Delphic – ‘Acolyte’ – LP (Polydor)

With two songs still rotting away at my brain after being embedded deeply last year, it came as a great relief to finally be able to get my hands on the full-length that those gems warranted. But before the relief came the question; is it an album, or just a mule for a couple of hit singles?

Hell, 2009 saw its fair share of mediocre albums charting highly off the back of one or two advert-friendly tracks. Surely 2010 couldn’t begin with a patiently built-up, steadily-hyped anticlimax, could it?

If you didn’t hear ‘Counterpoint’ or ‘This Momentary’ at some point last year, then let’s backtrack. Delphic are a Manchester-based trio – two of whom were in the not-too-dissimilar Snowfight In The City Centre. Now they’re a lot slicker, a lot more polished and reeking of more confidence than Angelina Jolie in a Barnsley beauty contest. That’s confidence in sound, not to be confused with arrogance in manner – Oasis-idolising Manc bands, take note.

Delphic (presumably named after the ancient Greek oracle) play synth-led dance within an indie band, while purposely trying to distance themselves from either genre and Manchester music’s years of stuck-in-the-mud syndrome. There’s pop sensibility, occassional euphoria and consistently dark undertones within the songs that somehow emit converse emotion. The focus within the lyrics is very much on the present and the imminent future, and it seems that’s what they’re all about. In a time when synths are all the rage again, Delphic are a band that epitomise the here and now.

Of course there’s the obvious ‘join-the-dots’ nod towards New Order. Same city, same tightrope-balance of guitar band and dance. And while the former point is merely coincidental, the latter is no fluke. Bands try to bridge the gap between the opposing genres all the time and they fall by the thousands. It isn’t an easy art, and there are classic cases of how not to do it (Hadouken! and White Lies most recently come to mind). Delphic don’t look set to end up by the wayside however, as ‘Acolyte’ in full delivers an instantly accessible near-hour of meshed electronica, alt-pop hooks and a healthy array of dance floor fillers ready-made for almost any club on any sort of night. So what if they sound a bit like New Order? Isn’t it high time that someone picked up their torch and did something of note with it?

It’s that well-balanced. Crafted like Kraftwerk. Massive like Massive Attack. In orbit a la Orbital… Ok, I’ll stop.

The singles are the obvious highlights, each having a separate feel despite the overtures of numbness. The latest, ‘Doubt’, is one of the most vocally emotive – again not speaking happy thoughts, but still the combining elements within the music leave you positively moving, especially with a sudden guitar surge and drive two-thirds of the way through. It’s songs like these that will find themselves the soundtrack to TV and film montages. Even Rocky had a montage, don’t you know?

Title-track ‘Acolyte’ is strangely the odd one out. It’s 9 minutes in length, and leans towards the trance end of the dance spectrum. A more than sufficient quota of beats and bleeps for your electro nerds and minimal soaring vocals that force eyes-closed, slow-motion hand-swaying. A nice breather halfway through the album, and a look at how diverse their output can be. Their live shows of late have varied from festival slots at Reading & Leeds and supporting Doves, to playing an underground rave night at the Warehouse Project. Oh, and performing on …Later with Jools Holland. They’re a horse for all courses.

The charming formula resumes with another would-be single ‘Halcyon’. There’s a neat vocal contrast in another catchy chorus – something it’s clear they’re quite adept at crafting. The increased percussion steers through different tempos unto a rather super solo that runs its own renegade path, before the track dissolves following a quick chorus reprise. Probably my personal favourite, this one. But put 10 people in a room, and they’d probably nearly all pick differently to each other. Where Delphic go from here however – to continued ascents or the forgotten doldrums – is ultimately in their hands.

All in all, this is ten tracks of dark, danceable enjoyment. And whether you’re the coolest of audiophilic cats or the most passive of music listeners, you’ll be hard-pressed to deny yourself your love for this.

DA

FOR FANS OF : Underworld, New Order, Chemical Brothers.

http://delphic.cc

Delphic – ‘This Momentary’