Album Review: Delorean – Apar

Delorean’s sound is distinctly hard to pin down – it’s electropop alright, but one that oscillates between a minimalistic simplicity on the one hand and swelling refrains full of vox synth, 90s-style bright pianos and some pretty damn intense 80s drum beats on the other. And, if you like a very slight Spanish accent, well all the better.  The band call Apar their  ‘big production album’, one which was crafted in a custom built studio and, in comparison to 2010’s Subiza, it shows.

Subiza was a chilled record; it was chic but still had enough of a euro-dance tinge to still be fun and not feel like music with a stick shoved somewhere it shouldn’t be.  So, when I say that Apar is actually a break-up album, recorded whilst the bottom fell out of the Spanish economy and smattered with quotes from Dylan Thomas, you might think that shit got heavy on this one. Wrong. Apparently, Apar is a Basque word meaning ‘foam’ and the album has all the lightness and optimism you would expect of anything named after the crest of a wave.

Unfortunately, this does not necessarily make the album a complete success. The production might have been a little heavy handed, with the kind of retro vibe that crosses the line between kitsch and steps across the border into just plain cheesy. Not even in a you-can-enjoy-it-if-you’re-pissed kind of way.  See ‘Walk High’ as a case in point. ‘Unhold’ begins with vocals that sound like Delores of the Cranberries played on fast-forward (definitely better than it sounds). What follows, however, is essentially a confused mesh of various electronic sounds that are in no way interesting or enjoyable.

That said, tracks like ‘Spirit’ do have a sense of grandeur, even if it is perhaps slightly melodramatic at times. If you want to listen to something that makes your daily commute sound like a truly epic montage from an 80s/early 90s TV show, then this is it. ‘Destitute Time’ is also a pretty catchy number. In essence, Delorean are quite good, sometimes. If you don’t own anything by them, you should. But maybe make it their last album.

Apar is available from September 9 on True Panther Sounds.

– Katherine Travers

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