Single Of The Week
For the first few bars, the theme to Mr Benn. You turn it up. For the next few, the theme to Father Ted. You turn it up some more. Sixty seconds of mild Belle And Sebastian pastiche. Then your synapses explode.
"A SIGHT FOR THE AGED/SPARE A THOUGHT FOR THE GRIEVERS", screams Emma Pollock with the psychotic fury of Kristen Hersh in the grip of one of her 'turns' while string sections spontaneously combust overhead. For too long The Delgados have basked in the relected glory from their Chemikal Underground label (Mogwai, Arab Strap et al). Now they've finally grabbed the baton of floppy-fringed majesty and are running for their sweaty little lives.
A death waltz for a drowning suicide victim, 'Everything Goes Around The water' is as startling a leap from the underachieving indie mire as 'lazarus' was for The Boo Radleys. And, like 'Lazarus', it has mastered the stomach-jolting roller coaster effect of noise and reflection, dropping out of a climactic rattle of strings and yearning melody to sound like This Mortal Coil for ten seconds. Then Emma's next wobbly blows you through the roof.
And so the inspirational divide between Britain and Scotland widens even further. London sleeps. Glasgow roars.
The List - 10th March, 1998
Top of the singles pile had it not been for those pesky kids and fellow labelmates Arab Strap [THEY MEAN 'HERE WE GO/TRIPPY' THAT CAME OUT A WEEK AFTER OUR (THE DELGADOS) SINGLE. - BASTARDS... Ed.] The Delgados are in great danger of giving Glasgow DIY pop a good name with the gentlest of orchestral brushed moments. [4/5]