Sykonee's 'Sportsing' Surveys: DELERIUM / CONJURE ONE

Ah, Delerium. Some love 'em. Some hate 'em. Some loved 'em before they hated 'em. Some didn't know they existed for a decade before coming to love 'em. A great many more are probably indifferent but know at least one or two of their songs - typically in a remixed fashion. Wherever you stand on their worth, it's undeniable the group - primarily helmed by Bill Leeb, with Rhys Fulber as his frequent fellow muse, and a whole gaggle of lady vocalists in later years, have done much in the worlds of musical scenes most would deem incompatible. Are they really so?

Yes, if you were to take their very earliest industrial and dark ambient records against their most recent ethereal dance-pop outings, you'd wonder how that link ever formed. Or at least I wondered. And with wonder comes an interest in exploring an entire discography. Buckle-up, me buckos, this one's a three decades spanning dive!





























That sure was a dive that felt longer than I anticipated - probably didn't help I took on an additional discography in the process. That'd be like if I'd done all the solo albums of the original Genesis band members along with that band's primary output! Felt like I'd have done Rhys dirty if I didn't include his stuff with Leeb's though: the two remain so synced with each other after all these years, and the two projects were relatively similar overall. Ooh, does this mean I'll be tackling all the other Leeb/Rhys projects out there? Front Line Assembly does have quite the extensive discography too, not to mention other, smaller outings like Synesthasia.

Hhmm, no, I need to listen to something a bit different for a while. How does New Order sound to y'all?

Delerium - Archives, Vol. 2

Nettwerk: 2001

I know the album Poem from Delerium has its fans, but for me it was a watered-down retread of Karma. After learning that Rhys Fulber had 'left' the partnership to pursue his own Conjure One project, I figured Delerium done. Joke's on me, Leeb and Fulber reconvening and adding four more albums to the Delerium discography since. Can't blame me for such an assumption though. When retrospective compilations hit the market, it's only natural to think a group is moving on.

Thus were my thoughts with Archives, released just after Poem, and seemingly as a stamp on the Delerium saga. Archives Vol. 1 would naturally cover all of their cross-over material (three albums is usually enough to cobble together a greatest hits package), while Vol. 2 would take a surprising dive into Delerium's pre-Nettwerk era. At least, that's what I assumed, hence why I only sprung for this collection and not Vol. 1. Turns out Vol. 1 reached even further back, when Leeb's pairing with Fulber had just started Delerium as little more than a side-project to Front Line Assembly, material only the earliest followers of their music would be aware of. That's remarkably bold of Nettwerk, assuming interest in the group had grown so substantial, they could capitalize on stuff in stark contrast to radio-friendly ethno-chill tunes featuring Sarah McLachlan. Maybe Leeb curried favours from the label, resuscitating stuff from his defunct Dossier print before Cleopatra somehow claimed total ownership over it.

What's interesting about Archives Vol. 2 is it also captures Delerium in transition. It covers three albums from their discography: Spiritual Archives, Spheres and Spheres II, the former essentially capping off their dark ambient period. And boy does it show on the track Drama, creepy industrial clank and melodramatic orchestration the name of the game there. Ephemeral Passage goes for the ominous yet angelic mood music, whereas Aftermath and Awakenings sound like the Front Line Assembly downtempo b-sides Delerium was.

Spheres, meanwhile, found Leeb and Fulber moving beyond the dusty catacombs and gothic planes in search of the outer realms of their muses. For sure it's still dark ambient, but spacier, emptier; music for traversing the Stargates of the Old Ones. Look, they ain't subtle about this, one of the tracks titled Monolith, and using the air ventilation sound effects from 2001: A Space Odyssey. To say nothing of the failing life supports beeping at the end of Hypoxia. There's some interesting ideas floating about the two Spheres showcases (almost the entirety of Spheres II is included on CD2), but some tracks seem to go on and on with no clear focus. Lots of weird sci-fi sound-effects, decent trip-hop beats, some toying around with acid and Delerium's distinct ethereal synth pads. The pure ambient pieces are quite lovely though.

