Reviews
DELS
‘Gob’: Spit. Mouth – loudmouth, even. Define it how you want but it’s an ostensibly apt, yet, ultimately misleading title for this rapper-cum-graphic designer’s debut album. For, yes, Kieren Dickins – aka DELS – sure has a lot to say. But, what he says certainly isn’t thoughtless or brash. In fact it’s so far removed from such suppositional spittle that this LP becomes richly explorative as determined by the mouth of this cerebral MC. Gob indeed.
Three producers (Micachu, Kwes and Joe Goddard of Hot Chip) assisted DELS in the album’s creation. Their respective contributions converge seamlessly to produce an abstract canvas; a canvas on which Dickins lays out his erudite rhymes with aplomb. We start with ‘Hydronenburg’ which is a clear statement of intent; a track centred on breaking free of the strictures of minimum wage jobs and middle-managers.
This is followed by the single and current song-on-repeat, ‘Trumpalump.’ It’s fairly obvious Joe Goddard had something to do with this one; the production has that familiar fuzzy, kaleidoscopic sound along with a reflective and melancholic chorus. Oh, and it also carries the quintessentially British line: “It’s lunchtime I need food / A Bakewell will do”.
It’s hard to imagine a Mr Kipling reference coming from the East Coast (U.S. I mean, not DELS’ homestead, Ipswich) but such a quirk is firmly positive.
‘Shapeshift’ is a similarly massive tune and the lyrics have a childlike fantastical quality to them – he rhymes about his transformative abilities and about wanting to be something or someone (e.g. Bret “(The) Hit Man” Hart) else. Meanwhile, the metaphysical ‘Moonshining’ and ‘Eating Clouds’ contain philosophical subtexts pertaining to questions about life and material possessions.
If I’m honest, Roots Manuva’s Trotters Independent Traders-hued intro on the Jitterbug-tastic ‘Capsize’ is a tad cringe worthy. Fortunately it gets a whole lot better after that. Roots Manuva’s input is politically scathing and it runs as an indictment of modern-day Conservative Britain: “How many fresh-faced youths will they send to war / without clear definition of what they’re fighting for”.
It’s not beyond suggestion that it feels like an updated version of The Specials or The Beat-fare.
The genetically-modified boom bap of ‘Violina’ follows before bells ring out on the beautiful ‘DLR’ with touching Neneh Cherry-esque vocals from Elan Tamara. Set against this is the painfully brutal, and sonically-spatial, Burgess-inspired ‘Droogs’ which manages to avoid coming across as overly sensationalist despite its rape and child abuse subject material. From darkness to light then on the eponymous ‘GOB’ where DELS’ mantra, “I won’t get swallowed by your darkness,” is repeated with militaristic resolution.
Lyrically the LP is unabashedly expansive and DELS is unhindered by the machismo often attached to this genre. With unrestricted and clever production to match, it’s a debut to savour. DELS doesn’t need to big talk his own abilities – reviewers like me will sure enough do that with our own gobs.
Words: Ben Nicholas
‘GOB’ is out now on Big Dada.
