Though Delorean Gray released his first batch of recorded material over a year ago, his latest album, Star Tropics, serves as a more fully-realized debut for the project. While that first EP, Hokkaido Overwash, gave the former Fake Flowers songwriter and guitarist an outlet for material outside the realm of his main band, Star Tropics provides listeners with greater insight into Jake Chisenhall’s
escapist sci-fi alter-ego, with all the focus and intention a true debut album deserves. The album picks up right where Hokkaido left off: Delorean wakes up on a beach, delirious and reeling from the effects of the space acid he ate from his previous adventure. He encounters a young woman, Clare, in a chrome bikini and struggles to decipher if this dreamy space vixen is real or just a figment of his imagination. After determining her authenticity, the pair indulge in a series of earthly delights together on the vacation world of Hokkaido IV. Their fun is eventually spoiled, though, when the duo becomes aware of a dastardly plan concocted by the aristonauts, a corrupt and wealthy group of oligarchs in control of Hokkaido IV. Together they must travel across the planet to acquire a spaceship that can take them to the aristonauts’ base on the outer rim of the sun. Chisenhall channels inspiration from The Beach Boys, Japanese city pop, Bossa nova, and the music from the weather channel to create a surreal futurist soundscape, offering moments of indulgence and solace in equal measure. Those familiar with the first Delorean Gray EP, as well as the most recent iteration of Fake Flowers, will find this palette of dreamy, electronic lounge music instantly recognizable, while newcomers will hopefully get carried away by the songwriter’s emphasis on melody and textured arrangements. Star Tropics is the first full-length Delorean Gray release, and a proper introduction to the cosmic romantic’s conceptual vision.
