Label: Fiction
Release Date: 05/05/08
Rating:
It hasn't been an easy ride for Delays in recent years, after leaving Rough Trade and faltering album sales. It's a surprise they have managed to make a third album and still have so much spirit and determination to carry on. 'Everything's The Rush' is in no way the sound of a band in decline, quite the opposite. This is their most confident album yet, and that is the problem.
After the release of triumphant 'You See Colour', it was hard to see what more the south coast quartet could do to gain success, and in the recent climate of pop bands like The Hoosiers and Scouting For Girls, it seems that Delays' sound couldn't be more 'now'. Sadly their third album doesn't live up to their last. It's the sound of a band who have sold thousands - over-produced, confident, big ballads, and they've even let the keyboardist sing lead vocals.
Instead of a change in direction they have just added more and more sugar to the sickly, sweet sound that has put off so many before. On tracks like 'One More Lie In' and 'No Contest' they seem to have become The Feeling on Prozac. Whilst some bands would balk at having "woo"s as a chorus, Delays go one step further with la la las and even some yeah yeah yeahs for good measure. It all sounds like a band running out of ideas; surely with the manic Youth behind the desk, they should have at least treaded new territory. There isn't enough contrast on the album, it all blends into each other. The stand out tracks are the current singles 'Love Made Visible' and 'Hooray' - great pop songs - as well as 'Touch Down' where Greg Gilbert sings "is anyone listening", and in the case of Delays they probably aren't. It's a missed opportunity for the band, on what could indeed be their last effort. It's a shame they could never fulfil on an album what they can achieve live - strip away all the gloss, grow some balls and rock out.
'Everything's The Rush' isn't terrible - it's a fairly decent pop album, but as a band's third effort and after their superior last album its just not good enough and is frustrating. Go to their website and download the New Order-like 'Panic Attacks' - their best tune for years and should have definitely been on the album. Let's hope that this isn't the band's swan song.
Francis Jolley
Delays Official Site
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