Like a Stone＜Colored Vinyl/限定盤＞

HEBA CARDY(BEACH HOUSE、FUTURE ISLANDS担当エンジニア)起用で爽やかさがアップ!

アメリカはフィラデルフィア拠点のインディロック/パワーポップバンドREMEMBER SPORTS。THE GET UP KIDSやDIET CIGの前座を務めたりNY、シカゴでのライブをソールドアウトにする等着実にレベルアップしている彼等。4作目となる最新作「LIKE A STONE」でその勢いを刻み付けた盤をシュート!

HEBA CANDYという近年インディロックの重要人物を起用した采配が華麗に炸裂した本作。先行公開曲『PINKY RING』の艶やかでふくよかなギターと、ポップで滑らかな聴き心地のフレーズがずんずんと刺さる名曲!MVのサークル的ノリも愛せずにはいられない!
場数を踏んできた力とHEBA CANDYのパリっとしたアレンジが交差し、今までよりグレードアップしたパワーポップソングを聴いて!!

Remember Sports fourth long-player (counting two albums as SPORTS), Like a Stone returns the lineup from 2018s Slow Buzz but ratchets up the tension in the pop-punk groups balance of bittersweet guitar pop and more urgent fare. A more collaborative album, it includes co-writes by various members, finds them swapping instruments on occasion, and reflects the cohesiveness of spending a couple years together on the road. Like a Stone was engineered and mixed by Carlos Hernandez and Julian Fader of former tourmates NADINE, whose remaining member, Nadia Hulett, contributed some backing vocals. Emotive Remember Sports leader Carmen Perry sounds like shes been taking in some Stef Chura records in the interim, intensifying her punky yodel on tracks like raucous opener Pinky Ring. It sets the stage with crashing cymbals, layers of fuzz, and an A-league guitar riff. At first relatively soft-spoken vocally, the song gradually adds mismatched backing vocals and screeching distortion to the repeated questions: Wasnt I good to you? Wasnt I sweet to you? Further instances of negative repetitive thoughts appear on other tracks, most notably on Easy, whose high-speed churning dissipates in the second half to make room for a loping bass groove, shaker, and self-reproaching lyrics like Do something different and the oft-repeated Do something right, just do anything right. Given the overall urgent tone of the album, the moody set takes unexpected turns toward midtempo twang on songs including the banjo-inflected Eggs and countrified closer Odds Are, though these sounds wont be new to fans. After beginning with only voice and strummed acoustic guitar, the latter track soon adds the full band but remains in an intimate zone. Gentler entries include the reflective -- but noise-accumulating -- Clock and the outright ballad Materialistic, which finds Perry stuffing down memories (Archive the past with some sh*t that wont last you a lifetime). Overall more ambitious, varied, and volatile than previous outings, Like a Stone still delivers sharp hooks while more artfully articulating messy emotions. ~ Marcy Donelson