Still, the most interesting take with the Spheres portion of Archives Vol. 2 is “they were making this concurrently with Semantic Spaces?” Makes you wonder what their future would have held had the Nettwerk debut flopped, doesn't it.

Delerium - Semantic Spaces

Nettwerk: 1994

It was a perfect point in my musical development that I stumbled upon Delerium's first forays into crossover ethno-pop. The acts that had served as my introduction to the genre weren't doing it for me anymore, the allure of thicker, dubbier beats drawing me deeper to the underground. Yet I hadn't ventured that far from familiar shores either, a compilation or two about my only exposure to the likes of Orb, FSoL, and BdG. How could I know Bill Leeb and Rhys Fulber raided a ton of famous beats and sounds from prominent acts and famous tunes? Besides, it's not like Semantic Spaces' intended audience would know either, the album marking a reinvention of the Delerium brand for a potential new listener base of New Age stay-at-home mothers.

Or not. Whatever commercial roads the duo travelled in the wake of Karma doesn’t really apply at this earlier point in their career. Front Line Assembly was still their biggest draw, Delerium mostly relegated to dark ambient noodling, a chance to explore weird soundscapes and abstract songcraft. The label Nettwerk itself was also in transition, moving away from the EBM and ethereal synth-pop acts that defined its ‘80s output (Skinny Puppy, Moev, Single Gun Theory). Even Nettwerk’s biggest star, Sarah McLachlan, had yet to break out of local stardom, mostly making music that wouldn’t sound out of place on 4AD.

It’s that influence, more than anything, that marks Semantic Spaces style. There was no real crossover attempt here because neither the name Delerium nor Nettwerk had much impact yet beyond the scenes that already nurtured them (and even rejected by hard-line industrial sorts). Some of the sampling that goes on here is a bit much though – Flatlands is basically a beefed-up early Enigma tune, and it’s difficult hearing Consensual Worlds without thinking of The Orb, much less the bell hook and native chants in Sensorium without thinking of Origin Unknown or Deep Forest. Yeah, quite a few of these came from sample discs used throughout the industry, but sometimes an act uses it so definitively, anything after comes off like a cheap copy. That said, I fully endorse the use of that Meat Beat Manifesto break in Resurrection. Paupa New Guinea’s a classic, but it don’t have no Vangelis choir chant, mang!

Semantic Spaces finds its proper stride when Leeb and Fulber write music with less emphasis on the samples they crib. The two vocal tracks with Kristy Thirsk are some of Delerium’s best, Flowers Become Screens hitting great gothic grooviness (!?) and Incantation a ridiculously catchy club cut (that chorus!). The remaining instrumentals - Metaphor, Metamorphosis, and Gateway - ride ethno-ethereal trip-hop vibes as expertly as you’d ever find in the early ‘90s, never coming off sap or cliché.

Aw man, those darn nostalgia headphones are on my head again, aren’t they. Whatever. Semantic Spaces doesn’t demand fastidious critiquing – it is what it is, and you can either despise it for that, or embrace your inner Wiccan goddess. Or something.

Various - Organism 02

Dossier: 1995

Dossier was one of the giants of the German industrial scene, harbouring such long-lasting acts like Psychic TV, Chrome, and Controlled Bleeding. It was also Delerium's early home, back when Bill Leeb and Rhys Fulber were better known by their EBM project Front Line Assembly. They must have gotten quite chummy with the reps of Dossier, because they were also commissioned for a brief run of compilations titled Organism. Judging by the names that cropped up on these discs (that I recognize), it was intended as a showcase of fellow Vancouver acts, put together for Leeb and Fulber’s own short-lived Esoteric Music, and distributed by Dossier. So obviously Delerium’s got a few tracks on these compilations. There’s also Keith Arem of Contagion (who did some score work for assorted PC games), and DV8R, who I feel like I recognize from somewhere, despite small Discogs presence. Oh, and Adham Shaikh’s prominently featured too, because when you think of industrial and dark ambient, you think ethnically-tinged meditation music. Wait, what?

