Albums

Delays - Faded Seaside Glamour

Steven Daniels 07/04/2004

Rating: 3/5

Southampton's' Delays are taking music back into nirvana, having been influenced by wistful soundscapes like My Bloody Valentine, and armed with a set of 12 pop songs, the band have gone about bringing daydreaming back to the masses. The singles so far have often been wonderful pop genius, but as with any new band, the question is how does it wash over a whole album? Opener Wanderlust is driven by wonderful steel drum melodies and could potentially be a single. This is followed with a double hit of the ones you'll know with Nearer Than Heaven, and the classic Long Time Coming. The pace drops for the next few songs, lush string arrangements and acoustic guitars are all here. You Wear The Sun is a beautiful summer song with handclaps and all, before we head back into pop song territory with Hey Girl, and they follow that with Stay Where You Are which is helped along with a hefty dose of The Cure gone funk. Arranging a first album can often be a problem for bands, lumping all the really great songs at the beginning can kill an album off by losing the listener before halfway. No such troubles here, it picks up pace just when it needs to and there's no filler in sight. One Night Away features the best vocal arrangement on the album as we drift into finale On, which finishes the album in a choir of vocals, and so we are left in the world of the Delays free to dream again. If you've heard the singles what's on the album isn't going to change your opinion on them but it's a very solid start from the band that can only go onto better things.