The Neon Skyline

カナダの人気シンガー・ソングライター新作。
〈エリオット・スミスの再来〉ともいわれる、カナダのシンガー・ソングライター、アンディ・シャウフがアンタイ・レーベル移籍後、2枚目となるアルバム。今回はシンプルな作りを目指したそうで、その分、憂いを帯びたメロディーや繊細で飾り気のないヴォーカルがより際立っている印象。全体の流れも素晴らしく、アルバムで聴く価値のある作品です。
(C)オンライン:青木 正之

〈エリオット・スミスの再来〉ともいわれる、カナダはサスカチュワン州出身のシンガー・ソングライター、アンディ・シャウフがアンタイ・レーベル移籍後、2枚目となるアルバム『The Neon Skyline』をリリース。

普段のピアノからギターへ楽器を替えて作曲に取りかかったという本作は、シャウフがすべての曲を書き、演奏、アレンジ、プロデュースも手掛けている作品。今回50曲が用意され、そのすべては同じ夜のバーでの出来事について語られた内容だという。そこから11曲を選ぶことは、かなり困難であったようだが、最終的にシームレスで素晴らしい仕上がりとなった。

カントリーやフォークの影響を垣間見せる楽曲は、シャウフが前作よりもシンプルな作りを目指しこともあり、憂いを帯びたメロディーや繊細で飾り気のないヴォーカルがより際立っている。

Andy Shauf is a songwriter who can find memorable stories in places most people would never bother to look. On 2016s The Party, he created a compelling and powerful song cycle from the interactions of the guests at a party in a small Canadian town. The album won enough acclaim to be short-listed for the Polaris Music Prize, and four years later Shauf has come out with a similarly memorable follow-up, Neon Skyline. Another concept piece, Neon Skyline is built around an equally humble framework -- a guy goes to the bar to drink a few beers with his buddy, learns his old girlfriend is in town for a visit, and as he starts to get lost in memories, the woman in question shows up. As a lyricist, Shauf has a superb ear for the rhythm of conversations and the inner lives of people whose ambitions never grew enough to take them out of the confines of their hometown. Theres a naturalism to these songs that can register as funny, sad, or poignant as the night wears on, and his voice -- somewhere between Ron Sexsmith and Josh Ritter -- is pitched at just the right spot between the ordinary and the expressive. With his dour but easygoing melodies built around subtle guitar lines, unfussy but eloquent piano work, and the sad whispers of woodwinds, Shaufs music is an artful fusion of indie rock and smart contemporary folk with a glimmer of the sort of sadly pretty pop music that was a presence in Canadian Content radio of the 70s. Shauf played all the instruments on Neon Skyline as well as engineering and producing the sessions (Rob Schnapf was brought in to mix), and his record-making skills are to be reckoned with; theres barely a wrong move or a wasted gesture to be found in these 11 tracks, and for all its subtlety, there are several moments on Neon Skyline that can break your heart or make you gasp with recognition. Quite simply, there are precious few indie songwriters who can impress as easily as Andy Shauf, and Neon Skyline is the work of an artist delivering on their significant promise. ~ Mark Deming