Delorean helped define the bright, beachside vibe of last summer's indie landscape, but they also deserve to be placed in a broader context. On their new album, Subiza, the Spanish four-piece deploys the build-and-burst tempos of 90s house and techno music, and they do so explicitly, never shying away from arms-in-the-air piano bridges or incandescent raves. This music is proudly informed by the resiliency and vigor of classic club music, and its title (named after the Basque town in which the album was recorded) recalls the famously nightclub-centric Ibiza and the Balearic dance music that originated there.
Delorean's musical growth isn't far removed from the evolution of Primal Scream. Like Delorean, Primal Scream were a dance-rock band with more traditional, rock-leaning origins (Delorean formed as a no-frills indie group) who ended up embracing druggy dance subculture. Over time, Screamadelica became a part of the 1990s pop firmament to the point where it no longer sounds like a blending of much of anything. Depending on which ways the trend-winds blow, observers may one day question why Subiza was ever labeled as anything more than uptempo indie rock.
The band definitely has that pedigree, crafting four- and five-minute verse/chorus pop songs. Singer/bassist Ekhi Lopetegi has a slightly pinched, accented delivery that lends intrigue and emotional resonance to lines like "Would you ever make yourself this decision I've made?" (from "Grow"). Sonically, Delorean borrow from chilled trance and piano-heavy Italian house, but like any music fan in 2010, their interests are varied. The pitch-shifted chipmunk vocals that orbit "Real Love" are drawn from hip-hop; the warped female voice that echoes "Maybe" during the refrain of "Grow" is lifted from dubstep. There's more than a little Merriweather Post Pavilion in the whirring rave of "Infinite Desert". The band even runs a club-heavy blog, and when they're not playing live, their massive DJ sets feature faintly familiar house tracks that hit a perfect nostalgic nerve.
Delorean's 2009 EP, Ayrton Senna, was recorded in-studio, but for Subiza, the band made a conscious move toward electronic production, laying down dozens of tracks and building the rhythms on sequencers and drum machines. The overall sound remains similar to Ayrton Senna's totemic dance-pop, but Subiza feels tighter and more congealed. What the songs lose in clarity (ratchet those vocal levels down a bit, guys), they gain in cohesion: Subiza is uncommonly bound by tempo and mood. While hardly modest, Delorean have toned down their anthems, so that much of Subiza feels like a very tiny, very personal rave.
Subiza sounds like a simple and straightforward record. It's bright and quick and full of easy sentiment. Its songs bleed in and out of one another effortlessly, but it's also surprisingly varied. It contains few obvious singles, yet its winning moments-- those piano breakdowns, the "Get up/ Get up/ Get up" bridge of "Stay Close", and the resplendent chorus of "Warmer Places"-- pile up and leave you dizzy. Synth-pop, Balearic disco, indie house: Call it what you want. Delorean just make beautiful, modern pop music.
