Sometimes you just know that, though its not happening at first, an album deserves to be listened to, repeatedly, in order that you can make a considered judgement as to its worth (to you).
This was very much the case with the Delgados' fourth long-player "Hate".
The Delgados have set blisteringly high standards for themselves in the seven years since I first heard them on a Che Trading double-split 7" single, alongside Bis, The Golden Mile and Merzbow, performing "I've Only Just Started To Breathe".
I remember being slightly disappointed by the erratic nature of "Domestiques" when that first came out, but I also recall my fervour towards the band swelling up again with the release of "Peloton", a record which still oozes class, combining sophisticated arrangements to quite brittle songs.
With "The Great Eastern" the Delgados announced themselves big time onto whatever what was the 'indie' scene in the UK is now called. It is a truly brilliant record, from a band seemingly at the peak of their creative prowess and at ease with the idea of letting the potential of the songs be realised in the studio setting.
It was perhaps unsurprising, then, that "Hate", when it came out, was going to have to be quite special to live up to that previous record. My belief is that they've managed it. Okay, so it's taken a week or two and the unprecedented step of playing the two albums back to back once or twice, for me to reach this conclusion, but I'm mightily pleased that I have!
As Neal pointed out in his review, "Hate" does sound a fair bit more multi-layered and produced than the previous albums, and certainly more than TGE, though Dave Fridmann was again the man at the controls for that album. Certainly, on first listen, there is so much going on musically on "Hate" that its difficult to assess immediately whether what is crawling out lyrically and melodically is moving you.
I'm happy to report now (actually 'happy' probably isn't the right word) that eventually it does. In fact, underneath choral arrangements and some uniquely 'studio' effects, "Hate" is an exceptionally bleak record. Alun's compositions especially so.
As any Delgados fan knows, vocal duties are shared between Emma and Alun - never to better effect than on TGE's "Thirteen Gliding Principles" I must add! With this record, the pair take turns a piece to sing each song.
Emma is first up with the excellent opener, "The Light Before We Land". Strings and choral arrangements eventually make way for a typically Lips-esque boomy drum sound at the beginning, before the lushness of the melody conquers all. It's a beautiful opener, hinting at unhappiness but stressing that "if we can hold on, we can fix what is wrong."
"All You Need Is Hate", on the other hand, is remarkable for its lack of ambiguity. Or is it? More people than just Neal on this site have said that this is the weak link in the record and have questioned its sentiment. To me, it's written by someone clearly angry with humanity. I think it's questioning the 'eye for an eye' culture that papers like the Daily Mail try to defend, rather than being Alun's personal take on life, so I like the song. Musically, the proverbial kitchen sink has gone into it which gives it a very big sound.
In contrast to… "Woke From Dreaming", which is introduced by a single, sombre piano which wouldn't sound out of place in a piece of film noir. The cinematic effect is maintained with yet more haunting choral interludes and the overall feel is of someone exhausted with a situation, but in control of it - at least until the last line; "we will kill if we need to."
"The Drowning Years" is a fabulously disturbing song. The first two lines stress that it is about someone else, not a personal account despite the proceeding use of the first person, and Alun's early, earthy turn of phrase "first time we met I was sure she was steaming" is playful compared to the 'noises', 'voices' and 'getting them out of my head' which follow.
Emma is back singing on the next track, the stand-out track on the record, "Coming In From The Cold". It's a beautiful, melancholically poppy piece, summed up by the spine-tingling lyrics: "We're coming in from the cold, and everyone's searching for someone to hold. Take a look around you, there's no-one there. How can you call this fair?"
I wanted to tie "Child Killers" into "Knowing When To Run", the most haunting track on The Great Eastern, but its clear to see after a few listens that the sentiment is totally different. The lyrics offer little hint as to why this is called "Child Killers", but given the spacious nature of the arrangement and the total lack of effects on the vocal, I can only assume this is quite a personal piece to Alun. Neal would probably disagree, but I have total respect for lines like "the truth is our lives were shite", used, not purely, for the sake of rhyme.
By the time we reach "Favours", sung by Emma because its her turn, its clear that a pattern has emerged, not just in the alternating lead vocal duties, but also in the mood of each song. None of them have particularly strived for positivity, but Emma produces a brilliantly melodic song that hints at something sinister, yet presents it in a sumptuous way.
"All Rise" is totally dominated by an anthemic chorus that you could not at all see coming from listening to the verses, which are delicate and emotional. Again, I couldn't speculate on the lyrics, but there is a strongly sad undercurrent to them. Almost as though he's giving up… until the fight-back, in the form of the big chorus, kicks in again.
Emma's last lead vocal contribution to the album is on "Never Look At The Sun", which by Delgados levels is fairly bog-standard. It grows to be quite a large piece musically, and features one of the crispest, if brief, drum rolls, I've heard in a while, but is unremarkable in general to me.
On the last track, it's the mood more than the lyrics which leave you on a high point - the chorus to "If This Is A Plan" seems to buck Delgados tradition in that it doesn't seem to temper its own initially good mood. When Alun sings "I know what it's like, to seem wrong when you're right", he gets more convincing as it goes on and you get the impression, by the end, that while the writer is a battle-hardened, world-weary soul, he's going to be okay.
Overall, "Hate" is a work that demands to be understood, or at least asks that the listener tries to understand. Lyrically, it's never easy. There is a contradiction at play in the bareness of some of the lyrics and melodies with what is happening musically, in that at times there is an undeniably big sound happening.
But it's to The Delgado's credit that once again they have produced a record that does demand that you give it a chance; that you feel the need to want to 'get' it and understand it. All power to the Chemikal Underground label founders' elbow. The band they are currently touring the UK with would do well to take note…
Alan, 18/11/2002