Delerium: “Cloud Barrier” (Spheres I, Dossier 1994)

Bill Leeb and Rhys Fulber’s Delerium project is best known for their huge success in the late 90s collaborating with Kirsty Thirsk and Sarah Maclachlan. However, a dive into their discography reveals a curious trajectory going all the way back to the mid 80s when Leeb started Front Line Assembly as his primary focus. The early albums are more reverberated, goth, and moody, and just before they tried their hand at vocal pop gems they released two sublime deep space transmissions, Spheres I and Spheres II, both on Dossier in 1994. It’s surprising to me that they didn’t just reincarnate Delerium as a different project once it took the shape of vocal collaborations and pop songs, but I suppose that makes their discography that much more interesting and occasionally bewildering.