Surprisingly, the Shaikh tracks fit with Organism 02’s general industrial aesthetic, probably because he made them specifically for this compilation (so sayeth The Discogs). Equilibrium is totally dark ambient, creepy pads and synths dripping with claustrophobic fear of shadows and alien abduction. Relativity has more of a primitive tribal-trance thing going for it, which would sound cool as a Pychick Warriors Ov Gaia remix, but rather odd for a Shaikh tune, especially considering Journey To The Sun came out around the same time as this compilation. Maybe these were older, unused tunes?

Delerium also got in on the exclusivity action, their track Infra Stellar only appearing on Organism 02. Until it showed up again on the Cleopatra’s Leeb collection Cryogenic Studios a few years later. And then on Nettwerk’s second Delerium collection Archives Vol. 2. Okay, so Organism 02 isn’t so tantalizing for Delerium completists anymore; maybe Shaikh completists though. The track itself? Eh, this was during the duo’s transitional phase, figuring things out in the sample-heavy world beat field while retaining their dark ambient goth sound. They’ve done better.

The other acts, then. Are they worth the inevitable fiver burning your loins should you happen across Organism 02 in a used shop? Virtual unknown Nigel provides a lovely bit of ambient techno in Anemone, while DV8R and Sect go the borderline-psy acid trance route. The Pilgrims Of The Mind’s Paramedilia sounds like it was inspired by early dub-house, though played far straighter than The Orb ever would. All of these are fine tunes for the price you’re likely to find them at, though your collection won’t suffer if you decide to skip on them either.

The Organism series lasted a couple years after this one, ending at 04, and about the time Delerium started their proper crossover push. Guess they couldn’t multi-task as before. It’s a nice snapshot of industrial’s early association with ambient and trance though, a relationship that often goes overlooked these days.

Delerium - Karma (2013 Update)

Nettwerk: 1997

(Click here to read my original TranceCritic review.)


Oh my God! I had no idea Leeb and Fulber recycled the main melody in Twilight from their earlier Front Line Assembly tune Outcast. Have they no shame? Ah, who cares, it's a great melody. Okay, that sorted...

That Silence, a track receiving very little promotion when Karma first hit the streets, would go on to (sadly) define Delerium forever after - and who’s subsequent remixes would also inspire a whole slew of copycat vocal trance upstarts - has always surprised me. Reflecting on the whole phenomenon as I re-listened to this album, however, I was struck by something even more surprising: why wasn't this song more heavily promoted? I mean, Sarah f’n McLachlan’s on the vocals, at a time when her star was finally breaking through into mainstream recognition (or was that Canada’s hype machine going into overdrive?). Who cares about that chick from Single Gun Theory or Ms. McLachlan’s backup singer when you have the real deal providing pipes on a song? I guess Nettwerk did, tapping Euphoric and Duende for lead single duty instead (sorry, Kristy Thirsk, you already got two singles to your credit on the previous Delerium album).

I’ve already touched upon why such collaboration made sense in my old review. On the other hand, perhaps Nettwerk was uncertain whether the two had audiences within the same sphere. Despite a following career suggesting otherwise, Leeb and Fulber’s ambient side-project was still considered more in line with the industrial and goth scene most knew them by. It wouldn’t surprise me if Nettwerk saw potential in turning Delerium from dark, morbid, ambient drone into something commercially viable upon signing them, but even after Semantic Spaces, they fluttered between the two. Karma, however, was definitely taking a proper stab at ‘post-Enigma’ world beat and downtempo; yet only electronic music fans remained aware of the group, even in 1997. Lord knows I couldn’t namedrop Delerium to anyone outside my music circle without getting confused glances. The cliché may now be that both Delerium and Sarah McLachlan appeal to the same demographic (middle-aged housewives into spiritualism and that), but it was far from the case when Karma came out. Sarah had her fans in the folk music scene, Delerium had their fans in… elsewheres, and you’d never catch either of them interacting (unless by accident if they were watching a MuchMusic Countdown video with both making the list).

