It’s impossible to tell exactly who or what a Deluka is. It could be ‘traffic cone’ in Swahili or a particular variety of Japanese cabbage, but one thing is certain: it’s also the name of your new favourite indie disco band that’s Birmingham, England’s hottest export since the Balti curry.
Fresh from playing live dates in New York, the four-piece have recently returned to their base in Clinton Hills, Brooklyn, where they signed to local label VEL Records, from their hometown of Brum to finish their debut studio album due for release in October.
Lead singer Ellie Innocenti explains that the unique Deluka sound doesn’t just come from a guitar, bass and drums.
“It’s influenced by cheap toy keyboards from the 80s and other instruments we found ourselves owning from summers spent scouring car-boot sales. And it’s also influenced by a lot of reckless nights out. We used to go out to clubs in Birmingham to hang out and observe what kind of music would make people lose themselves and feel elated”.
And what kind of music makes the band lose it and feel elated?
“We love indie music as well as lots of New Wave bands from the late 70s and early 80s and modern dance music. Currently we’re listening to LCD Soundsystem, M.I.A., Phoenix, and Chew Lips.”
Ellie’s tastes however are firmly rooted in the fundamental elements of pop rock.
“I always come back to Talking Heads, Bowie, Prince, Iggy, Roxy Music, and Gang Of Four.”
The strikingly photogenic lot have certainly been busy of late, ‘reimagining’ (if only it was that easy to get paid to ‘reimagine’ stuff – I’d literally be making money in my sleep) Ke$ha’s “Tik Tok” into a sassier (if it were possible), slightly darker, dancier version and finding themselves in blog mash-up territory with their track “OMFG” speed dating “We Are Rockstars” by Does It Offend You, Yeah?, the messy result of which is currently being catapulted around the internet.
Although plugging away at their sound since 2005, it’s only recently that they’ve received attention in the US as their fem-fronted, streetwise slick songs have been picked up to soundtrack The City and the VMAs. But the North American tour that followed led them to some less glossy places.
“We once turned up for a show in New Mexico after driving for 12 hours that turned out to be in a local jewellery shop. They didn’t even have a PA or mic stands. We set ourselves up and had to run my vocal through a guitar practice amp – it actually sounded really distorted and pretty punk. But the show turned out to be really loose and cool in the end. All the kids in the audience really made the night for us; they were super nice and really got into it.”
The real jewel that’s the size of a baseball in the Deluka crown is their single “Cascade”; a shimmering post-rave, post-indie, post-pop masterpiece that has your heart wrapped around its bubbling synths and double handclaps from the very beginning. It’s a fresh and defiantly melodic offering that sounds jaded and passionate, tired and alive, and rainy and sunny all while it points the remote control at your feet and sets the dial to ‘dance me happy’.
“Cascade” has also been given the remix treatment including a gently pounding, sparkly 80s workout courtesy of Mattie Safer (ex-The Rapture). This coupled with their upcoming debut album release is sure to boost their worldwide profile even further and ensure that Deluka continues to lead the charge of indie disco excitement for a good while yet.
Catch up with their latest and see where they’re playing live next at twitter.com/deluka
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