Taking the luxuriant string-wrapped hiss and crackle of previous masterwerk Love You So, Delilah's latest single - Breathe - goes for a far more minimalist approach, all broken beats and tempting vocal melodies. It's haunting in the most seductive ways, a street lament of the most moving kind, and a wonderful showcase yet again for those incredible, mind-blowing vocals that really mark Delilah out. Rest be assured, her debut album, released in July, will be worth the wait.
Originally serving as a b-side to debut single Go, Breathe is trademark Delilah. Smoky, soulful vocals, all angelic and light like the touch of the softest feather. Against a backing track that’s teasingly minimal, Delilah purrs away, those gorgeous string sections resurfacing from her excellent Love You So to lend Breathe an air of retro-tinged class. We were gutted when Love You So failed to chart, Delilah’s vocals are too good not to be afforded a mass audience, and her recent 2 – 4 am mixtape was phenomenal. And Breathe wins us over just the same – it’s achingly beautiful.
When songs come along that sweep you away with their brilliance, you become properly emotionally invested in them. Delilah’s Love You So was one of those songs; a haunting, baroquely elegant slice of spook-pop that felt like the ushering in of a genuine big talent for 2012 – but come release day, it went criminally un-noticed despite a gushing plethora of positive reviews, failing to crack the UK Top 40.
But for those craving more Delilah, more of that soul-tugging enchantment, new mixtape 2 - 4am offers a wealth of delights.Like the early hours it labels itself with, the tape plays out the mystique of twilight moments, delving down into the squelching, darkly seductive stickyness of dubstep number Closer. The tape feels ritualistic in its pounding, hypnotic rhythms – stuff that plies right into the soul, whispering the blackest of magic to placate the emotions.
Love You So, with its Eastern tinged string melodies still sounds incredible, presented here in crisp garage remix format. The Gospel offers more of the same, a piano accented slice of thrilling neo-noir – like a James Bond theme fuelled by pure paranoia, it slides R&B up against urban pop in the most electric of unions.
The raw vocal power of an Adele, the on-trend street-smart understanding of a Katy B, Delilah has it all going on, and 2 - 4am, it has to be said, feels almost too good to be merely a free download. For a budding new pop artist, it stands as a thrilling, richly textured debut, and the UK would do well to heed Delilah’s talent – there’s a real star in the making there.
From the low key stylings of Delilah's haunting debut single Go, I don't think anyone could have guessed what a drop of sheer delight and bewonderment she would deliver next.
For that is what Love You So is. A full package of high-styled image and tantalisingly bleak string melodies, it's the meeting point between art and pop. And Delilah's PopArt is neither bright or brash, but instead sinuously lean and dark sounding. The video is equally arresting - whether it's the bizarre melange of black and white retro footage or Delilah's posturing, you can't tear your eyes away.
It's sort of a bit Massive Attack-y, gone by way of Yasmin; but the resulting end product is resolutely Delilah's own. Placed on your average 'hit music' radio station, you can guarantee there won't be anything else quite like Love You So on there.
So many songs tell stories of love, but if one thing can be said of Love You So, it's that it marks the subject with the most terrifying of brush-strokes. Here, love is a thing of decay, of death, of fractured porcelain and burning letters - and it's testament to Delilah's world-worn vocals that she manages to convey all that in three minutes of utterly magical pop.
