1.American Trilogy [edit] (3:19) 2.Euphoria Heights (3:32) 3. How Can We Hang on to a Dream? (3:01)
It's a well-worn cliché that Scottish bands seem to grasp American musical ideas more readily than those south of the border. Various explanations have been put forward, some of the fairly patronising, but actual examples are easy to find. The Delgados certainly placed themselves in this category with their debut album Domestiques, a short slab of mostly Pavement-inspired art-rock. That record had its moments, but for a time their own work was overshadowed by the record label, Chemikal Underground, which was established largely as an outlet for their own material but became better know for signing Mogwai and the briefly famous Bis.
What began to change this perception was the single 'Everything Goes Around the Water' and its parent album, Peloton; the band embraced a more folk-inflected sound, complete with see-sawing vocal melodies and woodwind arrangements.
American Trilogy - not the Elvis hit - was the first single from their next album, The Great Eastern, a record which belied its difficult genesis by dispensing almost entirely with the noise and eventually earned them a Mercury Prize nomination (they came fourth behind Coldplay, Death in Vegas and Badly Drawn Boy). On the album, the song is one of many highlights, elegantly arranged (engineer Tony Doogan and remixer Dave Fridmann also deserve credit for the sound) with Alun Woodward singing glumly but fluidly of resignation: "Sorry doesn't seem to wash when there's truths around that I have quashed and no-on, I mean no-one, can depress me more than I can." Unfortunately, the edited version trims about a minute and a half, including the entire first verse and fatally weakens the structure; I didn't realise how good the song was until I heard it in context. Worse still, the edit didn't get any detectable radio play and the single was released (after the album) in the week when Glasgow's other indie heroes, Belle & Sebastian, issued 'Legal Man', leaving the single to a less than stellar chart position (still a career best though).
The two B-sides are both self-produced, recorded and mixed by drummer Paul Savage - who captures his own percussion parts brilliantly. Euphoria Heights is sung (and presumably written) by Emma Pollock who fronts much of the band's best-known material. Brooding atmospherics are the order of the day again here, but despite a fine vocal, the song is not especially memorable.
How Can We Hang on to a Dream? is of course a cover of a song by ill-fated singer-songwriter Tim Hardin. Hardin's original reached the UK Top 50 at its third attempt, and is probably his second most famous composition after 'Reason to Believe'. Woodward sings the song fairly straight, although the dominant instrument here is the sound of an overdriven amp which produces a scratchy oscillating tone. Why they chose to do it this way is unclear, but it at least avoids any confusion with the original.
ONLINE:
The official site is was a long time coming, but is there now and pretty comprehensive.
The band also endorse fansite Primary Alternative, despite the slightly unflattering photo of them on the front page.
You can hear a lengthy but interesting interview at John Peel's site but watch out for fluctuating volume levels.
The band still run Chemikal Underground, now the first Scottish label to establish an office in the USA. You can buy this single in their online shop too.
Back to the random single project