Delta-S:
Voyage To Isis
My #4 Album
in 2011
Released
in 2007
on WindM Records
This page was first posted July 1, 2012
Delta-S band members are Lyte , Lucien, and Colleen Kelly.
This album also features guest appearances by 10 additional musicians.
I first heard Delta-S on the CD that came with Issue #10 of Automata magazine. I used the song from that Automata CD, "Tempest," on my mixtape called "Lovelight In The Darkness." But I didn't become really interested in the album until one day when digging desperately for new Christian music and researching artists that appeared on Automata 10, I ran across Delta-S on MySpace and heard another side to their music…a more electronic side, and a sound that immediately resonated with me. So I hunted down this CD.
DELTA-S LINKS
Delta-S doesn’t seem to have much of a web presence. The only links I could find other than links to their music was their MySpace page and a couple Wikipedia entries.
Delta-S MySpace page:
Listen to more songs from Voyage To Isis at their MySpace page.
Delta-S on Wikipedia:
<<- Click the Play button to hear “Damage Control,” the opening song which sets the stage for the story
The CD is quite rare. The album is available on iTunes, so you can easily get the album, but in CD format, it's a rarity. Yet the CD format is worth looking for if you like CDs. The CD insert is a 12-page full-color booklet with all the lyrics from the album and beautiful pictures. This is the kind of stuff you miss out on with iTunes downloads, not to mention that downloading music means you get the compressed versions. With some styles of music, that's tolerable, but with music this beautiful, this is worth finding the full audio quality of the CD.
The music on this album is hauntingly beautiful, and the album itself is a work of art. This is not 13 songs thrown together to release in one package; the 13 songs all link together in a coherent whole. All of the songs are intermixed, but not like a DJ just mixing two different songs together; the songs flow from one to the next so perfectly that the album is like one big masterpiece. To give you an example, there is one song where the final note of the song, which is sung, rather than ending in the key of the song being finished, lands in the key of the next song beginning. This is what I mean by saying these aren't just songs mixed together like a DJ, but rather, they are designed together in a unified whole.
The dominant musical style on the album is electronic, in a form that I would identify, according to Wikipedia under the entry of EBM, what VNV Nation coined as "futurepop." Futurepop is rooted in EBM but is more melodic and less heavy on the beat. I see from web discussions that labeling music in this field is quite controversial, but I have to choose something to help my readers understand what kind of music I'm talking about here, and "futurepop" is the term I'm going to choose. I identify futurepop as different from synthpop, even though both are electronic based. Synthpop seems to be more rooted in early 80s technopop, with more of a pop music feel in both song structure and lyrical realm. Futurepop is more rooted in EBM or industrial, with a darker and richer sound than what is typically found in synthpop, as well as darker lyrics. At least that's my take on these.
Besides the futurepop-styled electronic pieces on this album, there are some songs -- slower ones -- that feature only piano, and there are a few that are strong in the electric guitars, giving nods to underlying industrial roots. However one might label the specific music on this album, I would say that someone who likes EBM, futurepop, industrial, gothic, or any variety of dark-sounding electronic music would find this something they could at least broadly relate to.
I'm so thankful for the lyric sheet because just as the album is seamlessly unified musically, there also seems to be lyrical theme tying the album together. I say "seems" because the lyrics are not the kind of lyrics that you can sit down and listen to once, or even read through once, and say, "Oh, so that's what these songs are about." It's not until I've listened to the album over time have I begun to get a grasp of the theme of the lyrics, and that the meaning of some of them has begun to become clear. Even now, however, many lyrical bits on this album leave me scratching my head.
Delta-S is a Christian group, and the theme of this album appears to me to be a journey of one who feels sure of himself initially, but begins to see the holes in such self-sufficiency, and as things begin to unravel, he struggles with submitting and handing his heart over to God. But as I said, the lyrics are not clear, and I could be totally off the mark from what the writers of these songs had in mind. However, if lyricists choose to be obscure in what they write, they should be understanding that listeners may miss the point they were making. And in the case of such albums, I say, what matters to me as the listener is, what do I get out of this album? What does it mean to me? How does it make me think about my relationship with God? That is what is important to an album for me, far more important than making sure I have accurately understood whatever message the lyricists are trying to convey, particularly when poetic beauty is given priority over clarity.
My favorite song on the album, both musically and lyrically, is in the middle of the album, track 8, which clocks in at a few seconds shy of 8 minutes, "The Phoenix Effect." Kirsty Hawkshaw sings,
I felt the lightest touch
In the corners of my mind.
I slipped into a dream.
I caught a glimpse of hope
In the shadows of the night.
"Still beauty at the end of all things."
Oh my love, you are inside of me
And I'll take you all the way.
But I am afraid to see
Your wonders in me displayed.
I tried to save the best for last.
I know you're worth it, but I'm not enough.
I've got a standard to match,
While I bide my time on the basement floor.
I've tried to rise above the clouds
I've got to feel it, but you're not around
Hold me too close for words, or shut me down.
I threw myself into the endless night.
Give me something real.
I've crossed the line and I can't look back.
Toward the end of the song, the male singer Lyte (who is also the primary songwriter on the album) joins in as the song builds in power and emotion. It is magnificent.
So from my own personal perspective, here are some lyrical snippets that are particularly meaningful to me.
From "Damage Control": "I gave up everything to find you…I left this world behind to meet you, for you are wonderful. … Forty past midnight and I'm all alone, on my knees, begging for you. … Freedom is the light in your fingertips."
From "Waiting For The Sunrise": "I closed my eyes, seeking something deeper still…The night is swiftly falling and giving way to moonlight…. Are the oceans livid with your rage? Do the trees reveal your secret name, oh Lord? … Lesser men have come and gone, still I'm waiting for the sunrise. … Hear me."
"The Summoning Of The Sea" is a beautiful electronic piece sung by Lauren Edman. I don't understand the total meaning of the song or its place in the album, but certainly I like these lyrics she so sweetly sings: "Baby, don't you worry, 'cause I'm right here by your side, watching you sleep, watching you dream." It sends tingles down my spine.
Then of course there is "Tempest," the song that introduced me to Delta-S.
I'm undefeated by you.
I am holy, I am beautiful.
My face is all you need.
I give you everything
…
I give you what you need
…
I'll resolve to steal your spirit and take control
But you won't hear it.
…
My flesh is all you need.
I give you everything. You watch me bleed.
I break the shadow's hold.
To me this is like the climax of the album, where God comes in the whirlwind of his glory, reminiscent of his appearance to Job, and is like, "Here I am, I am holy, I have what you need, I showed you my love through the crucifixion…why do you fight against me?"
Following this is a mostly instrumental electronic piece with female vocals (no words except "oh my love") which I see as beholding the wonders of God and being speechless, and the heart melting into submission of love. The album then closes with "Isis," a slow piano piece that I think indicates the end of the fighting, giving up and submitting to God.
I'm calling your name
Turn my heart around.
I turned to face my enemy
Who stole me from the glory
Of my revealing.
But for all my cunning,
I came back with nothing.
All we have comes from God, and we can bring nothing to him but a broken heart of repentance.
Again there are obviously other interpretations to these lyrics, but I want to share with you the meaning I get from them and why this album is so moving to me. The music is right down my line, with gorgeous electronic sounds that reach deep into my bones and make me feel so good. The artistic nature of the album gives it an epic feel that brings a sense of awe. The lyrics reflect the way we wrestle in our human nature with God, fighting him even though he only loves us and wants was best for us. In musical style, in lyrical depth and poetic expression, in artistic unity, this album is a work of art.
