The Indelicates

Much as I adore , they never sound quite right and I think it’s down to the voices. Their songs aren’t anything out of the ordinary on the most part, although I can’t tell you how much it pleases me to hear a band that is so political so much of the time. To get back to the voices, neither Simon or Julia Indelicate sound like singers in a rock band. Simon sounds like he should be belting out folk protest songs on the edges of musical festivals and Julia is far too developed of a singer to be doing anything other than opera.

All of which gives the band a rather disjointed quality. The elements don’t really form a cohesive whole, and the fact they split lead vocal duties leads to a band that has a lot of sounds but no one of it’s own. This all sounds rather negative and as I’m putting the band down, but I’m not. It works for me personally, but then I tend to enjoy things that sound just a little odd. It may help explain why they haven’t really caught on very much. Outside of Germany at least, where strangely they seem to be quite big.

The two songs here taken from their debut American Demo album demonstrate this perfectly. Our Daughters Will Never Be Free is a vicious attack on the current state on feminism and how things have seemingly gone backwards. I don’t entirely agree with the politics, but it’s so well crafted that it’s hard not to go along with it. And hell, it least it has a political point to make. If Jeff Buckley Is Lived however is another of band’s explorations of rock stars dying early (also on their Waiting For Pete Doherty To Die) and how it changes our perceptions. Would Buckley really have sunk into obscurity following “a weak second album and a difficult third”? Maybe, maybe not. It’s pretty much a given that he wouldn’t be as revered as he is now though.

Both of these songs are good (to my ears anyway), but they certainly don’t sound like they come from the same album. I know we live in an age now where the album is less important than the song, but it makes American Demo lack that special something.

American Demo was released nearly a year ago on Weekender Records.