Heavy Light

独特でDIYなサウンドでインディーファンの心を掴む歌姫Meg Remyによるソロ・プロジェクト U.S.GIRLSが7作目を〈4AD〉よりリリース!!

米シカゴ出身で現在はトロントを拠点に活動する才能溢れる女性アーティスト、Meg Remyによるプロジェクト、U.S.Girlsが7作目のアルバムを〈4AD〉よりリリース!

60'sガールズ・ポップや80'sディスコ・サウンドからローファイ・ポップ、シンセ・ポップまで幅広い音楽性を披露した前作『In A Poem Unlimited』(2018年作)は多数のメディアが大絶賛、PitchforkではBestNewMusic獲得と"2010年代のベスト・アルバム200枚"にも選出され、まさにキャリアにおけるブレイクアウト作品となった。

2年ぶりとなる本作は、Remy自身が全面プロデュースを手掛け、カナダのSSW/オートハープ奏者のBasia Bulatとプロデューサーやリミキサーとしても活躍するRich Morelとの共同作曲で、Bruce Springsteenや、E Street Bandでの活動も有名なサックス奏者Jake Clemonsを含む20人のセッション・ミュージシャンたちと、モントリオールのスタジオHotel 2 Tangoにてライブ・レコーディングが行われた。

アルバムには過去に発表された初期音源3曲「Statehouse (It's A Man's World)」「Red Ford Radio」「Overtime」を新たに再構築した楽曲を含む全13曲を収録し、アート・ポップやディスコ調の楽曲やグラムロックなど、曲ごとに全く異なるカラーでバリエーション豊かな作品に完成。

U.S. Girls isnt as much a band as an ever-mutating organism. Begun by experimental songwriter Meg Remy in the late 2000s as a noisy solo act backed by reel-to-reel tapes, the project grew into a monolith of larger-than-life pop. 2018s In a Poem Unlimited was one of Remys finest moments, with her polymathic songwriting bending disco-funk, glam rock, and ambient composition into new forms. Heavy Light expands on the colorful complexities of In a Poem Unlimited, with Remy dipping her toes in different styles on almost every song but retaining the experimental intensity that has always been at the core of U.S. Girls. Album opener Four American Dollars juxtaposes a light, summery soul instrumental with lyrics about destitution, poverty, and the inevitability of death. Its one of several moments on the album where Remy is joined by a host of powerful backing vocalists, a technique thats been flirted with on previous albums but is utilized to its fullest on these songs. This shows up in the form of girl group melodrama on eerie, beautiful songs like IOU and Denise, Dont Wait and theatrical synth-heavy glam rock on The Quiver to the Bomb. The brief spoken interludes that showed up a few times on In a Poem Unlimited are swapped out here with several similar pieces, this time various voices stacked on top of each other answering survey questions about childhood memories. These interludes underscore themes of nostalgia and painfully looking back that become central to Heavy Light. Woodstock 99 mulls over a stream of melancholic younger memories over a syrupy lite rock instrumental borrowed from late-60s AM radio hit MacArthur Park. Looking back also takes the form of several songs revisited from the U.S. Girls back catalog being reworked to various degrees of reinvention. Album standout Overtime takes on new life with the dramatic emphasis of newly added backing vocals, and album closer Red Ford Radio, originally a dark smear of distorted vocals and looped drums on 2010s Go Grey, becomes a shockingly clear statement of fear and intensity. Remy takes a personal inventory throughout Heavy Light, sometimes contemplating the present but oftentimes remembering or returning to different threads from the past. Its another huge step forward for the uncontainable U.S. Girls organism, one that skillfully combines the immediacy of personal memories with Remys uncanny ability to inject her singular creative voice into every sound she touches. ~ Fred Thomas