G'uh, I’ve spent way too much time on Silence, something I should instead do when I review the single-proper (which is never). Whatever the initial intent behind the song was, it went on to dominate Delerium’s sound forever after (ethereal, gothic world beat pop with guest female vocals). Ugh, it was okay as intermittent tracks spaced out between the pure instrumentals (if you can count a bunch of ethnic and Gregorian chants as ‘instrumental’), but not as their defining characteristic. Karma struck the right balance, and small surprise it remains a favourite for new and old fans alike.

Delerium - Karma (Original TC Review)

Nettwerk Records: Cat. # 067003311426 

Released 1997 

 Note: Limited edition two disc release (15, 000 copies). 

 Second disc also includes CD-ROM material. 

 Track List: 

DISC 1 

1. Enchanted (8:30) 

2. Duende (5:22) 

3. Twilight (6:07) 

4. Silence (6:33) 

5. Forgotten Worlds (7:32)

6. Lamentation (8:33) 

7. Euphoria (Firefly) (5:27) 

8. Remembrance (7:28)

9. Wisdom (4:48) 

10. Koran (10:05) 

11. Till The End Of Time (4:36) 

 

DISC 2 

1. Heaven's Earth (8:18) 

2. Window To Your Soul (10:18) 

(2010 Update: Probably one of my better early attempts, though obviously still stuck in "ridiculously detailed" mode. I was quite eager to do this one because I felt I got lucky in owning the early special edition, and wanted to show it off. Still a great album too. Oh, and apparently Koran was removed due to an uncleared sample issue. So now we know.) 

Despite critical acclaim as both Delerium and Front Line Assembly, Bill Leeb and Rhys Fulber were never able to break through to the mainstream. Signing with Nettwerk seemed to help them gain some ground, as the Canadian based label would put forth a strong PR campaign for their follow-up to the seminal Semantic Spaces. Living in their base of operations at the time, I was hard pressed to not notice promotion for Karma. Quite often the morning radio would be playing one of the first two singles. 

In which tends to be a Delerium trademark, plenty of background textures and elements to keep the acute listener busy starts out most of Enchanted. Trotting horse-drawn carriages, African chants, harps, and dark atmospherics create an ominous intro. However, once the meat of the song starts, it feels a little lacking. Accompanied by a simple bit of rhythm, Kristy Thirsk's singing seems to have been put through so many different effects and filters that many of the lyrics are lost and indiscernible (thankfully, the album comes complete with printed lyrics). Some extra electronics, Gregorian chants, flutes that weave about, and a bouncy bass line encompass the rest but aren't given much prominence beyond a few bridges. 

Duende grabs our attention immediately though, with an intro that builds quite nicely using an organ melody, string pads, Pygmy chants, and percussion. Soon enough, things settle into a nice, heavy breakbeat. Carried by the vocals of Camille Henderson (a backup singer for Sarah McLachlan) Duende really soars along, including a chorus that is incredibly catchy, even if you can't quite make out what's being said again. Yes, like Enchanted, this song also seems to suffer a little from singing put through a few too many effects to render them almost unintelligible to the casual listener. However, they are sung with far more passion and energy than Enchanted so it doesn't really matter. It flows just as well with this up-beat track as the sampled singing of Pygmies. With rich, sweeping pads to accentuate Camille Henderson's singing and a nice arrangement of background textures to fill in any sonic gaps, Duende could easily be the front-runner for best track on Karma. 

