The band recorded more than 25 songs with Paul Epworth at The Church Studios, and were intent on keeping the "collaborative spirit" of their live shows and 2016 EP Johannesburg.[2]Marcus Mumford has said that much of the album was recorded in "non-gender specific Friday night lads sessions" with friends where they would play music, "smoke cigarettes and have a great time".[2] Around 100 people were involved in these sessions, with some being featured on the record, including American singer-songwriters Maggie Rogers and Gill Landry.[2]
Music and themes
Delta has been called an album that "draw[s] on the shared experience of being on and off" tour, and distinct from the band's "anthemic" previous album, 2015's Wilder Mind, in that it is more "tender", "introspective and reflective".[1] It incorporates elements of electronica, rap and jazz.[2] It has been said to still contain the "intimacy and jubilance" that the band is known for,[3] but keyboard player Ben Lovett said it is also concerned with "the four Ds: death, divorce, drugs and depression".[2] Mumford spoke to Annie Mac about reusing folk instruments they did not use on Wilder Mind but being "conscious [about] how we can make these instruments sound not like these instruments which opened up a whole new world for us".[1]
Larry Fritzmaurice of Pitchfork compared the album to pop acts Imagine Dragons and Twenty One Pilots, while heavily comparing the album's length and structure to British rock band Coldplay's album X&Y, noting they both share an "imposing length".[4] Piper Westrom of Riff Magazine stated that, in contrast to Wilder Mind's rock-oriented sound, Delta is a pop album.[5]
Promotion
Singles
On 20 September 2018, the band released the lead single, "Guiding Light", followed by "If I Say", a promotional single on 25 October 2018. On 22 February 2019, "Beloved" was released as the album's second single, followed shortly after by an accompanying music video.[6] "Woman" was released as the album's third and final single on 10 May 2019. Following the initial album cycle, the band released "Blind Leading the Blind", a song recorded during the Delta sessions but was not included on the final release.[7] During the COVID-19 pandemic, the band released an early demo of the track "Forever", titled "Forever (Garage Version)", on 8 May 2020.[8]
Delta received mixed reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 59, based on 18 reviews.[12]
^"Czech Albums – Top 100". ČNS IFPI. Note: On the chart page, select 47.Týden 2018 on the field besides the words "CZ – ALBUMS – TOP 100" to retrieve the correct chart. Retrieved 27 November 2018.