Okay with computers

Spanish synth-shoegaze four-piece Delorean
find their focus on Subiza

IMMEDIATE CARE: Delorean

by JACK OATMON

“To be honest, I think this is the first time that we’re seriously making music—that we’re taking the writing process seriously.” This is not the kind of thing bands usually talk about nearly a decade deep into their careers, but Ekhi Lopetegi of Spanish synth dreampop group Delorean is serious about Subiza, the quartet’s latest studio album.

“We’ve only cared about the final results and making a good song. But we know that if you want to make a good song, you have to work hard and it’s not enough to be spontaneous,” explains Lopetegi over the phone, outside a show in London, England.

Much of the change stems from the band’s adoption of a fully computerized production process in place of jamming and working things out while playing. They say it allows them to see and control song structures in a way they couldn’t before. And there’s an accompanying shift in sound, as Subiza has more vast, layered and synthetic sound than would have been possible with their old format—though their live show has remained unchanged.

“‘Endless Sunset,’ ‘Infinite Desert,’ that kind of song name definitely relates to what we wanted to achieve with the sound. There’s an ecstatic feeling that we try to express in the music.”

The album takes a big, reverberating, melodramatic shoegaze sound and combines it with touches of the equally naïve and saccharine vibe of ’90s hi-NRG Eurodance, not unlike some of Cut Copy’s more recent work. Behind all of the stylistic bandwidth afforded by current production practices, the record is ultimately simple and evocative pop music. It forgoes the brooding and posturing of current radio pop in favour of a sunny sound and an overtly optimistic aesthetic.

“We wanted the record to be very uplifting. We wanted it to be immediate, something that you understand the second you listen to it. You get the theme and the mood immediately. At the same time, we wanted it to be very rhythmic, dance-y. The main thing was to achieve some sort of immediacy.”

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