Treating your ears to Morgan Delt’s homegrown kaleidoscopic melodiousness endorses venerations of the influential ‘60s psychedelic era. Morsels of The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, The Misty Wizards and more recently Elf Power and The Babe Rainbow are exhumed to produce a captivating sound unique in this day and age. His 2014 self-titled debut album personified madcap, unfettered production which dizzied you at times but Phase Zero is a purified development which sees Delt do-away with some of the uncontrolled oddity which dominated his first LP.
The album is ruled by a fantastic head and toe established by opener I Don’t Wanna See What’s Happening Outside. The dreamy, almost ethereal track is leisurely-paced and acts as the perfect preface for what begs to be a 39-minute otherworldly escapade through uninvested imaginations. A pensive finish to the song uncaps a domineering beginning to The System of 1000 Lies embodied by an authoritarian sitar chord controlling the song throughout.
Delt takes a step back in Another Person, a track which is clean but uninspired. It’s monotonous, not achieving much. Sun Powers ventures through unanticipated crevices but the tempo is such that just when you think it’s reached its climax, Delt regresses. A finish which seems more suited to the Stranger Things soundtrack leaves you confused, almost frightened. Someone is angry in Mssr. Monster, not sure if it’s Delt or the monster and a catchy bassline wafts in and out of a track which ambivalently embodies a tussle.
The expedition is complete and Delt’s celebrations are sounded through an outstanding psych pop finale, Some Sunsick Day. Vocals often lost throughout the rest of the record come to the fore in what is the album’s most exuberant number. Phase Zero is a portrait of Delt’s maturation but is still incomplete in its entirety.
BY TOM PARKER
