Dead Hand Control＜Burgundy Vinyl/限定盤＞

When Vampire Weekends Chris Baio released his second solo album, 2017s Man of the World, his strutting synth pop was clouded by the anxiety of the previous years elections in his native U.S. and adopted home of the U.K. Arriving in 2021, the title of his third Baio LP, Dead Hand Control, refers to an automated Soviet-era missile system (Dead Hand, aka Perimeter) still rumored to be operational decades later. Among the albums earliest lyrics are sentiments like Ive been thinking about the end times and The final days dont gotta be lonely. The record continues in kind, often offering reassurance while acknowledging troubled times. Unlike his previous albums, the play times on Dead Hand Control vary widely, with tracks sometimes transitioning into one another. It ultimately has the effect of a night out at the club or, more precisely, a series of 12 extended dance mixes a la the 1980s that are cued up among radio cuts. An example of one of the under-four-minute, structured-pop entries is Endless Me, Endlessly, which sees Baios deep, detached vocals and reassuring lyrics accompanied by a steady groove and 80s Atari keyboard palette. Elsewhere, the brisker What Do You Say When Im Not There? and Never Never Never also deliver danceable low-key earworms. The more-epic tracks here include the pulsing Dead Hand (not to be confused with the intro, Dead Hand Control) and the nine-and-a-half-minute closer, O.M.W. (on my way). The latter is a collaboration with bandmate Ezra Koenig nine years in the making that takes the form of a cinematic love song well-suited for the end-credits sequence of a retrofuturistic romance. It ends the album with what could be a message to the world: Nobody wants to be alone/Youre feeling the consequence of someone elses wrong. ~ Marcy Donelson

ヴァンパイア・ウィークエンドのベーシスト、クリス・バイオによるソロ3作目。前作が比較的バンド本隊に近いトロピカルな雰囲気を持つ作風だったのに対し、今作で聴けるのは強烈に80sサウンドを意識したロック& ダンス・ミュージック。一方でミニマルなフレーズや色気のあるヴォーカルに彼が大ファンを公言するデヴィッド・ボウイの影響も感じ取れ、非常に興味深い。過去2作とはタイプの違う快作だ。
bounce (C)赤瀧洋二