Klaxons can be blamed for many things: preposterous stage costumes, daft literary name checking and silly hair amongst them. But, perhaps above all else, their legacy may be paving the way for a myriad of one-time-boring indie bands to mine rave’s hyper-euphoric past in search of inspiration.
Delphic – a much-hyped trio from Manchester – are the latest in an ever-lengthening line. Their debut single, ‘Counterpoint’, sounds so much like New Order remixed by Orbital as to be almost a parody. But no, this lot are deadly serious. And when you listen to Delphic’s songs – precision tooled marriages of pop hooks and shamelessly anthemic riffs – you can see why: mainstream success is all but a formality.
“I don’t think there are many indie bands looking at the whole thing – a unified vision,” reckons guitarist Matt Cocksedge, who met Dan Theman (drums) at school and James Cook (vocals) at Uni to form the band. “The music we make is quite reactionary to what’s going on – we’re not part of the London or Manchester scene, we’re not big partiers or drinkers, we’re holed up in our flats making music or these random films: noodling on synths is fun for us.
Delphic are currently “holed up” recording their debut album in a remote studio in Wales with Rapture-producer and techno DJ Ewan Pearson (“he’s great at seeing the overall picture”), before heading to Berlin to finish it off in time for a September release. “We really want to make an album that stands up rather than a miscellany of songs that could seemingly be put in any order. It’s an optimistic album, looking up at the stars…we try to make euphoric dance music with a soul.”
So, how does the dynamic between the three of them work? “We’re all equally involved,” says Matt. “We’ve all got very strong ideas on aspects of the music and design and videos and artwork…it’s a very communist type thing.”
Citing the likes of Kraftwerk and Björk as benchmarks, Delphic say they, “put as much thought into the image as the music.” This is reflected in an attention to detail in videos and photo-shoots that recalls the likes of Factory. “We want to be as complete as we can be as artists,” concludes Matt. “We want to work with people with good ideas, we like trying new things, try to be interesting and do different things.”
Maximillian Ray
