The View From Halfway Down

90年代初頭のシューゲイズ・シーンをリードしたUKロックバンドRIDEのギタリスト/シンガーANDY BELLがデビュー・ソロ・アルバムをリリース。2016年DAVID BOWIEの死に触発されアルバム制作を決意、4年の製作期間を経て新型コロナウイルスのロックダウン中に完成したアルバム。元々はEP作品の予定だったが最終的にフル・アルバムでのリリースとなった。

作詞 / 作曲、一部を除くパフォーマンスも全てANDY自身によるもの。恍惚感溢れるサイケポップ"LOVE COMES IN WAVES"をはじめ、ディープなグルーヴ感の"SKYWALKE"など全8曲、ポジティヴなメロディーとサウンドスケープに満ちた傑作デビューソロ・アルバムに仕上がっています!

The euphoric rush of Love Comes in Waves sounds every bit like what fans might expect from Andy Bells first proper solo release. As co-leader of shoegaze legends Ride and a latter-day member of Oasis -- not to mention the post-Oasis project Beady Eye -- the Welshman has remained a steady fixture of the U.K. rock scene since the 1990s, collaborating with numerous different artists, though never striking out on his own until now. A pleasing amalgam of propulsive uptempo shoegaze, misty psych-pop, and layered acoustic songwriting, The View from Halfway Down offers an attractive compendium of Bells accumulated strengths. His 2019 emergence as the shadowy producer behind the electronic project GLOK preceded this more organic song-based release, though his affinity for tight rhythms and interesting textures cuts a through-line between both solo projects. As with opener Love Comes in Waves, tracks like Indica and Skywalker are rich in melody and rippling guitar riffs that loop across a familiar-sounding shoegaze landscape which he helped pioneer in the early 90s. Most of the albums tracks ebb and flow in gently hypnotic swells, usually ranging between four and six minutes in length without outstaying their welcome. Elements of Bells Brit-pop days with Hurricane #1 and Oasis are also present, but perhaps owing to Rides 2015 re-formation and subsequent embrace of shoegaze by a younger generation, its the dreamier side of his approach that dominates The View. Other standouts include the enchanting finger-picked Ghost Tones, the hooky low-key pop of Cherry Cola, and the ethereal Spacemen 3-esque I Was Alone. ~ Timothy Monger

待望の初ソロ作である。ライド、オアシス、ビーディー・アイなどUKの代表的なバンドを渡り歩いてきただけあって、正統派の歌ものギター・ロックかと思いきや意外にもサイケ・フォークとジャーマン・ロックと混ぜ合わせたような音の世界。久しぶりとなる彼のリード・ヴォーカルも良い意味で線の細いギタリストらしい声で、非常に新鮮に聴こえる。彼のどの過去作とも、新生ライドとも違う、まさにソロならではの作品だ。
bounce (C)赤瀧洋二