The Delgados – Scruffy Theory

Song of the Day (The Chain): The Delgados – Pull The Wires From The Wall

Day 9. Mogwai’s early material, including Come On Die Young, was released on the excellent Chemikal Underground record label. The label was set up & run by the dream, Alt Rock band, The Delgados. Although they never saw the same levels of success as fellow Chemikal artists, The Delgados did manage to gather a fair cult following.

Pull The Wires From The Wall is taken from The Delgados excellent sophomore album Peloton. This album came out the year I turned 16 & therefore was a pretty big deal in the development of my musical tastes. A band with two singers, the main vocals on Pull The Wires From The Wall are performed & written by guitarist Emma Pollock.

Creeping round my house at dawn
I’ll keep my curtains closed
If you’re feeling fond of feeling wrong
Fully clothed
For a second time you’re on my mind
Planted on this still
You forget I do not pay in kind
Kind’s not there
For the eyes to see through
All that I do
For instance I don’t have to try
I’m falling over all the right lines
We only have to leave this last
Resist all falling at the wrong times
Safe in knowledge, safe in college
I know all there is to know
To have never stepped outside this ring
Fools they flow
For the self-assured I have no cure
I only wish I was
As my entertaining thoughts grow fewer
Stills my causeFor the eyes to see through
All that I doFor instance I don’t have to try
I’m falling over all the right lines
We only have to leave this last
Resist all falling at the wrong times
For the accent, for the day (don’t walk just swim)
For the incidents they’ll happen and they’ll happen anyway (it’s gonna pass)
When you leave here, leave this way (one last request)
You are far enough to be impressed
But not so far to be depressed
Drink your souvenirs and go your way
For instance I don’t have to try
I’m falling over all the right lines
We only have to leave this last
Resist all falling at the wrong times
For instance I don’t have to try
I’m falling over all the right lines
We only have to leave this last
Resist all falling at the wrong times.

Keep up to date with the Song of the Day (The Chain) Spotify playlist.

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Overlooked Classics: The Delgados – Peloton

After listening to Peloton, you’re left with impressions of tweeness & Pop sensibilities which seem to overshadow, in your mind, the actual record.

There is, in actuality, a fair bit of heavyweight, distorted guitar riffing on Peloton. Take for instance the Post-Rock influenced, Yo La Tengo-esque Grunge thrash of Repeat Failure. Its blistering noise is, nevertheless, infused with melodic pleasantness. Or the quiet/loud dynamics of the New Wave tinged College Rock of Russian Orthodox. Even gentler tracks tend to have sections of excitable stompbox shredding to propel them along.

There are also touches of less abrasive psychedelia like the madcap antics of Blackpool. Moody Post Rock bass lines amble alongside Syd Barrett style Psych rhythms. There’s a sound collage feel to it too, which feels alien on an otherwise very organic sounding album.

One key impression that Peloton gives is one of dreaminess. They sit sonically somewhere between fellow Scots Belle and Sebastian & Shoegaze/Dream Pop heavyweights Slowdive. This is especially prominent in some of the pleasant harmonising between singers Alan Woodward & Emma Pollock, like on the transcendent Twee Popper Pull The Wires From The Wall or superb opener Everything Goes Around The Water.

Melodically, Peloton sits in a unique place. Off-kilter, almost childlike, Pop melodies which seem to draw liberally from both of the key influences I’ve mentioned, Slowdives Dream Pop & the Twee Pop of Belle and Sebastian. There are echoes of what many know as Britpop here. The daytime Radio One vibes of And So The Talking Stopped or the Shine Compilation swagger of stellar closer, The Weaker Argument Defeats The Stronger.

You can probably tell from the song titles that I’ve mentioned so far that they love a good long title, especially for a band whose album titles are typically brief: Peloton & Hate, for example. I think it was probably these long winded, verbally clever titles which first drew me to the band. I’m sure The Weaker Argument Defeats The Stronger was the first song of theirs I heard (on a free magazine CD or Tape) & encouraged me to buy this excellent album.

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