Delmer Darion
The Emperor of Ice Cream
6 August 2015
Tom Lenton and Oliver Jack are Delmer Darion. Hailing respectively from our very own Exeter University and cousin Bath, they make Electronica and their latest LP The Emperor of Ice Cream is good. In fact it’s a very good, very clever and a very well-constructed piece of music.
The album is post-modern in every way, a mishmash of influences and samples from music and film chosen with precision, it is an examination of pop culture in general, taking the old and remixing it into something new. Thought of as a continuation of the duo’s first LP, All Over Again, All Over Again, rather than a direct follow-up, focusing more on the latter half of the century in its sampling and taking more from mainstream popular culture.
The sampling itself is ingenious, you won’t have heard Ella Fitzgerald or Frank Sinatra’s ‘Fly Me to the Moon’ sounding like this before, their voices twisted and cracked amongst slick electronic beats and background synth. It is all like a dream, the surreal cover art, itself a ‘remix’ of an Andy Warhol piece, and the opening song, ‘Meet Me Tonight in Dreamland’, invites us into this sublime the world duo have created and filled with ethereal sounds and distorted samples.
it is electronic music with something to say
If you close your eyes you feel like you could be in some sort of dreamscape, it really has that effect. The ten tracks are a mix, there are original songs, tracks which brilliantly utilise sampling, and two excellent covers of popular songs. The first is a stripped-down electronic version of Red Hot Chilli Peppers’ ‘Can’t Stop’ and the second is a beautiful rendition of Yeah Yeah Yeah’s ‘Maps’ in which the duo have slowed the tempo; I challenge anyone to listen to the ghostly chorus of “They don’t love you like I love you” without a lump in the throat.
The sampling isn’t just restricted to music, there’s Star Wars and video game sounds within the opening track and the closing ‘Sitting Along the Bed’s Edge’ brilliantly features Tom Cruise from Jerry Maguire to create a song that is both genius and emotionally charged, yet entirely built upon one particular line from the film. That’s the thing with The Emperor of Ice Cream, even with all the technical wizardry at play in the production the songs never lose their emotional beats, this is music that will resonate with you.
The music has an atmosphere that is hard to pin down, some might find parts of the LP a bit too abstract, and you already know if that is your thing or not. But it is expertly constructed electronica that creeps into the senses and has enough bass to make you want to move as well; the excellent ‘Paris Street’ remix from Harry Parsons and ‘Wolves’ by Matt Good feature alternative House beats that you could bob along to. Delmer Darion give you a lot to take in with The Emperor of Ice Cream but that’s not a bad thing.
Yes, it it is post-modern and hipster, but it is electronic music with something to say. It is a look at popular culture and an example of how to take the old and make it sound new, the familiar and make it different again. It is clever, brilliantly produced and most importantly, terrific to listen to. Delmer Darion are a duo to be excited about and are surely headed for big things. Listen to their EP. It’s very good.
Scott Ford