Vernal Equinox (Remastered)

アンビエント/ミニマル傑作選の常連にしてブライアン・イーノも惜しみない賛辞を贈る名盤
ジョン・ハッセル伝説の1stが遂にリマスター再発

鬼才ジョン・ハッセルの記念すべきデビュー作にして、実験音楽史に残る大名盤『Vernal Equinox』が、"春分"を意味するタイトル通り、2020年3月20日(金)に自身のレーベル〈Ndeya〉から待望の再発が決定。

米ピッチフォークが選ぶ歴代最高のアンビエント・アルバム50枚にも選出されている本作は、1977年に〈Lovely Music〉からリリースされたジョン・ハッセルにとって初の公式リリース作品である。同時に、西洋と非西洋の合体をコンセプトに、フィールドレコーディング、エレクトリック・ジャズ、アンビエント、ワールドミュージックを融合させた「第四世界」シリーズの第一作目としても位置づけられた実験音楽史に残る超重要作。ハッセルのトレードマークでもある、音響信号処理された不可思議なトランペットのサウンドを主役に、ブラジルが誇る世界的パーカッション奏者、ナナ・ヴァスコンセロスによるパーカッションと、バイオフィードバック音楽のパイオニアとして知られる電子音楽家、デヴィッド・ローゼンブームによるシンセサイザーを含む至高のアンサンブルが、静謐で瞑想的で独創的な音響美を生み出している。今回のリイシューにあたり、音源は、当時のオリジナルのマスターテープからリマスタリングされたものとなり、アナログ盤は実に42年ぶりに商品化されることとなる。

Recorded in 1976 at the York University Electronic Media Studios in Toronto, Ontario, Vernal Equinox is Jon Hassell's first recording as a solo artist and sets the stage for his then-emerging career as a trumpeter, composer and musical visionary. "Toucan Ocean" opens the album with two gently swaying chords and delicate layers of percussion that provide a cushion upon which Hassell unfurls long, winding melodic shapes. His trumpet is sent through echo and an envelope filter, producing a stereo auto-wah-wah effect. "Viva Shona" features accompaniment by mbira, subtle polyrhythmic layers of percussion, and the distant calling of birds. Again filtered through echo, Hassell's gliding trumpet lines sound remarkably vocal. "Hex" features a bubbling, filtered electric bass part with a denser web of percussion. From his horn, Hassell elicits moans and sighs that are at first unaffected and later filtered. "Blues Nile" is a long, blue moan. Hassell's breathy, multi-tracked trumpet lines call and respond to one another, weaving a web of deep calm over an ever-present drone. This track clearly points the way to his later work with Brian Eno, in particular, their "Charm Over Burundi Sky." On the title track, Hassell's "kirana" trumpet style is in full bloom as he dialogs with the percussion. Hassell's most elegant melodicism blossoms forth here, and his unaffected horn often sounds disarmingly flute-like. The influences of his study of raga with Pandit Pran Nath are clearly discernible in the curvaceous melodic lines and overall sense of meditative calm within harmonic stasis. Throughout the album, percussionists Nana Vasconcelos and David Rosenboom add subtle, supple grooves and colors. "Caracas Night September 11, 1975" is a beautiful field recording featuring Hassell's plaintive trumpet commentary, subtle percussion interjections, and the sound of caracas humming and buzzing in the background. The first several tracks of Vernal Equinox bear the imprint of '70s-period Miles Davis, in particular the quiet ambience of "He Loved Him Madly" and parallel passages from Agharta. The envelope filter on Hassell's horn similarly draws a reference to Davis' use of the wah-wah pedal from that time. Nonetheless, in 1976, Vernal Equinox was remarkably unique and ahead of its time, and sowed the seeds of Hassell's influential Fourth World aesthetic, which he would continue to develop and refine. Decades after its release, Vernal Equinox still provides an enchanting and entirely contemporary listening experience. ~ Mark Kirschenmann