Delphic : 'Acolyte'
Released: 11th January 2010
Label: Universal Music
2010 is only a few days old and already we are being bombarded with lists of things we MUST experience this year. Whether is top 100 theatre experiences, art exhibitions or killing sprees to be incited by Lady Gaga's outfits there is already so much you MUST do. And if you don't experience and enjoy all of these things you MUST be a complete idiot who just sits at home in a romper suit, eating fondue and watching repeats of The Golden Girls too frightened to go outside because you might encounter one of those wizard's tablets called an eye-phone which will try to convince you that Michael Jackson is dead. So when I received Delphic's Acolyte, the first album of the year in every list of "10 Things You Should Like Listening To, Stupid!" I raised a curmudgeonly eyebrow. It remained there about a minute and a half into the first track, where it was joined by a second in what passes on my face for surprise and delight, and remained that way well past my fifth listen through the album. It's absolutely brilliant.
Delphic's music can be all to easily summed up; indie meets electro/house. Yes, there is some form of lyrical/song structure to some of the tracks but there only a part of the picture. It's not that they're superfluous or insignificant; lead singer James Cook has has a wonderfully breathy tone and there are some riotous anthemic choruses to boot, Doubt and Red Lights being prime culprits for inciting eyes closed, intense faced mime-a-longs. However the real star here is the mix that goes with it; beats of unassailable, dance floor-perfect precision, keyboard and synths that sweep, build, descend and reascend like a Cylon opera and other glorious sounds created by chucking in a couple of Casios, a Phaser and a copy of Rez in the Large Hadron Collider. You can hear a lot of influences cameo throughout the album; New Order in 'Submission', Bloc Party in 'This Momentary', Underworld in 'Counterpoint'. Delphic, however never lose their identity a craftsmen of some breathtaking, epic dance. Nowhere is this better displayed in instrumental 'Acolyte' which transports you across a resplendent soundscape of House, Euphoria, Chill Out and Electro. It's a mighty morphing masterpiece; it's that moment in the club where you're on the dance floor surrounded by friendly, blissed-out faces disappearing and reappearing in the strobes and you want to articulate that you're feeling amazing because you're actually PART of the music but all you can do is let out a shuddering gasp... or something like that. What I can say for definite is that this album is stuffed with these spectacular moments and sublime pleasures. It's chock full of intensity and exemplary artistry without being too serious or dense; you can revel in it hand on chin or hands in the air.
It's far too early to say this will be one of the albums of the year, but it has set the bar incredibly high which means we've either got a year of incredible music to look forward to or everything will descended into a series number 1s from The Automatic. Whatever the year will throw at your ears you'll still have Acolyte to fall back on and claim, despite all evidence there may be to the contrary, that the year 2010 was mint.
Words: Harvey Ovenden
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