Feature | Delamere debut album track-by-track guide

We caught up with Delamere as they delved into the details of their self-titled debut album release.

Out on August 19th via Scruff of the Neck Records, the band are currently touring the UK to celebrate its release.

To coincide with the tour, frontman James Fitchford took us on a track-by-track journey.

Bright Young Things

“BYT originally started with a guitar riff that I came up with and was something that we used as an intro to our set, which is quite fitting as it’s the first track on our album. The song took shape when we started working with Rich Turvey in pre-production. The song is about the general pulling ritual in modern-day society and the effect that a ‘worldy’ can have on a room full of men.”

Regress

“Regress is about being in over your head in any situation and feeling that no matter how hard you try, you’re making no progress and can at times feel like you’re ‘moving backwards’. In the line “white knuckles” I’m referencing how it can feel like you’re holding on for dear life and the faster you go the harder it gets to hold on.”

So Long

“For So Long, I noticed Will had uploaded an instrumental demo to Dropbox and instantly had a melody in my head. Dropbox is something we’ve used since day one in Delamere and over the years it has become one of the main writing tools for the band, allowing us to easily collaborate on ideas when we don’t have time to meet up, So Long was a perfect example of this and we literally turned up to Parr Street Studios with a rough demo of the song and had never performed it as a band. This has become a favourite song of mine to perform live. In relation to the lyrics, the song is about addiction to drugs and alcohol. I was sat at home watching a documentary on channel 4 and someone on the show was talking about their addiction as it was a person, or a friend and not wanting them out of their life. I relate addiction in the song to saying “So Long” to a loved one.”

Kill It

“Kill it is about somebody being stuck in a certain situation / cycle and wishing they weren’t, but not having the courage to get up and change it for themselves. The chorus represents a cathartic and anthemic relief of said individual breaking free and just going out there and having it.”

Black and White Space

“We came up with the title ‘Black and White Space’ in a discussion about album titles and from there deliberately went out to write a song of the same name. A ‘black and white space’ is my interpretation of a peaceful state of mind with no distractions and less options with all things being simpler. I think the effect of the shimmer reverb on the intro guitars really help emphasise this.”

Heart

“Heart is a funny one, people always interpret this to be a love song, especially with the chorus, “just wait for my heart”. The song is actually about a time I woke up in the middle of the night, unable to breathe, the harder I tried to draw breath, the harder it became, only until I sat up in bed I could start to breathe again, pulling in the smallest amount of air and feeling the most incredible pain in my chest. I was taken to the hospital via ambulance where I was told I had a viral infection of the heart, called Pericarditis. I had to spend the following two months in complete rest, the smallest of tasks left me exhausted, climbing the stairs left me breathless. A long time was spent sat at home, bored and watching daytime TV. The opening line is “I’ve not moved for days, the day time box is unnerving” .”

Woods

“Woods is one of the first songs I ever wrote for Delamere, it’s possibly the darkest song I’ve ever written too. I remember reading a newspaper one day and reading a story of a young lad that lured his girlfriend into the woods to kill her, the story was extremely detailed and it stuck with me for some time. The boyfriend had stated in court that he had tried to break her neck multiple times and found it harder than he thought it would be, the bridge references this. The song is also from the killer’s perspective.”

Headstrong

“Headstrong came together really quick for us. Will came to a practice with an up-beat demo which didn’t particularly sound like anything we had done before. We literally had it going through the PA on repeat and kept jamming along to it, over and over. I came up with the chorus by the end of the practice and had written all the verses in the following couple of days. The song is quite fittingly about knowing what you want in life and taking it, not settling for second best.”

Betty Boop

“Betty Boop is an old song that has only really lived in our live shows, but has always appeared to have gone down well. Betty Boop is in essence a really simple song about love, but our ‘Betty Boop’ is no person, it’s in fact a reference to the noise my guitar made during one of the solos when writing the song, as it sounded like Betty Boop. ‘Boop’ became the working title and it just appeared to stick.”

Rain

“Rain is about having a real strong moral compass, but being surrounded by negative influences day in, day out. You try and fight this and continue to do the right thing, but ultimately the negative influences brake you down. Rain is a metaphor for being shit on.”

You can listen to Delamere’s debut album in full below:

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