Keep It Simple (Delays song)

Last updated
"Keep It Simple"
KeepItSimple.jpg
Single by Delays
from the album Everything's the Rush
B-side
  • "Cherry Cherry" (CD)
  • "One More Lie in Pt.2" (7" vinyl 1)
  • "Go Slowly" (7" vinyl 2)
Released11 August 2008 (CD)
Genre Indie
Length4:11
Label Fiction Records
Songwriter(s) G Gilbert, A Gilbert
Delays singles chronology
"Hooray"
(2008)
"Keep It Simple"
(2008)

"Keep It Simple" is the second single released from Delays' third studio album, Everything's the Rush . Like the previous single it was available for pre-order, came in three formats and was thus inegelible for UK chart entry. It was released on 11 August 2008. [1] The B-side of the single is a cover version of Neil Diamond's "Cherry Cherry".

Contents

Music video

The music video for the song stars Ewen Macintosh ("Keith" from the UK comedy series The Office ) as an overweight man jogging through North-East London, the video cuts between him jogging and the band playing the song in a front yard. After a while the man walks into a fast food outlet and orders a large unhealthy meal and attempts to jog and eat at the same time, only to result in him having a heart attack and dying in the middle of the road. [1]

His spirit rises to heaven where angels shower him in fast food but after a while the angels turn into demons and begin hassling him. His spirit returns to his body and he wakes up with the fast food lying next to him. He takes a bite of the burger and walks off, much to the disapproval of the onlooking band.

In the making of the "Keep It Simple" video, keyboardist Aaron described the heaven/hell part as signifying that fast food is quite literally heaven and hell for you. [2]

Critical reception

An indieLondon review of the album stated that "Keep It Simple" "bounces shimmering piano hooks off crunching riffs and more strings to create another giddy treat." [3] Ian Cohen of Pitchfork Media thought that "Keep it Simple", along with two other tracks from the album sounded "like Pavlovian biscuits of phony populism". [4] Clash described it as an "epic heartbreak anthem" and "a melancholic salute to 60s pop in a way that only Delays can pull off". [5]

Track listing

CD single
  1. "Keep It Simple"
  2. "Cherry Cherry"

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References

  1. 1 2 Gregory, Jason (2008) "Office TV Star Suffers 'Heart Attack' Filming Delays Music Video", Gigwise.com, 26 June 2008, retrieved 1 April 2010.
  2. "DELAYS - Keep It Simple (The Making Of)" on YouTube, retrieved 1 April 2010.
  3. "Delays - Everything's The Rush", indieLondon, retrieved 1 April 2010.
  4. Cohen, Ian (2008) "Delays Everything's The Rush", Pitchfork Media, May 28, 2008, retrieved 1 April 2010.
  5. Murray, Robin (2008) "Delays to Release Single", Clash , 1 July 2008, retrieved 1 April 2010.