Ester

構成数 : 1枚
合計収録時間 : 00:33:26
Personnel: Adam Betts, Valentina Magaletti (percussion). Audio Mixers: Jimmy Lee ; Andy Strange. Recording information: Willmore Studios. In an age where many bands' existences are documented extensively from start to finish, there's something admirable about a band that has more than a shred of mystery surrounding it. Trailer Trash Tracys have mystique to spare, from their bizarre name to the way they released the single Candy Girl/You Wish You Were Red in 2009, then largely disappeared to work on their debut album Ester. Another thing that adds to their intrigue is that unlike many other keepers of the shoegaze/dream pop flame in the 2010s, Trailer Trash Tracys don't rely on walls of towering guitar to create a spacious sound. Instead of piling sounds up, they carve them away, using cavernous reverb to set their songs adrift and making Suzanne Aztoria's vocals the focal point, like a pearl in an oyster. Born in Gothenberg, she brings Nordic cool to Ester's soundscapes, which draw from everything from the Cocteau Twins to David Lynch soundtracks to '50s surf ballads to Trojan dub to more contemporary acts like the Raveonettes and Still Corners. She's the key factor in how well the band mines the tension between innocence and darkness for all it's worth: her deadpan style contrasts the syrupy '50s chord changes of songs like "Candy Girl" and brings a low-key sultriness to "You Wish You Were Red." Of course, it helps that the sounds that surround Aztoria are just as intriguing, particularly on "Englehardt's Arizona," where lightning-fast fretwork is transformed from speed metal into something interstellar, and on "Black Circle," where a surprisingly funky, rubbery bassline nearly steals the spotlight from Aztoria. At times, Trailer Trash Tracys' try-anything attitude overpowers the actual songs, but that doesn't stop Ester from being a fascinating and often haunting debut that just whets the appetite for more. ~ Heather Phares