Faded Seaside Glamour

There’s something reassuringly real about Delays. They’ve kicked around the dreary provinces (in their case Southampton), gigged every toilet in the UK, supported Ocean Colour Scene and released a string of singles that have inched their way towards the bottom end of the Top 40. It also means that they’ve taken their time in preparing an impressive, at times even dazzling, debut album. Their sound too has many classic hallmarks, the chiming guitars and vocal harmonies tracing a lineage back to the sixties. Yet, unlike so many of their contemporaries, Delays are more than just some Britpop rehash. There is a real uniqueness of spirit and approach at work here that few others have been able to match of late. Much of it certainly comes from Greg Gilbert, who tops melodies with an extraordinary falsetto voice – a combination of Mark Greany and Elizabeth Fraiser. In essence, Faded Seaside Glamour is the sound of four young people and their record collections, taking in the Roses, Mondays, Ride, The Byrds and…erm…the Hollies along the way. Somehow, though, they manage to emerge with their own identity firmly intact. That identity has produced tracks like ‘Wanderlust’, ‘Long Time Coming’ and ‘On’, all marrying subtle grooves with sun drenched tunes and mighty walls of sound. Given their recent career trajectory Delays are probably looking at a minor hit yet this bears all the hallmarks of being the start of something really quite important.