I’d like you to close your eyes for a second… well, read this then close your eyes and run my words back through your head. It’s a beautiful summers day – the sky is bright blue and sun is shining. Your freshly cleaned sports car is glistening on your drive and off you go for a spin. The roof comes down and you head of to a quiet country road.

The wind is in your hair as you careful dissect the twisting roads – it feels like electricity is running through your veins. Then the road straightens and opens up, you downshift, drop the clutch, the rear of the car twitches and suddenly you are launched and you can’t wipe the smile off your face as you rapidly accelerate…

I know there are some people that read this blog will know (and possibly miss) that feeling. But what’s this got to do with a music blog. We, it’s all about the feeling. The emotion. That moment  that felt different from everything you usually feel.

Acolyte by Delphic
Acolyte by Delphic

The center piece to this wonderful piece of work is the title track, Acolyte.  Now, almost all albums have a title track but few of them are significantly prominent compared to the rest of the album. You only assume the bands pick them as title tracks because they have the coolest name or they were the first one they wrote for the album.  Acolyte is a work of art. They’ve thrown it more or less in the middle of the album and at 8 minutes 51 seconds, its epic in more ways than one – not that you would notice it. I’m not sure if there are shorter versions wandering around the interweb but I would compare this to Richard Ashcroft’s Check the Meaning. That had a radio edit and that was just wrong. If someone has gone to the trouble of creating something so wonderful, don’t butcher it. Acolyte is in the same league.

It’s more of an instrumental track but that’s just fine. It’s detailed and soft that gradually builds up and rewards you with a 4th gear wheel spin and leaves you with a cold shiver and the hairs sticking up on the back of your neck.

This isn’t music – this is an experience!

And their logic in putting it bang, smack in the middle of the album. Well, it’s not just Acolyte the song that’s beautifully crafted,  it’s Acolyte the Album. Every track exudes detail, finesse, quality… magic. The vocals work well, the drumming and programming work perfectly. It’s so rare to see such attention to detail in an album – it feels like a labour of love and it rewards.

Simon Price from the Independent described it as “on kissing terms with magnificent”. I actually think that’s a little weird but you get the jist.

Every time I listen to this album, I think of new things to say about it but now I’m actually finding the time to write about it, I’m a little tongue tied. But if you only buy one album this year, this HAS to be it. It’s the perfect summer album. You can chill to it, party to it, feel motivated walking to work with it, or, of course, drive to it.

I bought it for about a fiver at Gatwick airport and I feel like I have robbed them. I really don’t think I’ve paid enough for it. I’ll have to make it up to them by going to a gig or something.

A perfect 4G’s

GGGG

One last thing, my good friend Andy continually berates me because on my Miike Snow review I said that he suggested a rating out of 10 and I had come up with the G score. That is wrong. The G score is in fact Andy’s idea and he should take the credit. So the WHOLE OF THE INTERNET, please join me in thanking Andy for his wise words of advice and his creativity.

Thank you Andy 🙂

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.