delays-everythingstherush music reviews Virgin Media
Pop perfectionists recover from setback to make ebullient return
Delays were dropped by Rough Trade after their second album, 2006's You See Colours, but Everything's The Rush sees them return apparently defiantly unconcerned by this indignity. The Southampton band have made a vibrant, splashy album packed with mellifluous melodies and huge, crashing choruses: it's a record that is equally capable of recalling The Feeling's sheer retro-pop or the more chart-friendly, populist side of U2.
They are best at their most euphoric, such as on the bubbling, visceral thrill of Love Made Visible, but they are not always so effervescently carefree. Pieces finds spectral singer Greg Gilbert bemoaning the loneliness of the long-distance rock star over a plaintive orchestral arrangement, and could be a shoulder-heaving Aerosmith power ballad. The brooding Friends Are False, meanwhile, rues being trapped within an unhealthy, corroding romantic obsession.
Having been forced one step back when they were dropped, Everything's The Rush may propel Delay two leaps forward to mainstream success.
More to try:
The Feeling: Join With Us
The Shins: Wincing The Night Away
Electric Light Orchestra: Eldorado
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