Caravan Chateau

とってもユニークで楽しくてうっとりするような、そして気まぐれで不気味でもある。
他のことを忘れて没頭できる音楽だよ。 - Grizzly Bear (Chris Taylor)


Grizzly BearのChris Taylorも大絶賛!!
Devendra Banhart～Vetiver周辺を彷彿とさせる極上のポップ・ミュージックを奏でるSSW
Alex Izenbergが〈Domino〉から新作リリース!

LAを拠点に活動するシンガーソングライター、Alex Izenbergが4年ぶりとなる新作『Caravan Chateau』を〈Domino〉よりリリース。
デビュー・アルバム『Harlequin』に続く2作目の本作には、The Lemon Twigs『Do Hollywood』のプロデュースも手がけたJonathan Radoや、Grizzly BearのChris Taylorらがプロデュースやミックスで参加している。
未だ謎に包まれた存在ではあるが、彼の奏でるサウンドは多数のミュージシャンを魅了しており、ギターポップ好き必聴の先行曲「Sister Jade」をはじめ、モノ悲しいアコースティック・ギターとストリングスのサウンドに引き込まれる「Saffron Glimpse」、彼流のブルースを奏でる「Dancing Through The Turquoise」など、全11曲の極上のポップスが詰め込まれた良作となっている。
Devendra Banhart～Vetiver周辺を彷彿とさせる極上のポップ・ミュージックの傑作。

Arriving four years after his full-length debut, Caravan Chateau delves deeper into the trippy, intimate chamber pop that singer/songwriter Alex Izenberg established on Harlequin. Recorded at various locations over a span of three years, its off-mike collaborators include indie artists like Grizzly Bears Chris Taylor, Foxygens Jonathan Rado, and Midnight Sisters Ari Balouzian. The album hits like the work of a solitary creator, however, its suffocating songs often warped by trippy arrangements, unpredictable turns, and out-of-tune components (including persistent double-tracking) all sound like the product of a singular, eccentric perspective. The piano-based songs also have a vintage 70s feel helped along by lyrics like I realized I love you, Baby Blue and I ch-ch-changed (both from Anne in Strange Furs) that seem to reference the rock pantheon without directly quoting it. This happens musically, too, adding to a sense that the album is reaching deep into the subconscious but, like a dream, jumbling things up. The track list opens with the relatively sparse Requiem, whose arrangement relies on piano, hand drums, and occasional guitar. Things get denser from there on songs like the jammy Lady and grooving Disraeli Woman, which adds drum kit, active bass, strings, and horns. Elsewhere, the piano waltz Dancing Through the Turquoise is surprisingly trippy, due largely to Izenbergs wispy performance and meandering melody, though ghostly backing vocals, manipulated playback, and blurting saxophone help to complete the effect. A more straightforward entry is December 30, a song that, along with Sister Jade, could have fit into 70s AM radio rather than merely evoking it. The flute-accented piano track Caravan Chateau closes the album on a poignant, mesmerizing note that emphasizes its claustrophobic, immersive qualities. ~ Marcy Donelson