Delphic were an
alternative dance
Alternative dance (also known as indie dance or underground dance in the United States) is a musical genre that mixes alternative rock with electronic dance music. Although largely confined to the British Isles, it has gained worldwide exposure ...
band from
Manchester
Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...
, England.
They are signed to
Polydor
Polydor Limited, also known as Polydor Records, is a British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in ...
but released their first single "Counterpoint", produced by
Ewan Pearson, in April 2009 through
R&S Records
R&S Records is an independent record label founded in 1983 in Ghent, Belgium. R&S represents the initials of Renaat Vandepapeliere and Sabine Maes, the couple that created the label. R&S Records has had several subsidiaries, most notably Apollo R ...
.
In 2009, the band toured the UK music festival circuit, playing at
T in the Park
T in the Park festival was a major Scottish music festival that was held annually from 1994 to 2016. It was named after its main sponsor, Tennents. The event was held at Strathclyde Park, Lanarkshire, until 1996. It then moved to the disused ...
,
Reading and Leeds Festivals
The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend. The Reading Fest ...
,
and
Creamfields
Creamfields is an electronic dance music festival series founded and organised by British club promoter Cream, with its UK edition taking place on August Bank Holiday weekend, with a number of international editions held across various territo ...
, among others.
The EP for "
This Momentary" was released on 31 August 2009 through
Kitsuné.
The music video was nominated for three
UK Music Video Awards
The UK Music Video Awards is an annual celebration of creativity, technical excellence and innovation in music video
A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotiona ...
, including Best Cinematography, Best Editing and Best Telecine.
In November 2009, they made their first TV appearance appearing on ''
Later... with Jools Holland'' playing
"Doubt" and
"Halcyon".
Delphic were one of the 15 shortlisted music acts for the
BBC Sound of 2010 as announced on 7 December 2009. When the winners were announced in early 2010, it was revealed that the band had placed third on BBC Sound of 2010, after
Ellie Goulding
Elena Jane Goulding ( ; born 30 December 1986) is an English singer, songwriter, and activist. Born in Hereford and raised in Lyonshall, Goulding began writing songs at the age of 15. She released her debut single " Under the Sheets" through ...
and
Marina and the Diamonds
Marina Lambrini Diamandis ( ; ; born 10 October 1985), known mononymously as Marina (often stylised in all caps) and previously by the stage name Marina and the Diamonds, is a Greek-Welsh singer, songwriter, poet and record producer.
Born in ...
.
''Acolyte'' was released in Australia and New Zealand on 22 January 2010
via
Modular and in the United States on 29 June 2010 via
Dangerbird Records
Dangerbird Records is an independent record label in Los Angeles, California. The label is home to artists from around the world and part of the burgeoning Silver Lake music scene. The label has had international success from its small roster of ...
.
''
Collections'', the band's second album, was released on 28 January 2013.
Delphic collaborated with
Manchester International Festival
The Manchester International Festival is a biennial international arts festival, with a specific focus on original new work, held in the English city of Manchester and run by Factory International. The festival is a biennial event, first takin ...
in July 2013, performing a three night exclusive residency at the festival, re-working their entire album ''Collections'' with an array of instruments from around the world, played by musicians from the UK. The event series was entitled 'Our Worldly Collections'.
Richard Boardman has now gone on to start a Manchester-based songwriting collective known as The Six who have most recently written on the
Louis Tomlinson
Louis William Tomlinson ( ; born 24 December 1991) is an English singer, songwriter, and fashion designer. Born and raised in Doncaster, England, Tomlinson auditioned for British singing competition ''The X Factor'' as a solo artist in 2010, w ...
and
Bebe Rexha
Bleta "Bebe" Rexha ( , ; born August 30, 1989) is an American singer and songwriter. She signed with Warner Records in 2013, and was credited with co-writing releases of other artists—such as Eminem's Grammy Award-winning single " The Monster" ...
single "
Back To You."
History
''Acolyte'' (2010)
Announced on Delphic's website
on 2 November 2009, their debut album was called ''
Acolyte
An acolyte is an assistant or follower assisting the celebrant in a religious service or procession. In many Christian denominations, an acolyte is anyone performing ceremonial duties such as lighting altar candles. In others, the term is used f ...
'' and released on
Polydor
Polydor Limited, also known as Polydor Records, is a British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in ...
on the band's own imprint Chimeric Records on 11 January 2010. Reviewing for BBC Music, writer Lou Thomas commented that it "might just be the first great album of 2010". Acolyte was also described as "on kissing terms with magnificence" by Simon Price of the Independent. The singles released from ''
Acolyte
An acolyte is an assistant or follower assisting the celebrant in a religious service or procession. In many Christian denominations, an acolyte is anyone performing ceremonial duties such as lighting altar candles. In others, the term is used f ...
