Oh dear. Personally, I loved THE DELAYS the first time round. Their quirky take on cheery guitar pop-snacks infused with flavours of the Cocteau Twins, The Small Faces, The Who, and even Tori Amos, was a total breath of fresh air at the time. I remember queing outside the shop to buy their first album “Faded Seaside Glory” the day it came out. [I never did get round to growing up].
However, “Valentine” is a far cry from their divine first single “Nearer Than Heaven”, and it seems that the Delays have departed from their original sound into something slightly more tailored to the current trends, and I’m not entirely sure it works as well. They didn’t start off sounding particularly post-punk, but it seems that in order to keep the pennies coming in, they’ve gone down the corporate route and have ended up sounding distinctly like every bugger else in the genre.
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Produced by Trevor Horn, the end result is inevitably slick and polished, the tune itself is still poppy and good fun, but it lacks the depth and uniqueness that they had before.Gilbert’s near-soprano vocals are as ethereal as ever, but the overall tone of their sound just feels more plastic and less atmospheric than previous. In fact, I’d go as far to say that The Delays have possibly wandered into the realms of boy-bandism, which is a crying shame.
Saying that, these youngsters can still pack out large venues, and they retain a devoted fan base. Unfortunately, this change in direction has put this fan off slightly.
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