Pure Luxury

Thanks to his busy schedule touring and recording with Metronomy and Christine and the Queens, its not unusual for NZCA Lines Michael Lovett to go several years without releasing an album. During the four years between Infinite Summer and Pure Luxury, however, his music underwent some dramatic changes. His first album without longtime creative partner Charlie Alex March, Pure Luxury finds Lovett handling the bulk of the programming and production duties. Its also his first set of songs about the real world instead of sci-fi-inspired concepts -- when everyday life is as fraught as it was in the late 2010s and early 2020s, theres no need to rely on dystopian fantasies. These differences make Pure Luxury much more immediate, and immediately relevant, than Lovetts other albums. While NZCA/Lines and Infinite Summer were both filled with immaculately crafted electro-pop, they were so subtle and refined that they could seem overly polite on first listen. Lovett knows the age of Brexit and climate change doesnt have time for that kind of nuance, so he sheds his previously retiring style for an impatient, kinetic blend of funk, disco, and electro. Pure Luxury packs more energy into its first few moments than NZCA Lines two previous albums combined, along with some artful homages to Prince, Beck, and George Clinton. From its wealth of textures -- bubbling arpeggios, rotund synth-bass, syrupy strings, and crisp drum patterns -- to Lovetts impassioned falsetto, Pure Luxury is much more present than anything hes done before, yet it never feels dumbed-down. As he sends up materialism and hedonism, he captures the mood that living for the moment is understandable when it seems like there might not be many moments left. Lovett allows himself a rare moment of anger on Larsen, which bids farewell to the Larsen C ice shelf with seething synths and guitars, but more often, hes satirically festive on songs like Opening Night, Real Good Time, and For Your Love, a lush disco ballad where the line I feel the danger in the things we do/What have I got to lose? could refer to a fraught relationship or the fraught state of the world. As he parties like its 2020 on Pure Luxury, Lovett proves its possible to decry the issues of the times and have some fun doing it. ~ Heather Phares

メトロノミーのツアー・メンバーで、ロンドンをベースにプロデューサーとして活動するマイケル・ラヴェットによるプロジェクトのニュー・アルバムは、新しい形のUKインディー・ディスコ・ミュージックが全面に押し出された一枚だ。アシッド・ジャズ・マナーも感じさせるファンキーなエレクトロ・サウンドと、メランコリックなビート。猥褻さと洗練が交差するゴージャスなひと時に酔いしれてほしい。
bounce (C)柴田かずえ