Electric Feel

It’s a beautiful late summer afternoon and Hot Press is kicking back in a Temple Bar studio with Delorentos. Well, three of them anyway. Bassist (or, rather, multi-instrumentalist – more on that later) Níal Conlan is currently MIA on the last day of mixing for third studio album Little Sparks. But he quickly resurfaces, casually slinking his bag from his shoulders before dropping it onto the table with a notable thud. Smiling, he reveals its contents; a miniature beer keg with a fairly unpronounceable European-looking label emblazoned across the front. Eyes light up, grins appear and the sun itself seems to glint in respectful acknowledgement.

It should probably come as no great shock to learn that Little Sparks wasn’t wrapped up on that glorious summer day, nor were the finishing touches applied that month. Instead, and perhaps mindful of the record’s potential, Delorentos adopted a more patient approach, meticulously pawing over every aspect of the songs at their disposal.
Fast forward to early 2012, and the group are finally ready to unveil the album. While their debut, In Love With Detail, was impressively accomplished, sophomore effort You Can Make Sound threatened to become a curious footnote, emerging mere months after the band’s brief split in early 2009. Though a strong album in its own right, it couldn’t entirely eclipse the events that led up to it. With Little Sparks, however, there is a feeling that the band are finally starting to fulfill their enormous early promise.
“Kieran, you said something about six months ago,” begins Conlan, “Oh no, it was you Ro, that we nearly had to destroy the band to build it up again, and it was very clever of you…”
“I think you might have said that,” suggests chief vocalist Rónán Yourell.
“I think you said it.”
“I think Ross might have said it,” Yourell
dryly counters.
“Well whoever said it is a genius,” continues Conlan, on something of a roll now. “We had the band break up, we had personal problems, we had record deals go arseways and then we realised that the whole point of being in a band is that you get to make music with your friends and experience new things like playing on the streets of Madrid and doing Smiths covers in Barcelona. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity not to be sniffed at.”
Given the passion and intra-band mirth on display, it’s hard to imagine Delorentos lying in ruins, as once seemed the case. To wit, Little Sparks is the sound of a band reborn – fresh, daring, up for a challenge. Gone are bullshit arguments and concerns over record deals. In their place, a new direction and the most accomplished songs in the Delorentos canon. With producer Rob Kirwan (U2, PJ Harvey) at the helm, the Portrane natives turned somewhat nomadic; demoing, writing and recording in various locations, taking in a rented Wicklow cottage, Kirwan’s James St. HQ, drummer Ross McCormick’s home studio and the revered environs of Grouse Lodge along the way.
“In Wicklow we had lots of local cow farmers, they gave their opinions,” McGuinness deadpans. “In James St., it was across from a very dodgy area, there was a dry house across the road so a lot of recovering alcoholics gave their opinions, which we used to form our own opinions and then we came to Temple Bar where there were lots of drunks and we used them to help out with the songs.”
Quite the amalgam.
“Well, it’s a drunken, country, junkie album,”
he laughs.
When you lock four creative minds together in so many rooms for a prolonged period of time, you all but invite tension, but the album strengthened bonds rather than broke them. Its beauty lies in the power of the collective, and while all four individuals fought hard for their favourite tracks, the end result is the sound of four hearts beating as one.
“If we didn’t argue, we wouldn’t care,” states Conlan simply.
That said, was Yourell ever tempted to go down the Julian Casablancas route and email his vocal parts to his bandmates and let them figure out the rest?
“Who else did that, what was the other New York band… Karen O! The Yeah Yeah Yeahs. They all fucking hate each other now. Still, great album! As an artist, recording an album this way is the most satisfying way to do it, because I guess it feels more reflective of a period.”
“Like a snapshot in time,” offers Conlan.
“We have to collaborate,” stresses McGuinness. “As a band, the best ten songs I write over the year and the best ten songs the guys write, to make an album, you choose the best of those songs. If you want your ideas represented, you have to collaborate. For me in a band, it’s a strange thing because you’re the lead singer on one song and it’s your idea, your lyrics, your direction. Then on the next song I’m playing electric guitar and trying to think of a riff that suits someone else’s song, that suits their mood.”
Mood plays an important role throughout Little Sparks, not simply in tone, but delivery. Working alongside Rob Kirwan afforded the band the opportunity to expand their musical palette, interacting with equipment some of them had never even seen before. Far from a flashy gimmick, Delorentos fully embraced the idea of peppering their songs with additional accoutrements, going as far as to introduce glockenspiels, harmoniums and accordions into the mix for a memorable winter acoustic tour to support a teaser EP that shared the album’s title, itself lovingly presented as a 40-page magazine celebrating Irish creativity, featuring musings from the likes of Conor J. O’Brien, Domnhall Gleeson and Jape amongst its pages.
It’s touches like these, however slight they may seem on the surface, that set Delorentos apart from their contemporaries. Just writing the album of their careers apparently isn’t enough. That’s why you’ll find them on the streets of Madrid, belting out the rhythmic ‘Bullet In A Gun’. That’s why you’ll argue with yourself over whether the studio album or acoustic live version of ‘The Stream’ is better. And that’s why you’ll expect to find Little Sparks high on year-end critics’ lists, and why you’ll keep your fingers crossed that it’ll find its way into the hearts and minds of those willing to listen.
“We had a discussion before we started recording, and I think they felt that they as a band had never appeared before on record,” says Kirwan. “Their records up ‘til now sound great, but it doesn’t necessarily sound like Delorentos playing in a room. Hopefully we’ve achieved that.”
Kirwan seems convinced, and points out that he barely had to give the band any direction throughout the process, but what of Delorentos themselves? While they’re quick to label Little Sparks their most personal album to date, do they feel it stands up as their best work?
Kieran: “I hope that our fourth album will be
the best thing we’ve done. I hope that our fifth album will be the best thing we’ve done. I hope that every time…”
Níal: “The sixth album will be the best one.”
Kieran: “…because that’s what you’re trying to do. You’re trying to improve as a band, improve what you’re trying to say and I think that… people always have favourites. It doesn’t matter what band you like, you’ll have your favourite album and it might not be the band’s favourite but this is coming close to being our favourite, I guess.”
Níal: “This is my favourite album.”
Kieran: “It’s your favourite album?”
Rónán: “Hands down, it’s my favourite.”
Kieran: “I think it’s my favourite.”
Níal: “That’s an amazing tagline: ‘We think it’s our favourite album!’. You’re looking for that one-line thing on movies aren’t you? (Does dramatic, movie trailer-style narration) In a land without hope…”
Rónán: “Four men…”
Kieran: “Delorentos….wait I need a good line here… In time… no. When emotions come together…”
Níal: “You’re terrible at this.”
Kieran: “Wait a second…”