Album Review: Delphic - Collections

The year 2009 seems like a happier time – most of us hadn't heard of Foster The People, The Strokes' fourth album still had the potential to be good, and some nerds from England called Delphic released a record called Acolyte that fused rock, pop, house and techno elements in a way that was pretty exceptional.

Collections, however, falls way short. Most of the album's problems stem from the fact that it's too cluttered. The moment you start to get into a groove, start enjoying a hook or an interesting bit of percussion, it changes or builds in a way that's annoying rather than surprising or exciting. Delphic have made a big deal about how the large gap between albums was down to them being perfectionists and spending a lot of time in the studio, and it shows; the production is as strong and striking as Acolyte. However, these songs suffer from being worked on too long; by adding too many studio tricks and bells and whistles, the band removed any hint of spontaneity, and most songs seem stale even on first listen. Don't even ask about the cringe-worthy tacked-on rap at the end of final track Exotic. There are exceptions, such as Changes, which soars in the chorus to the emotional heights of the strongest tracks of their debut, and Memeo, which is genuinely fun. Their most strongly house-inspired song, Don't Let The Dreamers Take You Away, benefits from a more focused and simple approach, giving us a hint of what may have been if the band had just let the album breathe a bit more.