ヨ・ラ・テンゴ×奈良美智
コア・ファンの間で話題を呼んでいたアノ作品が遂に国内流通300枚限定12インチ盤として一般流通決定!!

ロックダウン中も新作「We Have Amnesia Sometimes」の発表や、配信チャリティ・ライヴの敢行など精力的に活動を続けるUSインディーの良心ヨ・ラ・テンゴが人気芸術家でバンドとも親交の深い奈良美智のLACMAでのエキシビションで販売される限定カタログに提供した楽曲が「Sleepless Night」EPとして〈Matador〉より一般発売決定!本作はオリジナルの新曲「Bleeding」に、ヨ・ラ・テンゴと奈良美智が共同で選曲を手掛けたボブ・ディラン、ザ・デルモア・ブラザーズ、フライング・マシーン、スモール・フェイセスのオリジナル・メンバーであるロニー・レーン、そしてキャロル・キングとジェリー・ゴフィンが作詞作曲したザ・バーズの人気曲のカバーを加えた全6曲を収録。オリジナル・アートワークは奈良美智が手がけており、A面に楽曲を収録、さらにB面にはバンド・メンバーのジェームズによるイラストが施されたエッチング仕様のアナログ盤で、全世界2500枚限定生産盤。古くは『And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out』(2000年作品)制作期にレコーディングされた音源にまで遡るファン感涙、そして必携のコレクターズ・アイテム!

発売・販売元 提供資料 （2020/08/27）

If Yo La Tengo had never developed a knack for songwriting, they could have enjoyed an admirable career as one of the worlds best and most distinctive cover bands. They have an unerring instinct for picking great songs, and they know how to bring enough of their own style and personality into the work that it retains the qualities that made it worthy in the first place while also reflecting their own sensibilities. Sleepless Night is a six-song EP that feels like a miniature version of 1990s Fakebook (or its sibling, 2015s Stuff Like That There), featuring five low-key covers alongside one new tune, Bleeding. It was originally compiled for an exhibition by Japanese artist and YLT fan Yoshitomo Nara and was drawn from a variety of sources (one track dating back to the sessions for 2000s And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out), though it all sounds of one piece in its gentle melodicism and simple affection for the material. Of course, its not at all hard to get fine results from songs by the Byrds (Wasnt Born to Follow), Bob Dylan (It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry), or the Louvin Brothers (Blues Stay Away), yet that doesnt take anything from the subtle joy of their performances or the fresh thinking they bring to the arrangements (especially the ghostly, drone-laden vibe of It Takes a Lot to Laugh, transforming Dylans cocky grin into something ethereal and just a bit forbidding). Bleeding doesnt sound like one of Yo La Tengos great songs in this context, but its certainly a good one, hitting a sweet spot between their melodic side and the free-form clouds of sound they conjured on We Have Amnesia Sometimes, released just a few months earlier. And if the Flying Machines Smile a Little Smile for Me always seemed like unremarkable fluff from some forgotten one-hit wonders, Ira Kaplans vocal reworks it into something deeper and more affecting than youd expect. Sleepless Night is as warm and comforting as a cup of hot chocolate, and while it hardly seems like a major work (and it isnt), its thoroughly enjoyable and a reminder that you can hardly do better than Yo La Tengo in making a playlist of treasured oldies. ~ Mark Deming

Rovi