Recover

The fourth full-length album from the Naked and Famous, 2020s Recover is an ebullient production that finds the Los Angeles-based, New Zealand-bred group emerging from a period of creative transition. Prior to recording Recover, the band parted ways with longtime members keyboardist Aaron Short and drummer Jesse Wood. While amicable, the change left the main songwriting duo of Alisa Xayalith and Thom Powers to decide how to move forward. It was a moment of self-reflection that somewhat mirrored the duos own romantic split just before the recording of 2016s Simple Forms. Even still, it seems they found rejuvenation in joining forces with keyboardist and multi-instrumentalist Luna Shadows, as well as Powers childhood friend and co-producer Simon Oscroft. Together, as on the sessions for Simple Forms, they began working on material at Xayaliths Silver Lake home. The result is a buoyant and deeply felt album that finds the band continuing to hone their shimmering, synth-based sound. Theres an underlying theme of loss and healing running through all of Recover. However, rather than lingering on what has been lost, Xayalith and Powers focus on finding a path forward. On Recover, a song drawn from Xayaliths experience losing her mother to breast cancer when she was seven years old, they sing, I cant replace the loss of my mother. I cant erase the loss from my father. I cant replace the loss with another, but I can regain myself and recover. The song, as with much of Recover, captures the energy of someone who has cried all night and finally feels a peaceful catharsis rising with the sun. Musically, theres an ecstatic warmth to the album as keyboards swirl alongside ringing electric guitars, and real and programmed beats push the duos harmonies skyward. Equally potent sentiments pop up elsewhere, as on Bury Us, in which Xayalith celebrates how intense romantic passion can sometimes threaten to crush you, her voice piercing a wall of bass-heavy keyboards and crystalline guitars. Conversely, on the midtempo ballad Come as You Are, they sing about how everyone desires to be accepted for who they are, filtering their voices through a kaleidoscope of morphing effects that make them sound like a chorus of different singers, underlining the songs broad relatability. Rife with beautifully intuitive pathos, Recover is the sound of the Naked and Famous turning feelings of heartbreak and desire into powerfully relatable pop moments. ~ Matt Collar

ニュージーランド発エレクトロ・ポップ・バンドの4作目。5人編成からデュオとして新たなスタートを切った2人。煌びやかな壮大さがトレードマークだったサウンドは、シンプルでありながらも緻密なものに。キラキラとしたシンセが透明感のあるヴォーカルをいっそう引き立てる。キャッチーで踊れる昂揚感の中にもどこか切ないメロディーやフレーズが聴こえ、重なったコーラスワークが誇らしげに響く!自信と才能に溢れた傑作。
bounce (C)中井幹代