Review: Delphic

Once upon a time the Polydor record label used to be a Colossus, someone we’d sit up and take notice of when they made pronouncements. When Polydor signed a band it was almost an instant guarantee of success with the record-buyers. When Polydor said ‘This is good!’ we’d nod madly like demented parcel-shelf dogs in the back of our dad’s Ford Capri as he made the car hurdle the hump-back bridge 20mph too fast, as usual.

And then Polydor began underperforming worse than a morbidly obese poodle on a dog agility course, and the acts they signed reflected this underperforming with mirror-like precision. Duffy, The Courteeners, Klaxons, Sophie Ellis-Bextor. Just look at that list, it’s a veritable roll-call of miscellaneous musical mediocrity. Take away the cloud of hype that these artists were launched at us on and where are they now? Where indeed.

New signing, Delphic, are the latest act to be rammed down our throats by the massive media machine that Polydor has working away in their dungeon in darkest Bavaria. Or Belgravia. Or Brixton. And the strange thing is, unlike the previously-named clutch of (and I use the word carelessly) musicians with delusions of adequacy, Delphic have got something going for them.

However there is no doubt that the Polydor label are marketing Delphic with every straining sinew in their corporate body. And that, frankly, makes me deeply suspicious. I just keep remembering the fantastically underwhelming Duffy and equally awful Sophie Belly-Extor.

So let’s look at Delphic and begin this view with an all-too-obvious question: Is there a place, in 2010, for an electronic synth band? And here’s another, more pertinent question: is there even a place in 2010 for electronic synth music?

To answer these questions we (about 100 music-industry types and I), wedged ourselves in to Garage to hear what Delphic could do for us, and for you and for 2010. Dodgy-looking A&R men rubbed shoulders in an almost affectionate manner with NME staffers; PR bodies stood cosily close to freelancers and earnest band management types lined the walls.

There’s no doubt that Delphic are excellent musicians, even if they do take themselves just a teeny bit too seriously onstage. You’re making music in a dingy little venue guys, you’re not composing Jean Sibelius’s ‘Finlandia’, he’s already done that.

Soaring, melodic harmonies carry Delphic’s themes ever higher and it really is joyful to experience. I loved appreciating the work – and the thinking that went in to the work. But is this the kind of music to come to a place like Garage to listen to? Or do we want to be jumping about this tiny venue, blowing whistles, waving our glo-sticks and getting very sweaty to 160bpm?

And for me this is part of the problem. Surely the only reason that Delphic are playing to packed-out small gigs is because synth music has such a small appeal. Anyone can play to a maxed-out venue – if the venue is the inside of next-door’s downstairs toilet.

At this stage of the 21st Century we’ve reached the point where one boy or girl and their computer can produce some really stunning sounds. And for me this is the reason why Delphic’s genre is not going to cut it any more. Think I’m wrong? Answer this: how many original synth pieces have cut it in the Top 20 or as backing for TV adverts in the last five years?

None, my friend, none at all. The key word in the question is ‘original’ and believe me when I say this, yet another mix of a Human League or Depeche Mode track is, sadly, not original.

As far as the band goes, the bottom line for me is that yes, at the hands of artists who exude as much talent and quality as top of the range as Delphic, and they truly are top of the range, there is a place for synth music in 2010. But it’s a niche place. Even delivered by folk as good as these, I really don’t see synth having any degree of mass appeal.

Not any longer.

We’ve all grown up since 1988. Think I’m wrong? Check back at the end of the year and we’ll see.

Delphic are top quality musicians who believe in their art and these two things are truly laudable qualities. But backing Delphic is yet another nail in Polydor’s coffin and another example of how totally misguided the music industry is becoming.

As lovely as these guys are, I see Delphic in the Rave Tent at Glasto for the summer of 2010, but next year I don’t see them on the radar at all because I can’t see them turning over anything near the quantity of sales that Polydor need to survive.

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