Temple

Khruangbinがチルウェーヴをポリリズムで演奏?!玄人筋を唸らせ続けてきた西海岸USインディ・バンド Thao & The Get Down Stay Down最新作!!

サンフランシスコを拠点に、フロントマンのThao Nguyenを中心に活動するインディ・ロック・バンドThao & The Get DownStay Downが最新アルバム『Temple』をリリース!!通算5作目、キャリア史上初となるセルフ・プロデュース作品となった本作はKhruangbinがチルウェーヴをポリリズムで演奏しているようなタイトル曲「Temple」やSNSミームなMVも最高なサイケデリック・ミニマル・ロック「Phenom」などの先行シングルを含む全10曲を収録。また、Thao Nguyenがセクシュアルマイノリティである自身の人生を今まで以上にオープンにし、カレイドスコピックでダンサブルなインディー・ロック作品となった今作にはSolange, Carly Rae Jepsen, Mariah Carey などの仕事で知られるMikaelin "Blue" Bluespruceが5曲に参加しており、バンド・サウンドにヒップホップやポップ・ミュージックのテクスチャーを注入することに成功。

Following the release of the critically lauded A Man Alive in 2016, Thao & the Get Down Stay Downs Thao Nguyen lost interest in the project as she struggled with issues including identity and family and in particular her ability to deal with them effectively through music. Eventually, she publicly embraced her long-hidden queer identity, married her partner, and headed back to the studio with bandmate Adam Thompson for the more personal Temple. Their fifth album overall, it was their first to be self-produced. Thompson also co-wrote half of the songs. While Temple still showcases the projects stark, brassy hip-hop rhythms and poetic, punky performances, its a more meditative, lower contrast set than the declarative A Man Alive. Having said that, it opens on a surfy guitar lick, which is soon joined by the funky bass groove and disco-friendly synth-strings of the title track. A song inspired by visiting Vietnam in 2015 with her mother, a refugee of the Vietnam War, its contemplative lyrics include lines like I have earned this sorrow/Mine to keep and, as if to explain the war-themed tracks catchy rhythms, By day I gave grand speeches/At night, like you/We danced to be free. Another politically charged song, Phenom speaks to those who rise up in times of crisis on behalf of the vulnerable. It establishes a leaping, rumbling bass line alongside intermittent, melodic guitar hooks to accompany Nguyens trademark sing-speak on a vocal line that, in this case, is more rhythmic than tuneful (Feverish few, I will not drop it/Power cowards never stop it). Later, the up-tempo How Could I should satisfy any cravings for a purer indie rock, with its steady snare marking two and four behind churning guitars, shimmery synths, and a lilting vocal melody. While the bulk of the album may be less infectious than that tune or the records defiant predecessor, Temples wonky mix of pop, rock, and hip-hop hooks remains engaging and recognizably theirs. ~ Marcy Donelson