As the year draws to a close many music publications, magazines and blogs gaze into their crystal balls and attempt to predict which musicians will be big in 2010.
The Mancunian electronic trio Delphic are already featuring on these lists, gaining media attention before their debut album Acolyte has even been released.
NME has declared that the band is “most likely to be massive by next year”, and The Guardian labelled the four-piece as one of their new favourite bands to emerge last month. But how are Delphic coping with the buzz that has suddenly begun to surround them?
Guitarist Matt Cocksedge explains that he has mixed feelings towards the predictions the press have been making:
“I feel kind of happy and kind of nervous, because we don’t want to be that kind of band which at first receives a lot of attention and then people wonder ‘what ever happened to them?’ That would be shit.
“It is kind of a problem, because you would rather they were saying this than not, but at the same time it is a lot of pressure. We can’t really change anything that happens, all we can do is try to improve, and remember that it is our band.”
Casting an eye over the past year, it appears that the band have the ability to make wise choices in terms of their career.
Releasing singles and touring with Gallic electro tastemakers Kitsuné Music; appearing on Later… with Jools Holland; and picking Berlin-based techno expat Ewan Pearson to produce Acolyte; all associations that have successfully launched previous careers, and brought critical acclaim.
However, Cocksedge is wary of declaring in advance what exactly it is that these associations have brought Delphic so far:
“It’s hard for us to judge when it is early days, but I wouldn’t say we are not aware of it. We wouldn’t be able to say if this has brought us opportunities I guess until later on.
“We are here in Berlin at the moment because of Kitsuné, performing at a Kitsuné Maison night. I think with Kitsuné, they are really brilliant at finding new artists and producing music.
“And with Jools Holland, it was something we have aspired to; I don’t think any other television programme has the means for live music to transfer as well onto screen as Later… with Jools Holland does. So being able to perform live on there was really amazing.”
When listening to the singles ‘Counterpoint’ and ‘This Momentary’, it is easy to compare the band to New Order. The amalgamation of guitar music and electronic beats evoke the musical heritage the band have inherited from their home town, bringing to mind days gone by of the Hacienda when Manchester was at the heart of the dance music scene. But do Delphic become tired of this constant, slightly lazy comparison to New Order?
“In some ways we do mind that whenever anybody mentions us, they also will probably mention New Order,” he says.
“However, New Order is a great band and a really important band, and to be compared to someone like that it is obviously flattering.
“Sometimes it does seem like the easy comparison for people to make, I think if we came from Sheffield we would probably be compared to The Human League. I think it happens because the band is from Manchester and also did a bit of a dance thing,” Cocksedge adds.
“We will have to grin and bear it, and wait for people to acknowledge our own music.”
Recently the music scene’s eye has been turned away from Manchester, with new talent tending to emerge from Northern neighbours Sheffield and Leeds.
The arrival of Delphic has caused music publications to work themselves up into a frenzy, declaring it is up to the group to inject some life back into the scene, and the term ‘Nu-Manchester’ being coined to describe the band.
Most musicians would feel somewhat daunted by this prospect, but Cocksedge is thrilled with this forecast:
“It is really exciting if that is the case. I think Manchester is becoming in danger of getting drowned by the weight of its history, and sometimes people look back to the past too much.
“But I think the great thing about Manchester is that it is always looking forward to moving on, and everyone is excited with what can happen in the future.”
Matt names super-club The Warehouse Project as a key figure in moving on from Manchester’s musical past which he refers to as “a great thing for Manchester”, and offers his praises towards other local bands, such as Everything Everything.
The band’s original line up consisted of Richard and Matt, and first started out making indiepop, appearing in this form on local television station Channel M.
But soon the band got tired of making music under this genre, and realised they needed to rethink their output.
“We just became really bored, and did not really like the songs we had written. We were really demystified with what seemed to be going on in the music industry, and we really wanted to freshen it up and get ourselves excited again about music. We thought long and hard, split up the other band and came back with Delphic.”
Released next year on January 11, the debut album Acolyte was recorded and produced in Berlin.
It appears that the band has a love for Berlin, acknowledging that the dance scene in Germany’s capital, as well as the surroundings, has had some influence in their music:
“You can’t help being influenced by your surroundings,” says Cocksedge.
“One of the great things about Berlin is that it has quite a similar vibe to Manchester; it has this similar sort of decaying glory and this melancholic beauty in it. We felt at home immediately here.”
Future plans for the band include completing their first ever headlining tour, after previous jaunts with Bloc Party and Orbital, and releasing their debut album next year; but what boxes are Delphic insistent that they tick off?
“We are really looking forward to growing as a band, and just want to keep challenging ourselves,” says Cocksedge, before adding: “You will have to just wait and see what we have up our sleeves: watch this space.”
And so we will, waiting to see if Delphic will fulfil the expectations that have been laid out for them.