Delvíng- Hirshbrunnen (Stickman Records Psyhobabble 118)

Delvíng is a solo album by Elder lead singer and guitarist, Nick DíSalvo. He plays all the instruments except some guitar on tracks 3, 5 and 7 by Michael Risberg (Elder).  I am really surprised how good a drummer he is on many of these tracks.  The album is about an hour long and 7 tracks.  It is quite a diverse collection of songs starting off with Ultramarine.  I was quite surprised by the opening grand piano piece. Simple but setting the mood the way the last notes fade into some spacey synthesizers and then the drums and bass kicks in and the mood is changed a lot. Nicks distinct guitar tone and the groove reminds me a bit of Papir, the Danish band on the same label. Nice counterpoint with the synthesizer.  The piano returns and you think it is ending again but no, some spacey synths and the track gets a bit more heavy and the guitar takes the lead with some melodic lines. Delvíng is a mid-paced track with a good drive and more guitar driven although you can hear synths in the background mixed quite low that compliment the main melody. Not a lot of ripping guitar solo work, yet. This track has a bit more of an Elder like stamp on it.  The Reflecting Pool is one of the 3 tracks with Michael playing guitar. It has a nice bass and drum line, melodic post rock like guitar line, then the synth starts to float in and the guitar line becomes guitar keyboard like. Good energy and great melodies. At 3:40 the piano is played briefly before a sequenced modular synth (sounds like it anyway) starts to arppegiate and a new phase of the song begins and is more synth oriented and a lot of spacey sounds. Super nice. Great stuff. 

Wait and See has a sort of darker mood to it with a steady drum and bass and focus to start on the keyboard lines with the guitar coming in after a couple of minutes but mainly playing accents to the keys. Around 4mins the mellotron like keyboard comes in and the drums stop for 20 seconds and then it comes back a bit more intense with the first real rocking guitar solo of the LP so far. The title track is next and starts very spacey and floating, a good contrast to the mood of the previous track. After a bit more than a minute the melodic guitar line kicks in (perhaps Michael?).  This is a beautiful track.  Éinstúrzende Plattenbauten changes the vibe completely and is more experimental psychedelic, especially at the start and then the drums fade up and off we go. Kraut like rhythm and then the guitar and layers of synths help you to disappear into the piece. Just too short though as I was totally into it and it ends before 4 mins. The album ends with the long track called Vast and for me this was the highlight of the album. A true musical masterpiece.  Great work Nick… loved it!!! Check out the great interview with Nick to learn more about this project. 

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