Hull’s 6 Music and KCRW-supported psych-rock outfit, The Black Delta Movement, have announced details of the release of their debut album, ‘Preservation’, due via Clubbed Thumb Records on August 3, 2018. The band recorded ‘Preservation’ with producer, Mike Burnham (Fuzz Club Records, Holy Wave) at his Lovebuzz Studios, London, and, following sell-out UK/EU tours and previous slots with the likes of Drenge, The Jesus & Mary Chain and Temples, the band will support the release with a full UK tour throughout September and October, including London’s Water Rats on October 12, 2018.
A fiercely personal album to primary songwriters and co-founders of the band, Matt Burr and Dominic Abbott, ‘Preservation’ chronicles the first musical ventures for the five-piece. Album opener, ‘Rome’ found life during the band’s first rehearsal, a birthday it shares with the album’s closing track, ‘Butterfly’. Both numbers address the band’s guitar-heavy salvo whilst simultaneously highlighting two different temperaments, the former quick, blues-driven BRMC-inspired rock’nroll, and the latter a heady mix of sprawling psychedelia akin to two of the group’s touchstone influences, The Black Angels and The Thirteenth Floor Elevators.
‘Hunting Ground’ captures more venom in the band’s sound, whilst ‘King Mosquito’ nods towards the fuzz-up agility of The Sonics. “It was also a bit of a backhanded way for me to say that I feel like I’ve come to the age where I don’t tolerate leeches and lousy people anymore,” suggests Burr when discussing the latter’s lyrics. This vigour ignites and breathes throughout ‘Preservation’, most notably on ‘Let The Rain Come’, a track that addresses the political Punch and Judy that exists on social media. “I never really get too political in songs because I think it’s fucking boring,” suggests Burr, “however Let The Rain Come was more a jab at people who DO get political: ‘Vultures circling the road and they’re all just watching as we pick at the bones’”
Tracks such as ‘Deceit’ and ‘Hot Coals’ find footing in calmer waters, with the former outlining the role of trust in relationships through a barrage of Stooges-sounding guitars and the latter sitting as the album’s acknowledgement of living through chemistry. “This is about making a promise to somebody that you’ll do anything to ensure their happiness, whether it’s hurting yourself or leaving,” claims Burr, “it’s a bit bleak really, but love is sometimes, isn’t it?”
‘No End’ and ‘For You’ highlight some of The Black Delta Movement’s more recent undertakings. The boisterous groove of ‘No End’ revealed itself after being helmed by Burr and Abbott for a number of years, whilst ‘For You’ spotlights a more furrowed sound. “We’ve never done anything so downbeat and held back,” pronounces Burr, “it felt good to get it down on tape, it showed me that there was still room to grow creatively as a band.”
“‘Preservation’ is literally preserving a series of songs that we felt really proud of that either never got recorded or we felt had grown over the years,” asserts Burr.
UK Tour
03/08 | Humber Street Sesh, Hull
08/08 | Rough Trade East, London
09/08 | Rough Trade, Nottingham
16/09 | Psych Weekender, Manchester
11/10 | Sticky Mike’s Frog Bar, Brighton
12/10 | Water Rats, London
13/10 | The Lab, Northampton
17/10 | The New Adelphi, Hull
20/10 | Bootleg Social, Blackpool
25/10 | Record Junkee, Sheffield
26/10 | The Basement, York
08/11 | Classic Grand, Glasgow
09/11 | Smiths, Bathgate
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