Mirror Traffic

Spin - "[A] patient, inviting album that feels like a fresh start....The band have the punchy, relaxed assurance of a group of pros..." Alternative Press - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "[With] simple multi-guitar attacks recast as miniature orchestras, deliriously clever quips, absurd statements, and a melodic intuition..." Rolling Stone - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "Beck produces with a light touch, and Malkmus spools out well-crafted folk tunes, loopy wit, finely wrought prog fantasias and laser-show axmanship." Mojo - 4 stars out of 5 -- "Malkmus returns to the kind of submerged beauty that redeemed his old band and graces such early solo/Jicks peaks as 'Church On White' and 'Animal Midnight.'" Q - 4 stars out of 5 -- "Lyrically, where Malkmus may have previously been oblique, here he's refreshingly blunt." Uncut - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[C]onsistently entertaining, beautifully recorded, enough lyrical Malkmusings to occupy a generation of decoders, plus it rocks." Record Collector - 3 stars out of 5 -- "Malkmus' voice sounds more human, and the band's performances have a 'live' feel more than ever before." Rolling Stone - Ranked #36 in Rolling Stone's '50 Best Albums Of 2011' -- "The elegiac guitars and wry vocals sum up the shaggy beauty..." Spin - Ranked #11 in Spin's 'The Top 40 Albums Of 2011' -- "He scales back the sprawling Allmans jams in favor of direct tunes, with none of the effect, or affect, lost." Magnet - Ranked #4 in Magnet's '20 Best Albums Of 2011' -- "TRAFFIC feels invitingly relaxed, cozy and slept in thrice, as if the Jicks invited us into their practice space for a live run-through record preview..."

Mirror Traffic, the fifth album from former Pavement frontman Stephen Malkmus, finds the indie rock singer/songwriter and his band, the Jicks, continuing to deliver their signature witty jams while switching gears on both sides of the microphone: Beck lends his eclectic ear as producer and Janet Weiss takes her final bow at the drums.|

ペイヴメント再結成ツアーを経ての5作目は、かつてローファイ・ブームを共に支えた同好の士、ベックのプロデュース。ゆるゆるしたぬるま湯のような両者の結束は他人が思ってる以上に固く、互いの旨味が程良く出た天真爛漫なポップネスを生んでいる。ただならぬ技巧派なのか、ただ単にぎこちないのか判然としない独特のギター・プレイも絶好調で、ソロ史上もっとも明快なサウンドが鳴り響く快作と相成った。
bounce (C)北爪啓之