Electrorash

It took its sweet ass time, but finally, oh so finally, Delorean’s (previous posts here, here and here… Yeah, I kinda like them, hey) stonking new Ayrton Senna EP has dropped on Fluo Kids’ excellent Fool House imprint.

The name, as much as anything, seems like a bit of a nod of the head to the retro-fired sci-funk Delorean of old, which always played a little like the soundtrack to some sort of Michael J. Fox inspired Delorean cross-country racing film. In which everyone was racing along the surface of Mars. With lasers. For some reason. Funnily enough though, the Delorean that has been emerging over the last couple of years bears only a passing resemblance to this mish-mash of not very descriptive imagery. Gone are the flickering stars, the alfoil-sourced outfits and the car interiors made from naught but dull neon tubing (that film would be totally awesome), replaced instead with a truly lovely brand of sun-drenched, neo-Balearic casual euphoria. And, may I just say, it is good to see somebody try and reclaim a Balearic vibe from the untold harm done by years of Ibiza inspired trance records and ‘chill out’ compilations. Electronic beach pop is far too important a sub-grouping of music to sacrifice unwittingly to the gods of two minute breakdowns and ‘reach for the lasers’ hysterics. And Barcelona’s Delorean seem like just the kind of guys to be its saviour.

The tenor of the EP is very much consistent with the consistently stellar remixes they completed last year for The Big Pink, Mystery Jets and Lemonade (if not a little less dancefloor ready than their famed take on The Teenagers’ ‘Love No’), so if you at any point found yourself listening to those tracks and wishing for bleary-eyed dawns and uncluttered beachside afternoons, then this is probably the release for you. And hey, even if you haven’t heard any of those tunes before and have a general antipathy toward being out in direct sunlight, then just take my word for it: it is the cold, cooooooold-hearted man who doesn’t find himself at least casually warmed by this record.

Deli is the first track off the album and a fairly good example of what I’m talking about, albeit with more of a classically Delorean propulsion system. But the real exemplar of this whole electronic beach pop thing is probably the EP’s third track, the recently Pitchfork Best New Music awarded Seasun, an almost offensively bright sequence of crescendos and chanting vocals that is quite clearly the standout tune of the release and one that should justify its purchase in and of itself. Which is why I’m not attaching it to this post, and am instead delivering to you the straight up space disco of John Talabot’s (also from Barcelona) take on the track. It’s pretty cool in its own right, but really just feels like a stripped back prelude to the main event. Kinda like the way Tom Selleck is the prelude to Magnum P.I. No, wait… exactly like that.

Delorean – Deli

Delorean – Seasun (John Talabot’s Kids & Drums Remix)

The EP is out now and can be picked up through iTunes, eMusic and many others. Get onto it and dream about the rapid approach of summer.

/luke