Marks To Prove It

3枚のアルバムの成功でUKを代表するバンドへと成長したサウス・ロンドン出身5人組、ザ・マッカビーズ。クールでダンサブルなアート・ロックを展開する待望の4作目がついにリリース!今作アルバムは彼らのスタジオ、エレファント・スタジオにてレコーディングされ、ローリー・ラッサム(ロバート・プラント、ザ・ポリス、エコー&ザ・バニーメン)とバンドメンバー、ヒューゴ・ホワイトが共同プロデュースしている。今までのアルバムで得た経験と活かし、自信とパワーに満ち溢れた楽曲が収録され、女性バックボーカルを起用した事によりエモーショナルなアルバムに仕上がっている。

After having their highest-charting album to date in the U.K. with 2012's Top Five and Mercury Prize-nominated Given to the Wild, the Maccabees hit some rough waters in the recording process for their fourth studio long-player, with the bandmembers reporting that they struggled to settle on a production style. They eventually attempted to create a replicable live sound more so than on prior studio albums, particularly the aforementioned cinematic Wild. The result is the more immediate but still weighty and expressive Marks to Prove It. It follows the example of its predecessor in sharing a more pensive, weary tone than prior releases, so it doesn't feel like a departure as much as a subtle maturation spelled out in lyrics like "Your best friends forgive you/Your best friends forget you get old." The record is also peppered with glimmering synths, loaded with guitar effects, and visited by brass and sax solos, as on "Dawn Chorus," so there's no stagnation in sound resulting from the attempted reeling in of design. The rockin' lead-single title track is an exception to the deliberate pacing of the rest of Marks to Prove It and is a highlight, if not the highlight, of the record. A galloping, guitar-chugging tune with switching meters, big drum fills, and vocal wails, the lyrics again reflect a jaded, existential outlook, observing "Over the summer a lot changed/And they all changed to keep up with it....Take a photo of it/Come back years on and wonder why you took it." In contrast, the piano-led "Silence" offers the album's most delicate delivery (with vocals by guitarist Hugo White), but not without dissonant guitar noise and spoken-word samples. Somewhere in between, "Spit It Out" is remindful of early U2 in its driving, determined wistfulness, and "River Song" is a howling, saxophone-enhanced power waltz. Overall, Marks to Prove It feels a bit anxious, but that's not necessarily to its detriment, and four LPs in, the Maccabees are still making smart and sophisticated Brit guitar rock. ~ Marcy Donelson|

前作が全英4位を記録して勢いに乗る、南ロンドン出身の5人組が放った4作目。序盤こそ鋭利なギター・リフを炸裂させ、ポスト・パンク・リヴァイヴァル・グループとしての面目躍如といった内容だが、中盤以降はインディー・フォークっぽい仕上がりだ。ピアノやホーンを交えたノスタルジックかつインテリジェンスを感じさせるそのアンサンブルと、バンドの魅力のひとつである艶やかな歌声との相性も悪くない。
bounce (C)山口智男