Formed back in 2020 by romantic partners and collaborators Rebecca Allan (lead and backing vocals, bass) and James Lynch (lead and backing vocals, guitar, synths), rising Melbourne-based garage punk outfit Delivery initially featured members of several local bands including The Vacant Smiles, Gutter Girls and Blonde Revolver.
2021 saw the release of the Aussie outfit’s debut EP Yes We Do. Building upon a growing profile, the band released their full-length debut, 2022’s Forever Giving Handshakes, which featured singles “Baader Meinhof” and “The Complex” to critical applause from the likes of NME, who called the album “a lively record full of guitar interplay and sociopolitical critique” and Tone Deaf, who wrote that the album was “an exercise in controlled chaos, songs threatening to fall apart at any moment, but it all coolly remains together . . . ” The album also landed on Rolling Stone Australia‘s Top 10 albums list of 2022 while receiving airplay on Henry Rollins’ KCRW show.
The band’s current lineup Allan and Lynch, along with Jordan Oakley (guitar, backing vocals), Scarlett Maloney (guitar, backing and lead vocals) and Liam Kenny (drums) will be releasing their highly-anticipated sophomore album Force Majeure on January 17, 2025 through Heavenly Recordings. The 12-song album reportedly builds upon the promise that their full-length debut showed while featuring material that’s concise, direct yet forceful.
Force Majeure‘s third and latest single “Only A Fool” is a punchy, hook-driven post-punk stomp that quickly settles into a steady, chugging “Psycho Killer” groove paired with a languid yet forceful guitar solo, and an insouciant, bratty and too-cool-for-school vocal, before concluding with a loose jammy coda.
“‘Only A Fool’ might just be the most uninhibited moment in capturing this album’s all-in dynamic at full steam,” the band explains. “Lisa brought in the guitar chords, vocal line and lyrics, and then gave everyone free rein to do their thing which means everyone’s individual flare gets a moment across the track. Also might explain why this song features Delivery’s only ever jam-out ending.”
A vital and concise record which thrills with its direct simplicity and excitement, recalling the likes of Parquet Courts or early Modern Lovers, Force Majeure (rarely does a title so aptly describe the contents) opens with the controlled explosion of recent single ‘Digging The Hole’ and doesn’t let up apart from occasional journeys into post punk territory on the Television-esque ‘New Alphabet’ and the wonderfully Wire-ish ‘What Else’.
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