There was a time when the rock guitar and the more pop-infused synth sound were sworn enemies. One was seen as serious and old school, the other as a new upstart, which many saw as a passing fashion. I know; I was there. But that was a long time ago, and like an analogue Montague falling in love with a digital Capulet, the two worlds inevitably and spectacularly collided, and a whole new strand of music was born. Under Delusion sits at the cutting edge of that genre.
Blending cool, liquid guitar riffs with dancefloor synth washes and raw swathes of six-string sonics with clubland beats, Music Is My Drug is not just a great song; it is the band’s personal manifesto and mission statement. Music is indeed their drug; it is, by their own admission, the reason that they get up in the morning, the focal point of the band members’ very existence.
Once, before the world saw sense, such a meeting of the old world and the new, musically speaking, would be frowned upon. As with the aforementioned Romeo and Juliet, such sonic liaisons would only be spoken about in hushed whispers. But now, thanks to a welcome change in attitudes, music makers of the post-genre world are free to mix and match and mould and meld any sounds and styles that they like into new sounds. This makes Music is My Drug not only an extraordinary meeting of classic sounds but also, by its very existance, a reminder of a time when such acts of musical rebellion were frowned upon and the world a poorer place for it. Thanks to bands such as Under Delusion, such a time is consigned to history.