"Universal Audio" is The Delgados final album (unless they decide to reunite someday, which seems to be an increasing trend among rock bands these days). Like what most most final albums suffer from, "Universal Audio" feels more like a collection of songs than an album as a whole. The epic feel of The Delgados' previous two records, "The Great Eastern" and "Hate" is pretty much absent, as well as the consistency. It has made way for a much lighter poppier sound. This album may have some of the most straight forward Delgados songs...but also some of the most interesting and innovative as well. It's more accessible to the ear, and most tracks are very uplifting. Anyway just read on, read on...
01 I Fought The Angels
It starts with a guitar melody that extends one bar, with a very anthem-like triumphant mood as Emma sings the opening lyrics "I fought the angels here today". To make a long story short, this is a song that works. It sounds as if the band just let this song happen. The chorus is very catchy, and easy to sing along to. It still has a very breathy lush mood, that is also found in some songs on "The Great Eastern" but this song has an edge...it sticks with you. Great opener.
02 Is This All I Came For
A somewhat unusual song for The Delgados. It is very revolved around a simple pop beat. The chorus has guitar work that reminds me of U2 a bit....and some nice vocal effects. The song has a slight quirky nature, with a somewhat stabbing guitar melody in the verses, with piano melodies scattered across. The bridge has a very minimalist guitar solo, guided by piano chords. Nice dream pop/rock.
03 Everybody Come Down
A very catchy singalong. Very straight up guitar pop, with some fuzzy keyboard drifting over the driving guitars that adds a nice tough. The chorus is very catchy. It's as straight forward as a song can get...but it's a fun listen. Would've been a better opener than "I Fought The Angels".
04 Come Undone
A piano driven song, probably the darkest track on the album. The intro sounds pretty cute and relaxing...but when the chords come in...the mood changes. It has the same haunting atmosphere that reminds me a bit of Radioheads "Karma Police". There isn't much progression throughout the song, it remains steady and conventional.
05 Get Action!
Very folky intro with the acoustic guitar and harmonica. Alun sings in a very uplifting tone, which is the nice change, since most of his tracks are pretty depressing and downbeat. It's a very assertive song, jumpy in mood. I like it when there are just echoing guitar, that is disrupted by well placed drum breaks and spitfiring distorted guitars.
06 Sink or Swim
The base of this little song is mainly just Emma singing guided by her acoustic guitar. The electric guitar is played with the same effect as "End Of The Day" by Beck. It's really a simple minimalist track. Nothing really extroardinary about it.
07 Bits of Bone
This is one of the niftiest songs I've ever heard. The intro is way cool...it appears as a wirlwind of electronic sound that very swiftly takes shape as Emma's cool vocals fade in. Then a very cool, almost metallic drum beat comes. A very interesting beat for sure. Emma's vocals stop when Alun then starts to sing, with both acoustic and electric guitar proving some melody that's slighly overshadowed by that cool drum beat. His voice gets a slightly different, more muffed effect when an acoustic guitar melody breaks free. Then those cool vocals Emma does come in, along with some cool percussion and handclapping...awesome! Around 1:45, Aluns voice is surrounded by a cool guitar soundscape that stops abruptly...brief pause...there comes the chorus with Emma's backing voxs again. A brief moment of sound..the beat tumbles into a break. Nifty little song ends. Coolness!!!
08 The City Consumes Us
The piano melody in this song is sometimes very uplifting and suddenly ventures into a somber mood. The song seems to drone and venture in an almost ambient state until the acoustic guitar seems to wake things up in the chorus. In the second verse the song sounds deserted and cold again. This song would be great for a soundtrack of sorts. It's a slow, looming song centered around Emma's vocals. I don't like the part around 3 minutes where Emma seems to sing as if all volume in her voice has escaped like air from a balloon. That part seems kind of out of place. The climax sounds like the waltzing roar of alot of the Delgados' signature tracks...only it's more modest in arrangements.
09 Girls Of Valour
Bass intro with a bit of lo-fi electronica. It's another somewhat poppy track...a bit the cheesey side, especially the chorus. Not one of my favorite Delgados song, but it's very uplifting nonetheless. The chorus has a bit of Beach Boys influenced vocal arrangements, with Alun singing the first half, and Emma the second.
10 Keep On Breathing
While listening to this song, you have to take the advice of it's title, because it's a breathtaking one. Starts with an echoing guitar riff that cuts like a razor. Emma's vocals are backed by Alun, who has a cool muffed effect, which gives the song a cool artsy feel. Midway through the verse, it gets cool with the second guitar effortlessly complementing where the riff pauses end echo's...and a nice crooning bassline that seems to venture like a surfers path over a new wave of guitars. Emma's vocal melodies just hit the spot, with some solid lyrics as well. The beat is very bouncy and quirky...really cool and it fits perfectly. The chorus is very adventurous, intense, catchy and abstract. In the second verse, some cool accordion melodies are added to the mix. After the second verse, this amazing piano bridge comes, that's just haunting with the cello's backing up...Emma sings in perfectly in harmony with the melody. It jumps back into the echoing guitar waves of the verse, before ending with the cool chorus again. This song is just great all around, original, catchy, beautiful...it should've been a classic. My favorite Delgados song.
11 Now And Forever
This song has a very universal epic feel. it's a very uplifting. It starts very minimalistic, with electronica, droning guitars and lullaby-like melodies. Alun sings "This is your life there are no second chances. Grab all you can don't look back keep on marching". It's one of those fuzzy songs that rounds out. At one point Emma and Alun sing over a synth organ. Harps are spirallin' back and through. When the drums and guitars come in the song becomes a bit more upbeat and listenable in pace. While the song is cheesey, it doesn't go over te top musically, which doesn't make things bothersome. It's a fitting closer...not just for this album...but for the bands entire repetoire.
While different in approach from it's predecessors, Universal is overall a pretty solid, lisenable record...not as many anthems as in "The Great Eastern", and no real huge epic musical escapes that you hear on "Hate"...just a collection of accessible and solid tunes. It definately has some of the bands most cleverly composed songs, as well as no prententiousness that can sometimes be found in the previous releases. A good collection of tunes, and the final of a band that deserves to be noticed beyond their demise.