'' were "
Doubt
Doubt is a mental state in which the mind remains suspended between two or more contradictory propositions, and is certainty, uncertain about them.
Doubt on an emotional level is indecision between belief and wikt:disbelief, disbelief. It may i ...
",
"Halcyon", and "Counterpoint", the latter of which was re-released later on Chimeric.
"Counterpoint" was used as one of the theme songs for Sky Sports' coverage of the Premier League in the 2010–11 season, and also is one of the songs included in the playlist of ''
Pro Evolution Soccer 2010''.
The song "Red Lights" has been featured on the new
E4 advert for ''
90210''.
The song
"Halcyon" has been featured nationwide on the new advert for the
Samsung
Samsung Group (; stylised as SΛMSUNG) is a South Korean Multinational corporation, multinational manufacturing Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in the Samsung Town office complex in Seoul. The group consists of numerous a ...
Monte mobile phone.
The first song from the album, "Clarion Call", features in the
F1 2010 video game by
Codemasters
The Codemasters Software Company Limited (trade name: Codemasters) is a British video game developer and former publisher based in Southam, England, which is a subsidiary of American corporation Electronic Arts and managed under the EA Sports ...
, the video game ''
Saint's Row: The Third'', and is used by Sky Sports as theme music for International Cricket highlights programmes.
After a sold out UK tour in early January 2010
with pop noir band Mirrors, the band set tour dates for a second and third run of the UK in March and May.
The band were also nominated for the "Best UK & Ireland New Act" in the 2010
MTV EMAs in Madrid.
''Collections'' (2013)
In an April 2012 interview with ''
NME
''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...
'', Boardman said the band had been working on material for their second album over the course of 18 months and had been working with producers Ben Allen (
Bombay Bicycle Club) and
DFA Records
DFA Records is an American independent record label based in New York City.
The label was originally founded in 2001 by Tim Goldsworthy, musician James Murphy (electronic musician), James Murphy, and manager Jonathan Galkin. Goldsworthy and Mur ...
co-founder
Tim Goldsworthy
Tim Goldsworthy is a British record producer, DJ and recording artist.
Career
Originally a musician/producer for Unkle with James Lavelle, he later worked with James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem and was formerly joint owner of DFA Records. Go ...
.
In the article, he noted their and Goldsworthy's shared affinity for contemporary R&B, which suggests a possible shift in direction on the new album.
In an interview on the unofficial Delphic Fansite,
Boardman confirmed the release dates for the first single and the follow-up to 2010's ''
Acolyte
An acolyte is an assistant or follower assisting the celebrant in a religious service or procession. In many Christian denominations, an acolyte is anyone performing ceremonial duties such as lighting altar candles. In others, the term is used f ...
'' would be "soon". The album's title and song titles remain unknown, though Boardman revealed there was a song with a working title of "Bhangra" that has since been renamed.
BBC News reported on 28 June 2012 that Delphic, alongside
Muse
In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, the Muses (, ) were the Artistic inspiration, inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the poetry, lyric p ...
,
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, songwriter and pianist. His music and showmanship have had a significant, lasting impact on the music industry, and his songwriting partnership with l ...
vs.
Pnau
Pnau, stylised as PNAU, is an Australian Electronic dance music, dance music trio originating from Sydney, Australia, Sydney. The trio, a duo before 2016, consists of the musicians Nick Littlemore (vocals, production), Peter Mayes (guitar, produ ...
,
Dizzee Rascal
Dylan Kwabena Mills (born 18 September 1984), known professionally as Dizzee Rascal, is a British rapper and MC. He is often credited as a pioneer of British hip hop and grime music and was ranked by ''Complex'' as one of the greatest British ...
, and
The Chemical Brothers
The Chemical Brothers are an English electronic music duo formed by Ed Simons and Tom Rowlands in Manchester in 1992. They were pioneers in bringing the big beat genre to the forefront of pop culture.
Originally known as The Dust Brothers, th ...
, would be releasing one of the five official songs of the
2012 Summer Olympics
The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
taking place in
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
,
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
.
In line with a previous report by international news agency
Reuters
Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world.
The agency ...
,
Delphic's single was released on 23 July 2012 on Polydor.
"Good Life," Delphic's
London 2012 Olympics
The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
single, premiered as the "Hottest Record in the World" feature of
Zane Lowe
Alexander Zane Reed Lowe (born 1973) is a New Zealand radio DJ, live DJ, record producer, and television presenter. After an early career in music creation, production and DJing, he moved to the UK in 1997. He came to prominence through pr ...
's evening
Radio 1 programme on 18 July 2012.
