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Published at 1:48pm
Published on 7/24/08
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On a nippy fall night in 2000, two promising bands played at Knitting Factory: Glasgow quartet the Delgados and a greener opening act, Interpol. The Delgados, fresh off a terrific third album (The Great Eastern), offered everything you could hope for in an indie-rock act. They were funny between songs and poignant within them, with two distinct lead vocalists, including guitarist Emma Pollock, whose sigh could melt the blackened heart of a hedge-fund manager. The openers, for their part, were better dressed. Needless to say, seven years on, Interpol is filling Madison Square Garden and the Delgados are no more, victim of the malaise rampant among the cultishly adored and underappreciated. “When you’re 20, touring is the most exciting part of being in a band,” Pollock reasons. “But once you’ve done it a few times, and people begin to have children and build a more solid bond with where they live, it becomes very, very difficult.”
Such obstacles may have thwarted the Delgados—they disbanded last year with five albums under their belts—but not Pollock. This month, the singer unveils her solo debut, Watch the Fireworks, a stylish collection of songs that are at times pretty, at others fiery. The album lacks the male vocal foil the Delgados provided, but with tender Scottish pop enveloped in lush, busy production, it strays little from that band’s sound. One of the record’s sharpest ballads, “Fortune,” even laments a group of old friends heading in new directions.
Of course, it will prove difficult for the singer to turn her back on her years with the Delgados: She is married to drummer and producer Paul Savage (the couple has a five-year-old son), and all four musicians continue to run Chemikal Underground, a heralded record label that has released work by Arab Strap and Mogwai, among others. “I never thought that we were one of those bands that would continue regardless of any obstacles that might come along,” Pollock says. “But it was still a real shock when it ended. Of course, now that I’m a solo act, I can’t split up ever again! I think it’s going to be great. And difficult. It’s never easy to sit in a van with four or five individuals for five weeks.”
Emma Pollock opens for the New Pornographers at Webster Hall Oct 24 and 25. Watch the Fireworks is out Tue 11 on 4AD.
