“Spring Island,” by Delta Sleep: Album Review
Welcome to The Local Embrace. Thanks for joining me here on this magical night you sexy ass bitches.
I bow respectfully before you, and hold out my hands to present my review of the third album by English Math Rock band, Delta Sleep titled “Spring Island,” released November 12th, 2021. Before I go any further I would like to stress that I’m going purely off of my own opinions and interpretations of the music I review. I see everyone’s musical taste as equally valid. Any piece of sound-waves that makes someone happy deserves to exist and be respected for whatever it is.
On the other hand, anyone that listens to Harlem Shake is probably smoking so much crack they still think it’s 2013.
ANYWHOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUU, I shall present this review to you in questionnaire form. I’ve never really seen it done this way before, (I used to watch album reviews on youtube all the time)(PRAISE ANTHONY FANTINO) ANNNND I used to write little reviews for the local St. Geezy music scene and loved it! So I thought hey, I’m an Aquarius Moon. Going against the grain is literally the whole point of my existence. Let’s do this in a non-conventional way. Hope something in here produces a smile or a laugh. And convinces you to jam to my bois up in here. So let’s go.
- Hey fuckface, what’s your story of discovering this band?
I found the incredible Delta Sleep in late 2016. An acquaintance in the local St. George music scene posted this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgbnMzqRoW4 on a Facebook post where I was looking for new music. I literally have not been the same musician or human since I listened to this song for the first time. I am so incredibly grateful for the person who put this on my post like, fuck! CANNOT EVEN! Over the years I’ve just fallen more and more in love. I’ve over played them for myself at times. I’ve listened to them on so many drugs, several times. It’s always just so dope with these homies up in here. I strongly feel Delta Sleep is proof that some music that maybe deserves multiple listens to be fully digested/understood is created that way for a reason and deserves that time. The way I’ve opened up to their songs over time I feel has improved my ability to write songs tremendously. I saw them live in 2018 in Las Vegas, the first time they ever toured in the United States. It was so divine, I was drunk as fuck. They played so many good songs. Over time they really keep me intrigued because they are not afraid to try new things. So needless to say there is a lot of good about “Spring Island.”
2. How good are the lyrics??
Delta Sleep has always been superb with lyrics since day one, I shit you not. The songs on “Spring Island,” are no exception. Due to the themes I will talk about in this review, the lyrics are some of the most relatable they’ve ever been. Other genius things that these lyrics are, is authentic to the times. This is an album about the CoVid-19 Pandemic Era. In comparison to their other albums I feel like that adds to the impact of it.To make it even better they do that good writer thing where they have lyrics repeated in different ways throughout songs that are foreshadowing or shoutouts to other songs. I really don’t feel like I’ve heard many bands do this, but I feel that it’s a really good way to turn an album of music into a full ass narrative. It can be difficult to do this well, as so many things from so many different directions can go into the creation of an album, and I strive to be good at it in my own craft. I personally really dig most of these lyrics.
3. How good are the instrumentals???
The only answer to this question is SO FUCKING GOOD! Delta Sleep is the dictionary definition of songs where the lyrics and the instrumentals are equally as interesting, both working together as combined forces to drive the energy of each song forward into the next with so much goddamn grace that it makes my musical dick hard. And they just keep finding new and different ways to execute this. Nothing’s gonna stop Delta Sleep now bitches. They WILL STICK TOGETHER! Not even the black holes I’m surprised aren’t opening in the sky as society slowly comes apart.
4. How good is the production????
The production is by far the most interesting thing about “Spring Island.” I’m talking wide arrays of guitar tones, effects, extra instrumentation like brass and electronics sprinkled everywhere in perfect amounts. Like that ice cream from Golden Corral when it’s absolutely caked in sprinkles and like overflowing out of the cone and shit. This is the album that takes it to the next level for them and really diversifies their sound to a different degree. They’ve had effects before but they’ve most been dedicated to the standard band setup. My eyes are wide, looking all over the place everywhere like, the hell are they gonna do next? I don’t fucking know. That’s an exciting thing to feel as both a fan of a band and a musician.
5. How is the length of this album????? Too long????? Too short????? Just Right?$?$?
I’d say just right for them. They keep it interesting enough throughout that it doesn’t even feel as long as it is. But it’s also like super chill to smoke to so sometimes I guess it feels longer?