That is, until Twilight starts. What a rich sounding song! Every element used fits so perfectly together that it makes Twilight an incredible aural excursion. Subtle electronic keys and stabs weave in and out of reverb percussion while ethereal voice pads float over tribal chants. Solo use of pianos and synths add to the diversity throughout, never allowing the song to fall into repetitiveness. Why this song never became a single is just bizarre; I guess the lack of singing hurt it in that regard, as lyric-less music rarely hits the mainstream. 

And speaking of mainstream, here is the song that changed more than one career: Silence. A collaboration between label-mates Sarah McLachlan and Delerium probably sounded good on paper: get your label's biggest star to feature on a track and you just may end up attracting her fans as well, pushing a few extra copies in the process. Okay, cynicism aside, the Delerium boys were anxious to collaborate with her regardless. Oddly enough, by having no featuring credits on the track titles, her contribution only became evident later on, after two hit singles had already established Karma a success. Listening to it at the time of its release, Silence didn't seem as important as, say, Duende. 

Oh, the song itself? A solid enough affair, as Sarah McLachlan’s voice does suit the Delerium fold. Gregorian chants over acoustic guitar start things off. These chants sound so good in themselves that I wish they could have been used a little more often during the song. However, once Sarah picks up the reigns, her voice carries the rest (thankfully, free of any major effects so her full vocal talents can be utilized) and the Gregorians are regulated to the background afterwards. Musically, everything from electronic pulses to piano arpeggios keep things on pace but never overtakes Sarah's singing in prominence. Good emotional stuff here, although I have to admit I don't find Silence as riveting as the previous two tracks, probably because this song is more about McLachlan than Delerium, and, as such, the music is there merely to service her and just doesn't stand out as much. 

Returning to instrumentals is Forgotten Worlds, where a somber string pad plays as bells chime in the distance. Worldly elements such as ethnic percussion, flutes, and sitars play about for a minute of lead-in before tinkling and eerie electronic pulses and pads take us onward with a chunky rhythm that'll get your head bobbing. When these organic and electronic devices are put together, the song is full of life, even when given a solo. However, a vocal of operatic influence throughout Forgotten Worlds (a cleared sample from Dead Can Dance, I believe) also makes this track sound more dreary than it would have without it. 

The next song, Lamentation, has a lot in common with Forgotten Worlds, especially the somber, dreary atmosphere. However, considering this track's title, that's probably the point. As a dark pad permeates, flutes, tribal chants, and acoustic strums are used sparingly along with organic percussion for the first three minutes, creating quite a saddening atmosphere. Eventually, though, things pick up a bit with some electronic pulses and simple percussion; just enough to make it sound more interesting but also takes away from the somber atmosphere initially established. Lamentation still sounds rather depressing but a little more intuitive than Forgotten Worlds as elements come and go. 

A dark, dreary, ambient beginning starts Euphoria (Firefly) off, becoming a somewhat repetitive theme in the album now considering the previous two tracks used it as well. However, it quickly gives way to a more upbeat percussion and a bassline that is about as funky as this album will get. Many of the elements sound similar to Silence, including lyrics sung by Jaqui Hunt (of Single Gun Theory fame) taking center stage. But where Silence sounded organic, Euphoria sounds quite synthetic with its use of more electronic instrumentation to carry the song along. A nice variation on a similar theme already utilized on the same album. 

Remembrance is now the fourth song in a row to use a dark ambient intro, this time with more natural instrumentation. A minute and a half later, things kick into epic proportions with fantastic use of ethnic wind instruments, Gregorian chants, electronic pulses, and simple but direct percussion. Sweeping string pads carry things along, linking all these unique elements with graceful subtlety. What it has in great instrumentation, however, the song seems to lack a little in overall direction. It isn't a major concern though, as Remembrance sounds great on its own merits. 

