Delorean have stuck together. They started the band as teenagers in the Basque Country town of Zarautz in Spain, informed by a love of hi-hatfrenzied dance music, then moved to Barcelona, where they fully embraced carefree Mediterranean club music on their celebrated 2010 album, ‘Subiza’.

Amidst a failed relationship, a national financial crisis and an embrace of more sophisticated recording techniques and songwriting, Delorean pushed the stories and dynamics of the album to a more complex place. Lead singer and lyricist Ekhi Lopetegi calls ‘Apar’ their “big production album”, but through his articulate lens, the record’s emotional undercurrent, and the band’s mastery of luxurious, coast-of-Spain beats, ‘Apar’ (the title is a Basque term referring to froth or foam) is something altogether more illuminating.

The lyrics within ‘Apar’ explore the contradiction between being a finite person and feeling compelled to pledge infinite, unconditional love – or friendship, or persistence, or even allegiance – to the other. The global financial crisis has hammered Delorean’s home of Spain, leaving nearly a quarter of the population unemployed while ‘Apar’ was being recorded. In this light, the album’s story of the impermanence of love undergoes a subtle torque, so the record can also be seen to examine the changing nature of not just love, but hope. Like abiding lovers, people persevere and stand firm while something they thought was strong and true erodes around them. Perhaps betraying Lopetegi’s schooling in philosophy, his songwriting begins with a specific, deeply personal event – a breakup – then expands to reach out to anyone.

The album’s poignant cover art unites the universal breakup story of ‘Apar’; inspired by graveyard crosses built by the Basque artist Jorge Oteiza, it depicts two wooden crosses – connected together as if grasping arms in an unconditional embrace – that have been thrown into the sea of Northern Spain. Yet the crosses, though their very form symbolises death, hold on to each other. “Death shall have no dominion” as Lopetegi sings on ‘Dominion’, quoting the poet Dylan Thomas. They’re afloat for now, connected now and ever on the move. Amid turbulence, Delorean have bonded tight too, and with ‘Apar’ the band have made the most powerful, dynamic, and moving album of their career.

Vinyl format includes a download voucher.