No, it's not a demo, it's a full-scale release! Sardonic, yet sugar-coated, the debut long-player from THE INDELICATES is so-called because that’s what they reckon every British indie album debut is, ostensibly.
How cynical is that?
How truthful is it?
The album's title could also read as a no-nonsense declaration of intent. With former Pipette and photographer Julia Clark-Knowles alternating lead vocal duties with performance bard Simon Indelicate, the poetry slam-conceived Sussex five piece claim to take their musical cues from folk and classical sources - as well as the ‘broad spectrum of British indie rock’ - in a blend that aims straight for the bridge
All pretty accurate, but the punk ethic also runs strong throughout the record, which is new-wave, even angry young Mod-revivalist in places despite the classical strings of the opener ‘New Art For The People’ and the soft piano that forms the basis of some of the quieter songs.
In between lies the slow-burning rocker ‘The Last Significant Statement To Be Made In Rock n’ Roll’. Bitter and full of cynical observation, it’s full of guitar solos that lampoon Dire Straits et. al. interspersed with the show tune you can hear hammered out on the ivories. The overview of ‘the system’ in all its fucked up, deceptive, glory is a benchmark standpoint, or recurrent theme of the songwriting approach – it’s a world-view tailor-made for rock n’ roll. Where The Indelicates rant from within music’s more elegant styles, there is an uncomfortable tension along with the uneasy truth. As an attack on complacency, it pulls no punches, so good on it!
Synths dip and swerve, bleep and handclap to Julia’s 100mph feminism, as ‘Our Daughters Will Never Be Free’ gyrates to a lightweight, empty-headed pop sound with barely concealed, rather than hidden depth. Bad thoughts spill out as a series of uncompromising statements. Meanwhile, real hands clap along to the only traces of optimism as ‘It’s Better To Know’ peers into the cracks of dysfunctional life in a bid to locate this big black cloud’s hard-to-find silver lining.
The singles are easily identified: each one is a noticeable highlight ‘Julia, We Don’t Live In The 60’s Anymore’ probably the album’s strongest track. Melodic momentum gathers during this self-reflexive epitome following the title’s initial swipe at Clark-Knowles’ all-girl past. Sneering hooklines give a sarcastic edge to post WWII clichés, loaded down with bitter ammunition. We’ve never had it so good.
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‘Stars’ is a pre-suicide rooftop torch song that squeals with feedback as Julia’s Kate Bush delivery soars with the string quartet. Content-wise, the group are single-minded in their consideration of the limitless evils of consumer-driven marketing, whilst ‘Unity Mitford’ is piano-based, the song sounding like an extended prelude with words.
The blackened heartbeat of debut single ‘We Hate The Kids’ is a hook made of piano and bass over which Simon and Julia’s resentful, screwed-up duet attacks our reluctance to ‘harm the brand’.
There is plenty to make the listener think, and enough to identify with during this sustained assault upon the consumer-driven world we live in, but as with so many pop sounds tempered with intelligence, deep thought seems to come partially at the expense of melodic appeal. The string quartet sound adds more than a hint of the ‘prog’ to The Indelicates’ ‘brand’ of rock n’roll (if you’ll excuse the pun), but only three or four of the twelve listed tracks have the compulsive qualities inherent in top-draw pop music, despite the undoubted musical attention to detail.
Venomous and vitriolic though the delivery is, it’s diluted ever so slightly by the complex structure of some songs. Perhaps it is meant to be so, but still, the sentiments expressed are admirable, and remain far and away the strongest quality of this album, despite the obvious refusal to be ‘radio-friendly’.
Ssshhh! (lean in a little bit closer…) (stage whisper) - there’s a ‘secret’ 13th track too. The acoustic guitar/piano ballad drips with resigned inevitability rather than bottled-up rage, but the harmonies that convey such disappointment are gorgeous far beyond world-weary limitations. What a song to hide!
THE INDELICATES are currently on a tour of the UK and beyond that sees them return to familiar territories to play shows in Austria and Germany, if you move quick, you can see and hear how the whole thing looks and sounds as live performance.
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