Taking a step away from the dreary intros is Wisdom. Rather, we are introduced to a slow arpeggio that becomes the main musical element that carries this song, switching from electronic to organic instruments throughout in a typical verse/chorus structure.  Kristy Thirsk returns to the vocal duties, this time free of overbearing effects. For the most part though, Wisdom bounces along quite nicely, standing out enough to save it from being a transitional track. 

With Koran, the dark, dreary intro returns, this time using some very spacey pads before settling into more organic elements such as sitars, Islamic chants, and various wind instruments. Everything builds along progressively, never letting anything gain much notice until a solo of some rather emphatic Islamic chants take full front for a chorus of sorts, repeating this structure twice more. Considering how subdued everything else comes across as a whole (think a darker Twilight), this chorus can come across as a little obtrusive, despite enough lead into it that you'll expect it. I guess depending on how much you like this sort of thing will determine how much the chorus feels right or not. 

Finishing out this disc is Till The End Of Time, a track that seems to realize it's at the end of an album. Not too concerned about big moments, it kind of meanders along with lyrics by Thirsk and little sonic samples fluttering about. Probably the most dynamic element to this song is percussion that sounds quite unique compared to the rest of the album. It sounds more mechanical and choppy, despite all of its organic instrumentation use. Aside from that, nothing much else new here that hasn't already been heard on the album in one form or another (well, aside from a dreary intro). 

Now that I've covered the original album, allow me to delve into the bonus disc that was limited to fifteen thousand copies (one of which I own, heh). For a B-Side, Heaven's Earth sounds amazing! Delerium's love of wind instruments, acoustic guitars, and ethnic chants continues with a two and a half minutes long lead in. Slow, punchy rhythm kicks in with spacey synth pads as Kristy Thirsk starts to sing, somewhat unintelligibly again (like Enchanted), but quite frankly it doesn't matter this time around; the chorus absolutely soars! Melding of organic and synthetic is once again flawless in execution, creating a sonic delicacy. How did this not end up on the original release of Karma? As a track, it is a bit stand-alone, in that it would have been a tough song on an album to follow while maintaining a consistent flow. Heaven's Earth could still have made for an excellent opener, though; much better than the rather mediocre Enchanted. 

The second of the two bonus tracks here is Window To Your Soul, a song that actually ended up replacing Koran on many subsequent copies of Karma after the album's initial release. I'm not sure why this was done, though. With an album filled with dark, ambient intros, this track probably has the darkest of them all. Moody atmospherics permeate a foreboding background while melding of organic and electronic instrumentation continues to flow effortlessly together. Four minutes later, things become much lighter. Pleasant electronics pulse about as benign Gregorian chants weave in and out of mellow, spacey pads. Window To Your Soul is very much a yin/yang track. 

The CD-ROM material on the bonus disc includes videos of earlier Delerium singles, information on the contributing vocalists, and audio clips of interviews with Leeb and Fulber, detailing their musical influences and ideas when approaching Karma (I found one such clip about how they took a boom-box with some pre-recorded music to a church to record an authentic Gregorian choir quite amusing). 

The debate's been done to death whether Karma marked the beginning of the end (“those lyrics ruined their sound!”) or the end of the beginning (“those lyrics enhanced their sound!”) for Delerium. The way I see it, you get the best of both worlds with this release. The vocal tracks here are arguably some of the best ever done under the Delerium banner and the instrumentals are catching Leeb and Fulber in their studio prime. Those getting this album for the big singles may be turned off by some of the instrumentals though, especially when many of the intros sounds quite similar (patience has never been a virtue for track skippers). If you can find it, I recommend getting this version of Karma, as not only do you get the excellent Heaven's Earth, but also the now relatively rare Koran as well, a track that really didn't deserve to be shunted. 

Score: 9/10 

ACE TRACKS:

Duende 

Twilight 

Heavens Earth 

Written by Sykonee. Originally published 2004 for TranceCritic.com.© All rights reserved.