There was some quasi-official vote recently, so we read, to find the modern day 7 wonders of the world. Incredibly, The Reason As To Why The Delgados Did Not Become Bigger Than ABBA (Or At Least Teenage Fanclub) In The 1990s did not make the list. They missed out, yet again. Their dissolution was a sobbing shame for UK indie, especially considering that they made such irresistibly powerful cotton-padded pop music up to their last ringing note. Though a band woven by and from a number of strong personalities, petite chanteuse Emma Pollock commanded the helm with a voicebox that belied her size, both saccharine sweet and diesel powered, the shiniest diamond in the mine, and my, how they mined hard for those gems. So when we say it sounded like a good second best to have her back, you know that’s no criticism.
If ‘Watch The Fireworks’ does one thing for her (though in actuality it does much more), it is to offer confirmation of the central role she must have played in The Delgados – one of the only things that strictly separates her songs here from their larger body of work there is how vulnerable her voice first sounds without Alun Woodward’s sweeping, baritone as support and foil. And that’s one hell of a seal of quality. Study these songs closer and they seem to form organically around her, giving her chance to flower and fill in the gaps. They sound less urgent by and large, positively so. Her persuasively lightweight voice and wide ranging musical tendencies embrace, blossoming into a suite of eleven songs that never once falter, that only grow stronger, and that are amongst the best she has ever committed to tape.
She is not once in danger of repeating herself or running dry of thoughtful lyrical ideas, these are very fertile grounds. On many occasions she reminds of the stature of now 4AD peer Kristen Hersh, exhibiting the vocal determination on ‘Adrenaline’ and the softness on timeless Catpenters-esque ‘The Optimist’. Rilo Kiley are evoked at full speed on ‘Acid Test’, in slow-mo on ‘The Rope’s Getting Tighter’ and she is simply delectable on the slow velveteen, Cocteau Twinsy ‘Fortune’. The bombastic, chiming psychedelic beats of The Flaming Lips continue to be an influence too, particularly on ‘New Land’, proving that her racing pulse hasn’t been tamed. It has been a pleasure watching her come to bud over the years, but we could have never guessed that 2007 would see one of her fullest blooms yet.