Delorean -‘Subiza’ (True Panther Sounds/Matador)

Oh. WOW.

This is one of the most amazing records I have heard so far this year. From the second this album opens with ‘Stay Close’ to when it finishes with ‘It’s All Ours’ you know that you are listening to something very special indeed. Over the course of forty-two excellent minutes, Delorean have made this an album that will make you reconsider your best of year so far lists if you are a total music geek, and prick up your ears even if you are one of those people who only buys a handful of albums each year.

Hperbole? Let’s just say that a few songs in, I found myself wanting to listen to the album all over again -and I did, though I waited until it had finished before I listened to it pretty much right away. The press release for the Spanish band’s third album talks about looking at thirty years of dance music with fresh eyes. I could add – or listening to it with fresh ears. Becauseso much of what makes great dance music is here: it’s music to lose yourself in and find yourself. Pure balaeric bliss, Ibizan ecstasy… Music to dance to and drift away to, often at the same time. Classic aspects of dance vocals, beats, rhythms -and a reappearance of that gorgoeus Italo-house piano that sounds as fresh and exciting as it did when you heard it on ‘Ride On time’ -which is over twenty years ago now. I’ve never been on a trip to spend a summer holiday clubbing on an Mediterranean island (the nearest I got was spending a week chilling out in the Sinai), but this album makes me feel like I would want to feel and not how I expect the reality would be.

I listened to this album stone cold sober -and yet it sounds positively euphoric. It is genuinely so uplifting and life-affirming that it should be prescribed instead of anti-depressants. A very special album indeed, and -most sincerely folks- the best album of this year so far.

*****

Subiza is out now on True Panther Sounds/Matador.

Delorean -‘Stay Close.’ mp3