6. How cohesive is this album??????
Although I feel that “Spring Island,” is a turning point in terms of bringing new elements into Delta Sleep’s sound, every song having it’s own vibe within this great tapestry, it’s still got IT! IT, being that flow I was talking about before. To me, most Delta Sleep albums flow like a mighty river that can rise above any rapid. It’s dynamic, inspiring, it’s encouraging. It’s Delta Sleep at their finest.
7. How diverse is this album???????
I can’t really stress it enough. “Spring Island,” is like a rainbow. A fabulous gay rainbow with it’s own color scheme. DON’T EVEN try to fight these bitches on cohesive diversity up in here. They’ll pop a cap in your ass.
8. How accessible is this album????????
When it comes to Math Rock in general that’s a hard question to answer because I feel like most people don’t really get why it’s so fucking amazing but honestly that’s their problem, their own sad existence that they can’t comprehend the sheer beauty of ever-changing time signatures and polyrhythms. What a tragic life! However, especially among Math Rock, the terms groovy and dancey both equally apply to Delta Sleep. I’ve always felt that they are more accessible to the masses in comparison and the majority of the songs up in here definitely fall under that. However, fans of Math Rock, Indie Rock, Experimental, Progressive Rock, and Dream Pop will have the best time with this probably.
9. Did this album hold my attention?????????
Since I’ve been deepthroating Delta Sleep’s exquisite, sexy dick the whole time, some of you might be surprised to hear this, but the first few listens of their albums never really hold my attention. They’re really good at releasing some of the best songs as the singles, but it takes the deep cuts a little more time for me. I have to play the album on loop to even write this at this point. But as previously stated, a Delta Sleep release deserves that time. I feel the effort and passion they put into this music so hard. They really put up an effort to give us an experience. Delta Sleep doesn’t have to try this hard but they fucking do. The more I listen to it, the more “Spring Island,” holds my attention I’d say.
10. What vibe does this album encapsulate??????????
To expand on things I said up in the clouds of the earlier words, This album is about the current era of hell that the stupid citizens of planet Earth have been plunged into: The CoVid-19 Pandemic, an era of manipulation, gas-lighting, gentrification, constant things happening that simultaneously blow my goddamn mind but don’t surprise me at all, and relentless stupidity. It’s kind of funny and also a punch in the face that I truly feel this album wouldn’t have turned out this way without all that. So I’m just going to be an insufferable optimist for a second and say that’s the silver lining of CoVid-19. At least we got “Spring Island,” and Bo Burnham’s “Inside.” The parts of “Inside,” where he doesn’t sing. This album manages to be the only single ray of light in a world slowly descending into complete madness. I find it super real, embracing both the pain that the pandemic has brought us, the confusion, the uncertainty, the sadness, but also the things we’ve learned. The horrible things we’ve been forced to witness as a result of this virus that just keeps fucking mutating and getting more dangerous apparently. On a lighter hand, despite some heavier moments, this album is great to just like light up a joint, lay on the couch, and vibe. Perhaps reminisce on all the wyland-ness. Like I was doing right before writing this. This is THE ALBUM for having CoVid and getting super drunk and high all day for two weeks because everything fucking sucks, but like with a super groovy soundtrack.
11. What are the 5 Best songs on the album??????????? Why?!?!?!?!?!?
5. Track #6: The Softest Touch
I wanna just shoutout this song both for it’s uniqueness and nostalgia feel. Anyone who listens to Delta Sleep too much like me knows that the first guitar riff is a shoutout to the brilliantness of the song “El Pastor,” from “Ghost City.” Not trying to give too much away about these songs but it’s definitely a journey of a song. “The Softest Touch,” does awesome at just like, getting more intense as it goes on, but also more dancey at the same time. If you wanna know more just throw it on bro, it’s right there on every goddamn streaming service for your listening pleasure.
4. Track #5: Forest Fire
Speaking of uniqueness, let’s talk about “Forest Fire,” for a second because it’s a pretty tight listen if I’m being honest here. Although one of the shortest songs on the album it manages to probably be the most individual of all of Delta Sleep’s songs. They went fucking ham on the production in this song. This is definitely one of the songs that I feel is like a ray of light in the darkness of the Pandemic Era. The lyrics are very motivating and it just slowly swells with new and interesting sounds like a beautiful exotic flower, getting bigger and more vibrant all the way to the end.
