Me You They We

構成数 : 1枚
合計収録時間 : 00:35:29
Audio Mixer: Rob Oberdorfer. Much like its predecessor, 2016's Something to Ruin, Ages and Ages' fourth album, Me You They We, juxtaposes sweet, summery sounds with more burdened lyrics. While the former record was inspired by things like income inequality and the effects of gentrification in their base of Portland, the 2019 follow-up grapples with post-election tensions and fallout. With regard to the fallout, "How It Feels" is concerned with still having to address one's personal problems despite having these other, bigger fish to fry. Indulging in a subtle sad trombone, it opens with a brief, descending pitch bend before bright, melodic keyboards and steady drums kick in. The song's encouraging lyrics both need to unload and offer a chest to lean on ("Well, our problems are irrelevant/It doesn't make it any less real"). The sashaying "Needle and Thread" likewise offers encouragement via a hooky melody, in this case via time-keeping electric piano, syncopated guitar texture, and glistening keyboard tones. The sunny atmosphere is consistent throughout the album, though songs like "Just My Luck" and "Day from Night" take on a slightly more psychedelic bent partly fashioned by the group's '60s-era West Coast vocal harmonies. Those harmonies are featured even more prominently on the tracks "All the Sounds of Summer" and "Unsung Songs," the latter of which transforms from nearly a cappella to a driving indie rock behind a guitar solo by guest Lewi Longmire. Taken as a whole, the album's warm, gently trippy songs are catchy and hummable as a rule, with thoughtful lyrics only adding to a genuine quality that's both welcome and welcoming. ~ Marcy Donelson