Free＜Black Vinyl＞

2016年に発表された前作『ポスト・ポップ・ディプレッション』が全英初登場3位、全米17位という自身最高位を獲得し、勢い止まない生きるレジェンドことイギー・ポップの新作!

自身最高位を記録した作品に続く今作は、前作どころか、これまでのイギー・ポップのサウンドとは全く異なったサウンドに仕上がっている。

ジャズ・トランペット奏者のLeron Thomasと、Post Pop Depression Tourのオープニング・アクトに抜擢されたギタリストのNovellerとのコラボレーションによって、陰鬱な瞑想へ誘い込むようなサウンド。

「俺はこれまで、感じるままに生きることを信じてきた。幸福感や愛よりも、自由さを感じたかったんだ。このアルバムはその中で自然と生まれ、俺はただ、そのままにさせただけなんだ」と語るイギー、約3年ぶりのソロ18作目!
180グラム・ヴァイナル(ブラック)

If youd been a baker for more than 50 years, you could be forgiven for being sick of the sight of chocolate eclairs. Similarly, a half-century on from the first Stooges album, Iggy Pop has made it clear hes not as in love with rock & roll as he once was. Albums such as 2009s Preliminaires and 2012s Apres have found him exploring less aggressive and more thoughtful material, and Iggy continues this trend with 2019s Free. In his liner notes, Iggy writes, I began to recoil from guitar riffs in favor of guitarscapes, from twangs in favor of horns, from back beat in favor of space, and thats a concise and accurate summary of the sound he approaches on this album. While there are electric guitars on most of these numbers, theres little in the way of fuzz or bark, and a ghostly trumpet and waves of atmospheric keyboards play a much bigger role in the arrangements. Iggy had a hand in writing three of the tracks on Free, but most of the songs were penned by his primarily collaborators on this album, trumpeter Leron Thomas and Noveller, who is credited with guitarscapes. There are a few playful moments, most notably on the sly and slinky James Bond, but for the most part, Free finds Iggy contemplating a culture caught in a tailspin, and while no one would have expected the guy singing on Fun House to set Dylan Thomas Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night to music back in the day, here his deep, craggy voice and tone of weary rage fits the classic verse like a glove. Not everything on this album works, and the sex and porn rant Dirty Sanchez may be the stupidest thing Iggy has sung since 2001s misbegotten Beat Em Up, though at least take comfort in the fact he didnt write it. As a detour from rock & roll, Free is a fine and compelling study of the mind and mood of Iggy Pop at the age of 72, and if its clearly the work of an older artist, that works to its favor, a pointed contrast to the abandon of his youth but with no less gravitas. ~ Mark Deming

アンダーワールドとのコラボEPに続く3年ぶりのソロ新作は、重厚な映画のスコアのようなジャズ～アンビエントをバックに雰囲気のある語りやポエトリーを披露する異色の内容に。ギタリスト/映像作家のノヴェラーと、パン・アムステルダム"Mobile"にイギーを招いていたレロン・トーマスの2人がプロデュースを担当。ボウイ似の口調で迫る"James Bond"やルー・リードの遺した詩の朗読も含め、知的な薫りの漂う一枚だ。
bounce (C)轟ひろみ