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Delirious?
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MEZZAMORPHIS A BAND IN PROCESS in America, time has a way
of condensing. Last year alone, there were retro fashion revivals
for every decade since the 30's, and the pace of change only
seems to quicken. If
that's true in general, it's far more a reality for the English
band Delirious, which has had the creative product of its
seven years deposited on American soil in less than 24 months.
At the end of '97, Sparrow Records released the massive two-disc
pop/worship album, Cutting Edge, to both strong reviews and
an incredible audience response in the States. Some of the
songs on that album had been recorded over four years earlier,
and the collection had been released throughout the U.K. and
Europe on the band's own Furious? Records label. Then in mid-'98,
Sparrow released the band's pop/rock follow-up, King of Fools,
which at that time was already a year old in the U.K., where
the band has a successful mainstream single with "Deeper."
Now, shifting into high gear, Delirious is releasing Mezzamorphis,
an album documenting the growth and change in the band as
they travel their faith-journey and expand musical horizons.
For band leader
and singer Martin Smith, the changes as Delirious has stepped
up to the challenge of taking its music from the safe confines
of youth worship in the church to evangelizing the world have
felt very natural. "I think we're still that little worship
band that we were six years ago," he says. "When
we're in private we're still talking about those very same
things that motivated us back then. I think there will always
be a vertical thing going on with the records and when people
come out to see us play live. There always has been, and I
think there always will. I think if we've lost that, we've
lost the whole plot. What we're about is the challenge to
communicate in a way that does truly communicate to folk outside
of the church. To get is across in a way that isn't just limited
to language. I think we're getting there." Still, Martin
acknowledges that there has been recognizable change. Musically,
Mezzamorphis is a more aggressive, modern rock album, embracing
the current sounds and seeking to make their own unique mark.
Some of the change, he says, is just part of the quintet growing
up, maturing both spiritually and as people. "Generally,
what people mean when they say, this is totally different,
is that this is not a worship album. But for us, it doesn't
feel like we went in to make a different record, to us it
has a lot of the same elements. It's just older, bigger and
a bit more manly. It just came out this way, and it reflects
where we are at this point in time. We've always written about
what we see, and I think that hasn't changed. We're still
writing about what we see, we've just seeing more of the world."
Martin acknowledges
that in the last seven years the members of Delirious have
in fact become grown-ups. "Even though we haven't changed
a lot, we're still the same blokes we were when we started
out, but in another way, I guess we have changed. We were
boys when we started out and we're men now, and we've got
our own kids. Our opinions have certainly changed about a
lot of things, our language has changed, and our whole approach
to the kind of quick fix solution to everything in life has
probably changed, too. We're all trying to walk the walk,
the Christian life. The best we know how, as passionately
as we know how, with as much integrity as we know how."
As the title suggests, Delirious is in process; a band with
a past, and a vision for the future. In the meantime, they're
on a journey, and Mezzamorphis describes the place they're
at on the way to what they will some day be. "We haven't
made our definitive album," states Stu, "at least
not yet. We're still pushing, we haven't finished yet. Which
is another reason for the album title, the whole "Mezzanine
Floor" thing; were not quite there yet. We're in the
whole process of being changed so it's about the effect that
it has on us, our music and our relationships." Martin
agrees, the progression visible in Mezzamorphis is a good
thing. "We're very excited about this record, and we
can't wait for our fans to hear it. Anyone who's really into
music, we think will like it. We've reached the stage, where
we've had to face the reality that we can't please everyone.
We take each step as it comes. We're going to see what happens,
and try to be obedient. We don't have an axe to grind, we're
just going to do what we've always done."
 _.:Delirious?
Official Site
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