The ICA is the perfect venue for The Delgados. Artsy pretensions and modern surroundings play the perfect hosts to their staple audience. That demographic - late twenties to early forties - waits patiently and politely for their skewed pop heroes to appear. This sums up The Delgados main problem, too "weird" for the over forties, too dull for the kids to get really excited.
Unlike others who've served time on their own Chemikal Underground imprint, The Delgados lack the edgy rawness of, say, an Arab Strap or Mogwai. Indeed, though they are promoting their fourth album, 'Hate', the Glaswegians have not shifted the musical goalposts greatly from their debut 'Domestiques'. Emma Pollock and Alun Woodward still lead the charge, taking turns on vocal duties, amply supported by a flautist, organ player and a decent number of strings to fit in a smallish venue. As always they are not afraid to fill their set predominantly with new material.
Grandiose opener 'The Light Before We Land' has the Dave Fridmann production feel all over it. Quirky and beautiful string arrangements sit alongside crashing Flaming Lips drums, while Pollock's vocals are as syrupy smooth as usual. Where The Delgados struggle is on the fine line between warm hearted and full on twee-ness. Too often they drop into the latter as on 'American Trilogy' and 'All You Need Is Hate'. It's almost as if they really don't want to let go of these songs. Every time they look about to explode into a cacophony of sound, the band pull back and turn them into nostalgic nursery rhymes.
Occasionally, they achieve the perfect balance. The charming inventiveness of 'Child Killers' melds plucked strings with harrowing downbeat lyrics - "Come down, down, down. We have the only gack in town." Equally, encore 'If This Is A Plan' winds up into a cautious optimism, full of overblown guitars, and is rather nice, in a Belle and Sebastian type fashion.
No one expects - or wants - The Delgados to stray far from their deliciously melancholic take on pop. Considering though, their enthusiasm for diverse instrumentation and rich sounds, the songs themselves are too often one-dimensional. They really need to let go…man.
