Delirious?

Item: Glo
Author: James Stewart

Glo

(2000)

Reviewed by James Stewart

Discogs Apple Music TIDAL Amazon Music Spotify

Label Sparrow RecordsThe Phantom Tollbooth2000

modern rock rock worship

From the opening bars of "God You Are My God" it is clear that this is a change from the path that Mezzamorphis seemed to be laying out for the Delirious? boys. While that album had moments of lyrical ambiguity (which were also arguably the band's best lyric writing so far) this one is a move back to the worship songs which still form the foundations of the band's back-catalogue.

Musically too, this shows a change. After the rather piece-meal assembly of Radiohead and U2 influences that were wedged together on the last album, this one goes for a less intricate approach with a lot less loops and a lot more driving guitars. In many ways the result feels more authentically "Delirious?" -- while the same influences are present as before (the outro to "Glo In the Dark" could so easily be a happier Bends-era Radiohead) they have been merged together in a much more cohesive manner.

But this still isn't the album which will force the listener to sit up and be dazzled by Delirious?. There are some nice worship tunes here and some decent lyrics (alongside some such as "My Glorious" which will be seen by some as an offense against grammar) but ultimately it all seems to blend together a little too much. While the sound is distinctly their own, it's not distinct enough to mark them out.

All reports are that Glo is merely a brief detour from Delirious?'s intended direction and that the next album will continue their exploration of more performance-oriented material. That album may well prove critical for Delirious?, sure to prompt comparisons with this one and their worship material in general, but also testing whether they have any chance of pushing further into the mainstream world. As ever, it will be interesting to hear where it goes.