Foolish Loving Spaces (Deluxe)

UKチャート#4を記録した昨年発表『Cool Like You』に続く3rdアルバム!
デラックス盤にはDISC 2にアルバム全曲のアコースティック・ヴァージョンを収録。

6月に配信開始された「Your Grilfriend」を含む全10曲。前作から約1年半ぶりとなる本作はリバプールでレコーディング、デビュー作以来バンドをサポートしてきたコーラルのジェイムス・スケリーとリッチ・ターヴィーが今作もプロデュースしている。

Within four short years, U.K. indie band Blossoms went from small-town heroes to festival headliners, coursing a steady trajectory from scrappy kids on the verge to chart-topping grownups. On their third effort, Foolish Loving Spaces, the group shine with a collection of light, poppy confections that focus on love and relationships. With their hearts on their sleeves, they adopt a charming, almost precious style that packs elastic basslines, bright synths, relaxed guitars, and frontman Tom Ogdens sweet, yearning vocals into a brisk, ten-song burst. With longtime producers James Skelly and Rich Turvey, Blossoms improve upon their new wave-inspired sophomore LP Cool Like You and crack open the painfully hip constraints of their breakthrough debut. Foolish Loving Spaces unabashedly embraces the treacle and fuzzy emotions associated with love in its many forms, demonstrating a graceful maturity and comforting confidence in the process. From the peppy opener If You Think This Is Real Life to the humorous Your Girlfriend -- told from the perspective of a yearning third wheel -- Ogdens storytelling shines here as each song becomes a vignette of a larger narrative that is relatable and unassuming. The band also takes steps into fresh territory, recruiting a gospel choir for Falling for Someone and going acoustic for My Vacant Days. While The Keeper is an adorable anthem that pledges devotion until were bones, the bittersweet Romance, Eh? resigns itself to the highs and lows of relationships. Additional highlights include the jaunty Sunday Was a Friend of Mine, which echoes early-era Strokes, and the sleek closer Like Gravity, which is the lone sonic throwback to their older material. While this set is not as immediate as their first two albums, Foolish Loving Spaces winds up being the one that is most rewarding after repeat listens, an enjoyable, nostalgic ode to pure affection. Coolness be damned. ~ Neil Z. Yeung

待望のサード・アルバムはデビュー作でタッグを組んだコーラルのジェイムズ・スケリーとリッチ・ターヴィーがプロデュースを担当。前作までのサイケでナイーヴな面は残しつつ、今回は陽のヴァイブスを持つ緩くて甘めのサウンドに驚き。絶妙にブレンドされたトロピカル、ネオアコ、そしてアメリカーナなどの新味も刺激的で、さらにメロディーも良いと来た。いかにも英国バンドっぽい野心と普遍性を兼ね備えた傑作ですね。
bounce (C)赤瀧洋二