“The Indelicates are political punk musos attempting to bring the poetry back into pop” – THE GUARDIAN “It’s impossible to overstate how much music today needs The Indelicates; in our darkest hour, hope may yet be at hand” – THE FLY “This is intelligent, poetic indie-rock. In other words, it bears no resemblance to The View, The Fratellis or any other examples of that kind of nonsense” – ARTROCKER Finally, we can all sleep easy at night: the album we’ve all been waiting for has arrived on our doorsteps. It’s the debut album from The Indelicates and it’s entitled ‘ American Demo’, because - in the band’s own words - “let’s face it - that’s what all british indie debuts are”. ‘America’ is the first single from the album sessions and - with its strings, synth breaks and a rockier edge than previous singles - gives a taster of what to expect when the LP is released on Weekender Records in Germany and the UK this spring. Recorded by Primal Scream/Denim producer Brian O’Shaughnessy, the album has a notably broader pallette than the bands’ previous releases with Simon and Julia Indelicate’s guitar, piano and vocals, Ed van Beinum’s drums, Al Clayton’s Guitar and Kate Newberry’s bass backed with strings, synths, hammonds and the occasional steel drum to create a sound that is by turns fragile, frantic and epic. Lyrically, the record is audacious, addressing such uneasy topics as the proximity of romantic dreaminess to fascism (‘Unity Mitford’), the betrayal of feminism (‘Our Daughters Will Never Be Free’), the absence of God (‘…If Jeff Buckley Had Lived’), and the dismay at finding that Rock’n’Roll has descended into an embarrassingly safe self-parody (‘TheLast Significant Statement…’/‘We Hate The Kids’). Slightly rejigged versions of previous Weekender singles ‘Julia We Don’t Live In The ‘60s’ and ‘Sixteen’ also appear. The album cover, showing Julia and Simon, having just Drawn The Line (and painted themselves into a corner), was taken by NME photographer Andrew Kendall at the Barons Court Theatre where Simon recently staged his comedy musical based on the book of Job. Their first single ‘We Hate The Kids’ and second ‘The Last Significant Statement To Be Made In Rock ‘n’ Roll’ were released on Sad Gnome Records which was formed by a small consortium of the band’s fans, specifically to release their debut singles. Jointly produced by Keith Totp (Art Brut) and Les Carter (late of Carter USM), the hugely well-received singles quickly sold out their limited runs. Recent singles ‘Julia, We Don’t Live In The 60s’ and ‘Sixteen’ their first two releases on Weekender Records also sold out within days of release. As the lyrics show quite remarkably, The Indelicates give voice to two formidable young poets. Simon and Julia actually met at a poetry slam (which he won). Simon Indelicate was a performance poet and songwriter for several years before forming the band. In that capacity he performed at the Glastonbury festival and in the grounds of Hastings Castle and supported such specialist celebrities as Murray Lachlan Young and John Cooper Clark. The band are also famous for their “Versions Project” where they let their fans remix their songs as much as they like before making them available for download from their website. The Indelicates are clearly set for great things, and 2007 proved that. Not only did they do three full tours of Germany - twice as headliners; once as main support for Art Brut - but they have been invited to play an official showcase at SXSW 2008. They will incorporate a small US tour into this, and then will be touring the UK and Germany/Austria/Switzerland in April.