Free Humans

英国吟遊詩人リチャード・ドーソン率いるマルチプレイヤー4人で編成されるポップバンド ヘン・オグレッドが最新作をリリース!

ニューカッスル出身のシンガーソングライター、リチャード・ドーソンを筆頭に、メンバー全員がリードシンガーでありパーカッショニストでもある4人編成バンド、ヘン・オグレッド (Hen Ogledd)が最新作『Free Humans』を名門〈Domino〉よりリリース。
前作『Mogic』に続き、人工知能をテーマとしたアルバム『Free Humans』は、意図的に有機的で自然なアプローチをとっている。12世紀の神秘主義者であり作曲家であり自然主義者でもあるヒルデガルト・フォン・ビンゲンの作品、急進的な哲学的な配管工メアリー・ミドリー、PCミュージックのスターであるハンナ・ダイアモンド、更にはABBAなど様々なところからインスピレーションを得て完成した。
アルバムは、愛、友情、ガイア理論、下水道、時間の性質、人間の悪臭、野生の水泳のスリルなど、様々なテーマを扱っている。
先行曲の「Trouble」はクラウト・ロックの影響も感じられる楽曲に一度聴いたら口ずさまずにはいられないフックが絡むキラーチューン!

With their 2018 album Mogic, Hen Ogledd evolved from the amorphous improvisations of their earliest phases into something resembling a more traditionally molded pop band. They didnt completely shake the wooly weirdness that initially defined the project, but incorporated it into structured songs that pitted hopeful melodies against noisy electronics and heady lyrical themes. If Mogic was Hen Ogledd dipping their toes into pop, its successor Free Humans is the band diving in headlong. The ambitious double album finds Hen Ogledd further refining their take on pop sounds, presenting neatly produced tunes that offer straightforward hooks, anthemic choruses, and a generally less cluttered rendering of the bands maximal aesthetic. The best examples of this kind of clean pop come with songs like Trouble. Even the poppiest tunes on Mogic came coated in psychedelic production or with moments of uneasiness to counterbalance their sweetness. Trouble is perhaps the most direct the group have ever sounded, with vocals loud in the mix, understated interplay between synth lines and a shadowy 80s-sounding bass line, and a huge, clearly defined chorus. Its somewhere between the lonely nocturnal energy of Fleetwood Macs Tango in the Night and a low-budget emulation of Thriller-era radio hits. Elsewhere on the album, the bright synths and singsongy playfulness of Crimson Star recall ABBA, and the placid electronics and steady rhythms of Remains nod to Kraftwerk, while the vocals give the song a twee touch. Even while reveling in pop, Hen Ogledd dont completely abandon their abstract roots or tendencies towards disruption. The Loch Ness Monsters Song is a disorienting swirl of voices and computerized tones on par with Kate Bushs most out-there experiments, and tracks like Bwganod and Paul is 9ft Tall (Marsh Gas) are anxious and crowded. Time Party masquerades as a by-the-numbers old-school dance-pop track, but the meandering synths and avant sax sputtering in the background give it a mutant edge. Even the most straightlaced tunes are overlaid with expressive guitar solos from founding member Richard Dawson, imparting them with a sense of restless curiosity. Free Humans is a dense album, with sounds stuffed into every available space and fields of ideas painstakingly arranged on each song. Both precisely calculated and boundlessly imaginative, Free Humans creates an expansive world in which Hen Ogledd can continue to sculpt their bizarre brand of pop music. ~ Fred Thomas