Album Review

Delays – Everythings The Rush

• 18th Feb 2008

Everythings the Rush [sic] is the 3rd studio album from ‘Fabulist’ Hampshire foursome Delays and if the 5 track sampler I’ve been sent to review is anything to go by the rest of the album promises to be slick, melodic and…well, a little bit MOR. Don’t get me wrong, these boys know their way round a good melody and songs like ‘Touch Down’ with its sky-scraping strings are an enjoyable pop explosion and show touches of originality that I wish there were more of. Having said that, the chorus “I’ll be calling on your radio/Is anyone listening?” supports my suspicion that this is part of a cleverly planned Hearts & Minds campaign to win over Radio 2 listeners. Likely single ‘Hooray’ is a fine example of the jangly guitars, catchy chorus, underpinned by the relentless drumming of Rowly and synths of Aaron that is radio friendly but brings with it nothing new. Same goes for ‘Keep it Simple’. The distant sounding piano over the urgent guitars give the impression the band might be taking the song in an interesting direction before the strings come in again and the falsetto vocals bring back nasty memories of Savage Garden. ‘On Love Made Visible’ we are subjected to more soaring strings and sappy lyrics (“Love made visible/your skin feels incredible”) and it might just be me but it sounds like what might come from of a brainstorming session between The Feeling and Embrace. Which leaves me with the final track on this sampler, ‘Pieces’. I feel I’ve been a little harsh so far. I don’t hate this band, I even quite like their music but they just don’t excite me. ‘Pieces’ stands out from the crowd. Again, it is slightly top-heavy with strings and on occasion it does sound a little bit like something from the Romeo & Juliet soundtrack (Baz Luhrmann’s version rather than Franco Zefirelli’s) but they don’t feel out of place here. Another cracking melody with layered vocals and melancholic lyrics make this song sound a bit more ‘grown up’ than the others.

Expect Everythings the Rush to launch Delays into the spotlight of public awareness, and deservedly so.