Track by Track: A Guide to Delivery's Nervy & Tense Debut EP 'Yes We Do'

Track by Track is a segment where we interview artists to dig a little deeper and take us inside the tracks of their latest releases. Recently, we caught up with Rebecca Allan and James Lynch of the nervy post-punk outfit Delivery to take us through the inspirations behind the four tracks of their debut EP Yes We Do.

Photo by Sam Harding

Last month, the Melbourne-based post-punk band Delivery released their distinctively twitchy debut EP, Yes We Do via Spoilsport Records, bleeding together one big melodic mash. Forming during lockdown by Rebecca Allan (Gutter Girls, Blonde Revolver) and James Lynch (The Vacant Smiles, Kosmetika), the two-piece project quickly added in Lisa Rashleigh (Soursob), Daniel Devlin (Heir Traffic, House Deposit) and Seamus Whelan (The Vacant Smiles).

Fusing herky-jerky rhythms with scratchy guitars, sweeping beats and buzzing synths, the quintet's tight as hell soundscapes embrace an off-kilter home-recording style that differs from their signature live sound. The spiraling opener "Floored" is tightly-zipped with its pummeling groove and slashing guitar chords, while the shaky "The Explainer" contains wiry guitar lines and heady electronics. Shifting back-and-forth between swelling garage rock and angular post-punk while dissecting classic pop structures, Delivery's debut offering is flawless, offering a fine illustration of their evolution from a duo to a five-piece.

Now that you can hear the entirety of the new EP, read along with the band's track by track guide below.

"Floored"

Rebecca Allan: "For 'Floored,' I kind of had set a goal to try write a song in a real short period of time (sometimes I can get in my head about ideas not being good enough and stuff like that) so really just tried to charge with the idea and make it come together pretty quickly… no going back haha. Lyrically, it is literally about a stain on the carpet in mine and Lisa's apartment—‌we are big believers of shoes off when you enter the home, so naturally we were devastated when the carpet had an imperfection. Maybe it's also about some other things in life that are stuck and hard to get rid of or move on from. I don't know haha maybe just trying to place some meaning that isn’t there or maybe it is??? You can make what you want of that."

"The Explainer"

James Lynch: "This song was one of the first songs that Bec and I worked on together, which came from stitching the turbo keys intro (that was originally a bass idea from Bec) with the guitar thingy that happens next. Probably one of the earliest ideas that we came up with that ended up shaping what Delivery would sound like, which is kinda cool—‌can’t actually remember that thought process though. The song ended up being about how I often find myself wanting to hear the end of stories that really don't matter and how the end of a random anecdote is rarely that interesting anyway. So I guess lyrically the song has no real pay-off, none of the context of the verses matters because the explainer doesn’t need to do any explaining. Also thought the lyric 'What it was was what it was' was sorta funny."

"Rubber"

Allan: "This one was recorded when me and James were living together during Melbourne's first lockdown last year, just based off a pretty simple bouncy bass line that we then worked on together to jazz up a bit. We had the demo with no lyrics recorded for about six months or so and I think I put off writing them until it was absolutely necessary (thinking about that now, Lisa and I came up with some verse lyrics and got to a practice then realized we were a few lines short so we just repeated our favorite parts and said we'd come up with something different later and just never did haha… I guess if it works it works). The lyrics really came to light after a kind of shitty experience buying some things from a music store near me so I guess it's a little diss track to some people that work at some music stores that don’t always take non-male identifying people seriously, not all stores are like this, but it still gets you every now and then."

"Brickwork"

Lynch: "This song was written fairly on the fly, based on a simple guitar idea I had which I mashed with another part that I accidentally stole from a song by another band I play in called the Vacant Smiles. Oops. Despite it being written pretty quickly, the words ended up being a bit more thoughtful which I like. Was mostly written about being more and more aware that if someone isn’t held accountable for being shitty, then their shitty behavior sorta just gets wiped—‌that people end up seeming as good or bad as they are held that way by others. A song about making sure the people you hold highly deserve it."

Yes We Do is out now via Spoilsport Records. Purchase the new 7" here.