Edito de A Sudden ConclusionThe Delicates formed in Adelaide in 2006 when Paul Champion, Max Mackinnon and Stuart Symons convened to do some ?project rock?, the project being to quickly write and then perform a handful of tunes.
A few practices extended into a few months, and the months became a year as the band members came to realise this these songs might be worth more than a one-gig project.
The Delicates? modus operandi is simple:
Plug in.
Press ?record?.
Rock without consequence or consideration.
Slice and splice, block and stack, arrange and derange the best bits into tasty sonic morsels.
The result takes your favourite '90s indie rock as a starting point but the results are more diverse and not as strongly tied to the ?two loud guitars in alternative tunings? aesthetic (not that there's anything wrong with that).
Their debut album, The Thunderous Sound of The Delicates combines the fortunate accidents of song creation in the digital world with a tradition of songsmithing and respect for music which entertains and excites.
Created piece by piece in the stillness of a weeknight practice room, the music is considered but still respects its original inspiration. The songs range from layered productions created at the outer limit of the laptop's processing power to songs which were literally written as they were played, where the first take is the only take.
The improvisation which forms the foundation of many of these songs is not the opportunity for a display of the band's chops ? it's a way of finding that otherwise unreachable point of creation that eludes the songwriter in the solitary act of writing, but which can sometimes be coaxed into being via a couple of Marshall stacks and a drum kit.
The Delicates are a band which is more than the sum of their record collection and the 12 tracks on The Thunderous Sound of The Delicates are a diverse expression of what you can do with drums, guitars and a laptop.
All three members of The Delicates hail from 1990s Adelaide indie rock favourites Flat Stanley, and guitarist Max Mackinnon has more recently led instrumental sound-texturists The Silvermine Tapes.
The Thunderous Sound of The Delicates is available for digital release on May 30 through Bell Sounds Digital, the new label run by Darren Smallman of Low Transit Industries.