d3lta
Say “hello” to some glam rock
With most artists it’s easy to put together a bit of a back story from social media. With d3lta, not so much, but that’s part of the mystique. From his socials we can see that he’s quite the visual artist who’s had some impressive gigs. Without listening, we’re sensing a bit of New York Dolls, maybe some Bowie, perhaps a bit of Falco… who knows. If we were fluent in Greek, we’d be able to give you more insight from the interviews he’s done in what appears to be his home country, but, alas poor Yorick, Δεν μιλάω ελληνικά (Den miláo elliniká). So let’s jump right into the rabbit hole and check out “Hello”.
Down strokes fire up the track at around 104 BPM in C minor, and the mood is menacing and simple. Lyrically, it’s a potentially ominous tale about a young boy who’s innocents has been taken away too quickly. Whomever produced the track builds the anticipation well in this first verse as it’s just d3lta and the guitar for the first eight measures, bringing in the drums, bass and an additional guitar for the back half before the chorus hits wide open. Knowing what we know about d3lta’s stage persona and visuals, we can imagine how cool this must be to see live. It’s quite the juxtaposition to some of his posts where it’s just him and an acoustic.
With the chorus there’s only a slight alteration in the chord progression but the payoff is in the hook and how it’s delivered vocally. It’s a large, theatrical performance that perfectly coincides with the lyrical content - as mischievous as it may be - and gives plenty of opportunity for a large crowd to sing along with its simplicity. Good composition skills here. After the chorus we get an 8 bar instrumental section with the band at full tilt. Second verse has the proper build up to increase the tension and suspension - all while keeping the focus on the vocals and lyrics - as it should be. Same goes with the second chorus - everything is bumped up just enough to keep our temperatures rising.
The bridge section does a fine job of creating a bit of a dramatic break with a cut time feel and clean guitar tones. This is a great spot for a massive crowd sing along (it would be cool to hear it with a massive organ tone - I keep getting Broadway Rock / Theatre Rock vibes from this track - like heavy distortion version of Phantom of the Opera). Then we’re back to the final chorus and I love the differences employed with the syncopated hits, and the dryer / tighter way the band plays the head at the outro. This is a good example of a grande rock piece - theatrical, glam, and a bit operatic in it’s vocal approach. This is the type of track that Geoff Tate or the great Freddie Mercury would have a lot of fun with.
Make sure you scroll down to catch his socials and other tracks, especially Strange. It’s an acoustic based swung track that has a great 70’s feel to it. And then there’s Hey You, which is a ballad and a complete departure from the other tracks. There’s obviously a lot of depth to what d3lta is doing, we look forward to what they’ll be doing next!