How Delays have managed to get this far without being chewed up by the music press hype machine is a mystery. They've got all the right ingredients – the guitars, the retro-dazzled songwriting and Greg Gilbert's cloud-bothering falsetto - but have received half the attention lavished on the similar but greatly inferior Keane. A good thing, too - this delicate album is designed to seduce the listener rather than force itself upon them.
Though technically from Southampton, Delays' musical heart lies in that more famous English port, Liverpool. At their best, as on the wide eyed harmonic overdrive of current single "Nearer Than Heaven", they can sound as blissful as early Beatles and as intricate as The La's. Only occasionally do they stumble, as on the Cast-like "Hey Girl", which plods around where their best songs skip.
It's the extraordinary voice of Greg Gilbert which lifts Delays up and above their influences. A Prince and Abba fan, he adds a shameless pop sensibility to the retro songwriting. So, if "Long Time Coming" opens like an old chugging U2 number, the soaring vocals and ecstatic melodies take it somewhere so gorgeous it would be a joyless person indeed who could fail to love it. And if the guitar work on "Bedroom Scene" is workmanlike, Gilbert's sunshine harmonies treat it like it's a lost Marr masterpiece.
This is also a record of real heart. The worst thing about Coldplay's success has been the imitators who steal their grandeur but abandon their subtlety, bombast-peddlers essentially. Delays, on the other hand, couldn't be cynical if they tried, and sleepy acoustic numbers like "No Ending" and "There's Water Here" ache with sincerity and real intimacy.
"Faded Seaside Glamour" is far from flawless, with its more experimental moments (the Stone Roses drone of "On", the electro-tinged "Stay Where You Are") also its least successful. But where it hits the sunny peaks it aims for, it's breathtaking, bursting with the adrenaline joy of pure pop. Where other bands will die with their hype, Delays will easily outlive their lack of it.
