Wake Up!

Following a handful of viral songs in the mid-2010s and a pair of EPs that landed her on Polyvinyls roster, Wake UP! is the full-length debut of Australian ex-pat Hazel English. A more vibrant, polished affair than her EPs, half of the album was recorded with producer Ben H. Allen (Deerhunter, Animal Collective), and the other half with Justin Raisen (Charli XCX, Angel Olsen), the latter of whom had collaborated on a bonus track for her two-EP combo release. The resulting recordings still reflect core attributes that were part of Englishs music from the beginning: namely, a 60s sensibility, a knack for breezy melodies, and a touch of dream pop luster. Wake UP! opens with a swelling mixture of organ and guitar on Born Like, a psychedelic pop tune that quickly settles into a midtempo bass groove shaded with broken guitar chords and rim clicks, as English addresses the other half of a harmonious relationship. Later, she eases into an ethereal, twangy haze on the more alienated Combat and invites hints of post-punk on the uptempo Shaking, while Five and Dime adopts a low-sugar bubblegum vibe. All of these stylistic diversions are light-handed and in keeping with the sentimental, searching indie pop of the whole track list, which moves effortlessly from soft-spoken melodic hook to melodic hook. Perhaps fittingly, the closest thing to an outright earworm comes courtesy of Wake UP!, whose churning, shimmery guitar pop offers some of the records most confrontational lyrics (Open up your eyes and youll see/If youre living complacently). Steered by the singers winsome, breathy vocals, even that message goes down easy, with an implied fluttered lash extension, on an album that aims to please and largely succeeds. ~ Marcy Donelson

デイ・ウェイヴの制作したEPが話題を呼んだマラソン・アーティスツ期待の新人の、これがめざめの初フル・アルバムとなる。今節インディー・ポップ界で活躍するシンガー・ソングライターのなかでもメロディーセンスの良さではピカイチと目される彼女だが、予想を裏切ることなく強力な勝負曲で固めることに成功しており、類稀な才能を惜しみなく注ぎ込んだ作品だといっていい。ネオアコ調のメロディアスな曲もさることながら、開放的でドリーミーなサビが待ち受ける"Off My Mind"やフィレス・ポップスに通じる"Like A Drug"など甘いレトロなムードで包み込んだ夢見心地系の仕上がりぶりがハンパなく、これまでと異なるフィールドでの予期せぬ反響を呼ぶ可能性を感じたりも。文句なし。
bounce (C)桑原シロー