Delays Faded Seaside Glamour

Every now and then in these pages, I'll talk about searching the music bins and finding a nugget of gold.  Well, dear reader, here is a perfect example of just that.  Delays' 'Faded Seaside Glamour' is, perhaps, THE sleeper disc of the year!  Comprised of two pairs of brothers from across the pond, Delays make a great pop-rock sound along the lines of the dear, departed La's...only better!  Throw in a bit of Matthew Sweet, The Stone Roses, Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark and (get this!) The Tokens (of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight - Wimoweh" fame), mostly that famous tenor/falsetto vocal/yodel skip of theirs, and you have a pretty good approximation of the jangly Mersey-beat/SoCal sunshine pop of Delays.

Lead singer/guitarist Greg Gilbert is possessed of such a sweet, high tenor voice that I initially checked the liner notes three times to verify that the lead singer is, in fact, male, or that there isn't a guest female lead on some songs.  It is a truly beautiful voice (now I know why the castratti of old Italy were so coveted), and when combined in harmony and utilizing that Tokens' yodel-skip, the band's great arrangements and playing, and catchy melodies that will not leave your head ("Long Time Coming"'s "why'd you wanna go do that for?" and "Hey Girl" perhaps the best examples), makes for an absolutely perfect pop package.  Delays possess one of the fresher, more original sounds this writer has heard (and longed for) in...well...a long time.  'Faded Seaside Glamour' was released in May of 2004, and the fact that it has been all but ignored is a travesty!  It is a bit hard to find, I'll give 'em that, but that, too, is a travesty!.  I only recently stumbled across my copy, thus the delay in this Delays review.

"Wanderlust" starts the disc with beautiful, reverbed steel drums ( ! ), a single, perfect, slightly distorted guitar strum...and then that lone, amazing voice enters.  The balance of the band then joins in and the steel drums underlay the entire song.  A harmony here, instrumental break there...ahhh, yes... words just don't do the beauty and perfection justice.  No break, and a nice guitar figure slips into track two, "Nearer Than Heaven".  That voice, the harmonies, guitar, bass, drums and synth - and an almost otherworldly sense of just what to put in or leave out of their eclectic mix.  These guys are an immensely talented crew of heaven's own pop-rock band.  The aforementioned "Long Time Coming" starts with an amazing synthesized "whale-call", if you will, that repeats throughout, hands clap, a bass slide... and it's a perfect Brit-pop song, period:  "Sorried, up and walked away, why'd you wanna go do that for?/Threw your Leggo in the lake, why'd you wanna go do that for?/You're a long time comin', a long time comin' home/Do you see me reelin'?/ 'bout the lines I've seen in your, I've seen in your eyes/How can you grow old, you were not tryin'/How can you grow old, you were not tryin'/Turn your face into the squall, why'd you wanna go do that for?"  Gawd, its moments like this that make life worth living!  I absolutely love this disc!

The use of dynamics and breaks throughout the album is astonishingly, well...perfect.  An intro reminiscent of Mersey-beat's high point leads off "Bedroom Scene".  Beautiful, very high, swooping vocals and crunchy guitar.  "No Ending" is soft and slightly jazzy, then breaks into a waltz pattern - a sweet, wholly original, change of pace.  The marvelous "Hey Girl" is a perfect 1960's-flavored Brit-pop tune.  'Nuff said!  "Stay Where You Are" starts with a distorted bass figure, then turns the beat around when the drums enter and eventually morphs into a dreamy, lush shoe-gazer-type floating cloud of harmony, guitar and synth, a la Curve or Slowdive.  "There's Water Here" is a short, beautiful, finger-picked guitar ballad, solo voce.  Well, I'm running out of superlatives here..."Satellites Lost" is a vocal showcase with a fine, steely, single-note guitar figure beneath, ending with beautiful guitar feedback, again, shoe-gazer style, and segueing in to the poppy Katrina and The Waves-like "One Night Away".  Just excellent, with intertwining harmonies and jangly guitar for you jangle-pop lovers out there (and, not to be mistaken:  not just here, but throughout the album).  "On" closes the disc with a fuzzed-out one note guitar reminiscent of my beloved "Hold Tight" from Dave Dee, Dozey, Beaky, Mick and Tich, leading into jangle-guitar again, and acapella choral harmonies that will absolutely melt your heart.

Delays' 'Faded Seaside Glamour' is, without a doubt, the best record nobody has heard this year.  I cannot tell you how much I absolutely, unequivocally love this disc!  With all the good music that I, personally, have reviewed here this year, cherry-picking the 4 and 4.5 star releases that I feel no one should miss, and after many listens and much deliberation, to my mind 'Faded Seaside Glamour' is, if not THE disc of the year, undeniably THE pop-rock disc of the year (including my favorites Matthew Sweet, Velvet Crush, The Bigger Lovers, and on and on - all of whom have released less than stellar discs in 2004) and Delays quite possibly THE new artist of the year.  I don't take this stuff lightly, and, believe me, our esteemed editor Matt Rowe doesn't either.  He is mindfull, in the extreme, about awarding five stars to anything new, that hasn't pretty much had the time to be proven a classic.  'Faded Seaside Glamour' is, without a doubt, a five star classic just waiting to be discovered.  I've found it, now you know about it.  Please make an effort to purchase, or at the very least, to hear this amazing disc.  You can't see it, but I'm actually on my knees here...please...

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Release Date: May 18, 2004
Tracks: 12 - Time: 42:43
Produced by: Duncan Lewis & Delays
Format: CD
Website: www.thedelays.co.uk

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The Delays:

Colin Fox - Vocals / Bass
Aaron Gilbert - Keyboards / Programming / Vocals
Greg Gilbert - Guitar / Vocals.