3. Track #2: The Detail
“The Detail,” is honest, groovy as fuck, pretty genius I think. This is a song about trying to come to terms with the fact that the world is changing at a rate we aren’t prepared for. It’s a song about the search for new meaning in the face of forced solitude. And the guitar riffs are just awesome, there’s not really another way to say it. Releasing this as the first single of this album was a top notch move. Delta Sleep ain’t no idiots when it comes to the rocking tunes.
2. Track #3: View To A Fill
I really have to nerd out about this one because the beginning riff is literally in fucking 4/4 TIME but it’s just so dynamite that I instantly assumed it was something much more complicated before counting to it like a musician does if they wanna learn some shit from other musicians. To write groovy riffs in weird time signatures is a gift on it’s own, but to make 4/4 sound so mathy is next level in my opinion. Not to mention, every transition feels so flawless it’s like how my boyfriend is all the time.
- Track #7: Old Soul
I cannot stress how I bawled my eyes out the first time I heard this song, the final single preceding the release of “Spring Island.” I think it’s partly because I have C-PTSD and music always makes me cry before 9 A.M. BUT it also has a lot to do with the fact that this song is really beautiful like, I swear. “Old Soul,” is upbeat, it’s mathy, really kind of an anthem. It’s truly an emotional experience as I interpret it to be about what life was like before we lived in a world like this, a world where a virus keeps mutating, getting more dangerous, literally killing hundreds of thousands of people. And the same people that stuck a ka-jillion vaccines in their kids when they were five……………………………………………………………………………….. are now refusing to even get vaccinated and have THE AUDACITY to pretend they know more then people with college degrees that do research and experiments in labs every single day.
It really makes me feel like I’m back in that apartment in 2018. I’m drunk as hell. One of my greatest homies is Snap-Chatting me trying to get out of a pair of broken handcuffs that are taped weakly to my wrists with scotch tape. Our other homie is literally giving himself alcohol poisoning, but the next day his first words will be, “where’s the vodka?” My roommate is in the living room telling wild stories to a crowd of fake-ass bitches, a huge bottle of cheap rum in one hand, a watermelon cradled in her other arm. Still love a few of these people. So I mean, of course I cried. Those times were always good even though they were awful. It’s nice to remember the simpler times every once in a blue moon.
12. What are some of the best lyrics????????????
From Track #1: Water Fall:: “How the world has overspun, found my comfort, bound for madness, through a wireless display.”
From Track #3: View To A Fill:: “All I’m asking is honesty, step down, we were wrong, to think that everything is better then what we’re standing on.”
From Track #7: Old Soul:: “And when we drank we dodged the bullets, of loneliness and fear.”
From Track #8: Spun:: “Soon every winter will be dry beyond belief, and the water will be flowing at our feet, every day the same.”
From Track #11: Contender: “Every other day I’m gone, only to resurface, all the trouble I’ve encountered, has barely disappeared.”
13. Is this album better or worse then it’s predecessor?
The answer to this question is yes, and yes. In “The Great and Fabulous Book of BoJack,” “Spring Island,” beats out both 2018 album “Ghost City,” and 2019 EP “The Younger Years.” Totes for real. It’s simply a step up. It introduces unpredictability. Without all the bands that dare to be different, music wouldn’t be nearly as fun. I highly encourage any musician that is afraid to be their beautiful authentic selves to pull their heads out of their asses and realize that’s how you’ll make the best music. Be like Delta Sleep, and Beyonce….. fierce, fearless, quirky, strange, bold! The album in question brought a lot of surprises and awesome things to the table. So pumped for what they do next.
14. Will this album hold up over time?
I think it’s possible. The subject matter is so heavy in my perception that if things become good before everything is on fire I might only visit once in a while. Because like, when this pandemic is over can we just leave it in history class and remember the lessons and otherwise never ever think about it again? Please? I mean, all the songs will always be fucking good though so probably. Still listen to everything all the way from their fucking demo on a weakly basis. I guess I’m like a moderate fan or something.
So that’s pretty much it. This album has 12 songs and they’re all great so I give “Spring Island,” by Delta Sleep a score of 12 erect penises out of 12. Because I’m a fucking gay whore. #sorrynotsorry Mom and Dad.
By following this link you can purchase music from Delta Sleep. Bandcamp forever! DIY music forever! Give us artists some money for being Jedi and holding the fabric of humanity together you ungrateful little shits. Streaming don’t pay jack.
Next week I’m gonna talk about 10 things I wish I knew before I limped motherfucking donkey dick on acid for the first time. Stay tuned.
