name to mention though, Bloc Party. Yeah, if you like Bloc Party you'll also be partial, more than likely, to 'Acolyte' by Delphic. Still, and I can't stress this enough, in no real way do any of these influeces detract from the finished product. 'Acolyte' has enough going for it to transcend these influences in important ways.

    Two of these ways are singles 'Doubt' and 'Counterpoint', clear highlights and both wonderful moments of melody, ambition, daring and craft. We've also got the noisy and full opener 'Clarion Call', no doubt something to light up stadiums with during the years to come. It's not really much of a song, rather a sequence of sounds, drums,bass, keyboards and guitars biting on top. It does flow into the excellent 'Doubt' very well though, a song with a proper, life-affirming chorus. 'Doubt' excels as a genuine pop/dance crossover, leaving more closely to the pop side, as such things should. 'Counterpoint' meanwhile leans towards Orbital style bleeps and blips yet with a great pulsating heart of emotions factored in. This is a clear dance-festival type of song and has lyrics vague and sweeping enough to make anybody feel good-enough about their lives for a change. 'Red Lights' join 'Counterpoint' and 'Doubt' in the potential hit single stakes and to my mind withstands repeated plays better than either of the aforementioned, both of which initially thrill highly yet eventually you put them away somewhere in a drawer to enjoy merely from time to time. 'Red Lights' I guess is more subtle and therefore more rewarding in the long-term. 'Halycon' has summer lodged too forcibly throughout its core and 'Submission' opens with analogue synths, goes all Pet Shop Boys/Human League then settles down to resemble short-lived early 90s dance-pop act 'The Beloved'. Nothing wrong with that, mind you.

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    this page last updated 16/05/10


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