Hey Clockface＜Transparent Red Vinyl＞

Hey Clockface arrived quickly on the heels of Look Now, but where that 2018 album seemed constructed as classicist Elvis Costello, drawing upon his strengths as a melodicist and the muscle of his regular backing band the Imposters, this 2020 affair feels as if it was designed to surprise. It comes into focus quite slowly, with reeds and strings murmuring in a quiet drone before Costello launches into the spoken word of Revolution #49. The spell is broken in a flurry of gnarled guitars that usher in No Flag, a transition that establishes how Hey Clockface doesnt follow any particular path. Apart from the slight emphasis on poetry -- it surfaces again toward the end of the album on Radio Is Everything, a track destined to be played in the dead hours of a starless night -- none of the twists on the album are necessarily a new trick from Costello, but the its execution makes every new turn feel slightly surprising, occasionally jarring. Much of this has as much to do with the sequencing of the record as it does the performances themselves. The dense, clever boogie of Hetty OHara Confidential is followed by the torch song The Last Confession of Vivian Whip, and the ominous crawl of We Are All Cowards Now is countered by a boisterous update of Fats Waller on the albums title track. The parts fit together, just in ways the ear isnt quite accustomed to hearing, and the same is true of many of the arrangements on Hey Clockface. The quieter moments require a listener to concentrate, then theyre blown away by the cacophony, lured back in by a generous bit of old-fashioned merriment. It shows Costellos mastery of mood and storytelling, the kind of skill hes acquired over the course of a long career, but the key to Hey Clockface is that these techniques are applied to a record thats as restless as anything Costello made in his younger days. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

懐の深い傑作『Look Now』 から2年。続けてセバスチャン・クリスと組んだ新作は、先鋭的かつ挑戦的な音作りで臨む曲と円熟の歌声を聴かせる雰囲気満点な曲が混在、振り幅の激しさが特徴といえる。マイケル・レオンハートが仕切ったスリリングなジャジー・チューン"Newspaper Pane"や新版"Almost Blue"といったムーディーなバラード"I Do(Zula's Song)"などよく練られたアレンジと構成でもって最後まで飽きさせない充実作だ。
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