In an interview with Lowe directly following the song's worldwide premiere, guitarist Matt Cocksedge explained their management had submitted a demo of "Good Life" without the band's knowledge, until it was revealed to them later that it had been chosen as one of the official singles of the
2012 Summer Olympics
The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
. Rick Boardman went on to say that the album has a planned early 2013 release.
When asked by UK music blog There Goes the Fear whether "Good Life" was a good example of their yet to be released material, singer/bassist James Cook stated that the new single was "''...closer to the
Acolyte
An acolyte is an assistant or follower assisting the celebrant in a religious service or procession. In many Christian denominations, an acolyte is anyone performing ceremonial duties such as lighting altar candles. In others, the term is used f ...
material than any of the other new tunes. It is ''representative more of''
he''mood''
f the new material ''not''
ts''musical direction.''".
On 15 August 2012, Delphic announced they would be previewing the new album material on a UK tour taking place October and November 2012.
The band performed 3 new songs live for the first time at Free Form Festival 2012 in
Warsaw
Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...
,
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
– "Baiya", "Memeo" and "Atlas".
On the UK Tour they debuted another new song named "Changes".
The first details of the new album, ''
Collections'', surfaced on 1 November 2012 on Delphic's website which coincide with the final day of Delphic tour in autumn 2012.
The band posted ''Introducing 'Collections, a sample of the new album on
VEVO
Vevo LLC ( , an abbreviation for "Video Evolution", stylized in all caps until 2013) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational video hosting service, best known for providing music videos to YouTube. The service is also available ...
on 31 October 2012, in which new songs "Baiya", "Memeo" and "Atlas" were featured.
Delphic unveiled the first single taken from their new album – titled "Baiya" – in November. The track is currently streaming online.
''Get Familiar (mixtape)'' (2014)
On 22 April 2014, the band posted a seven track
mixtape
In the modern music industry, a mixtape is a musical project, typically with looser constraints than that of an album or extended play. Unlike the traditional album or extended play, mixtapes are labeled as laid-back projects that allow artists mo ...
called 'Get Familiar' on their
SoundCloud
SoundCloud is a German audio streaming service owned and operated by SoundCloud Global Limited & Co. KG. The service enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is ...
page.
The Six (2014)
Also in 2014, Rick Boardman started a Manchester-based songwriting collective known as The Six. Later that year, The Six were featured on the
Gorgon City
Gorgon City are an English electronic music production duo consisting of two North London producers Kye "Foamo" Gibbon and Matt "RackNRuin" Robson-Scott. Their 2014 singles " Ready for Your Love" and " Here for You" reached the top 10 in the UK. ...
track "Take It All" and then supported them on a UK tour. He has 31 registered songs to his name, and has also worked on the 2014 single "
Real Love" by
Clean Bandit
Clean Bandit is an English electronic music group formed in Cambridge in 2008. They have achieved four number-one singles and six additional top-ten songs on the UK Official Singles Chart. Since 2016, the group has been a trio comprising foundi ...
and
Jess Glynne
Jessica Hannah Glynne (born 20 October 1989) is a British singer. She rose to prominence in 2014 as a featured artist on the singles " Rather Be" by Clean Bandit and " My Love" by Route 94, both of which reached number one on the UK Singles C ...
, which peaked at 2 in the UK singles chart and number 2 in Germany. Boardman continues to lead The Six who have more recently written on the
Louis Tomlinson
Louis William Tomlinson ( ; born 24 December 1991) is an English singer, songwriter, and fashion designer. Born and raised in Doncaster, England, Tomlinson auditioned for British singing competition ''The X Factor'' as a solo artist in 2010, w ...
and
Bebe Rexha
Bleta "Bebe" Rexha ( , ; born August 30, 1989) is an American singer and songwriter. She signed with Warner Records in 2013, and was credited with co-writing releases of other artists—such as Eminem's Grammy Award-winning single " The Monster" ...
single "
Back to You”
and
Galantis
Galantis is a Swedish electronic music act consisting of producer Christian "Bloodshy" Karlsson. Formerly, they were a duo, alongside rising musician Style of Eye, until he decided to part ways with the project shortly after their second albu ...
single "
Love on Me”.
Discography
Studio albums
Singles
Promotional singles
Notes:
* – The single was released alongside the album ''Acolyte'' as
iTunes
iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...
''Single of the Week''.
* – The single was released as a 'Buzz' single during November 2009, although it did not appear on ''Acolyte''. Delphic's members were previously part of a band called "Snowfight in the City Centre," supporting Ghosts (Atlantic) in 2007.
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
Musical groups established in 2009
Musical groups from Manchester
Kitsuné Musique artists
Alternative dance musical groups
British shoegaze musical groups
English electronic rock musical groups
English musical quartets
Dangerbird Records artists
Polydor Records artists
Modular Recordings artists
MapleMusic Recordings artists