Delorentos fifth studio album, True Surrender, is out now on CD and vinyl.
To mark the occasion, the band hit Rollercoaster Records in Kilkenny for an in-store on Saturday evening and Ian McDonnell was there to catch the action.
While on tour in the autumn of 2015, the story goes that Delorentos were lent a small studio in a Vineyard in Northern Spain and set about recording the bones of a new album.
They recorded 15 songs but, on returning home, weren’t happy that the songs reflected the band’s current creative space – they were too close to what the band had done before and not a true reflection of the band’s collective feeling.
So, they began to question their way of writing, their dynamic, and what they wanted to achieve with their songs.
They realised they were looking for more soul, more honesty, and a level of openness and intimacy that they’d never felt comfortable revealing before. The Vineyard album was scrapped and they surrendered completely to what gradually became an entirely new way of working.
Three years to True Surrender
True Surrender was written, arranged, recorded, mixed and honed over a chaotic three year period of bilocation, the birth of children and a heightened level of personal and professional anxiety.
Songs were written, stripped back to their core and rebuilt with new instrumentation, new meaning and a constant, fervent desire to pour their hearts and souls into every bar of music.
Preceded by the singles In Darkness We Feel Our Way (the only survivor from the Vineyard album) and In The Moment, which only scratch the surface of the musical endeavour in the album, True Surrender is Delorentos’ proudest achievement to date.
Melodic tunes infused with electronic warmth; soaring, mellifluous melodies encasing lyrics that tug at the heart strings, rant and rail in defiance and, ultimately, offer a brand new insight into a band of four school-friends who have grown together and grown apart before cohering again with a whole new shape, understanding and vision.
The process has been aided, abetted and emboldened by a new openness to collaboration and external criticism in the writing (for instance with Richie Egan/Jape on In Darkness) and the recording process (in the sensitive hands of Tommy McLaughlin (Attica Audio, Donegal)) while the mixing was undertaken by the inspirational Ross Dowling (Darklight Studios, Dublin) – and Adrian Garry (Keelys Lane Studio, Oldcastle) on SOS.
Ultimately True Surrender is the band’s most evolved, emotive and affecting collection of songs so far. The tell-tale sound of a classic four-piece guitar band is still there in parts, but that sound has been developed, mixed, melded and transmogrified into a brand new, edgy beast that is a force to be reckoned with.
It’s out now on CD and lovely Irish-pressed vinyl from Rollercoaster Records on Kieran St.
Ian McDonnell is a music and gig photographer based in Kilkenny, Ireland. You can find Mc Gig Photography on Facebook here where recent projects include Malojian, The Stunning, Shane Joyce, Young Fathers, Therapy?, David Keenan, Wyvern Lingo, Grade 2, Public Access TV, Le Galaxie and more.
