Speedstar＜限定盤＞

JAY SOMからの影響も感じる透明感溢れるインディサウンド!

2018年のJAY SOMとのコラボシングル「NOTHING'S CHANGED』」も記憶に新しいUSカリフォルニア拠点のSSW であるJUSTUS PROFFIT。待望の最新作「SPEEDSTAR」はMOUNT EERIE、CHASTITY BELT担当のプロデューサーを迎え、MICROPHONES、SPARKLEHORSEクラスの緻密なソングライティングに挑んだ好投作!

幼い頃から両親にPIXIESを聴かされ13歳でバンド活動を開始、16歳になる頃にはアメリカツアーを敢行、本作のレコーディングをMOUNT EERIE所有のスタジオで実施、リリース元がインディ老舗BAR/NONE、MVとジャケットのジャンク過ぎるセンス等、人生の根本からインディに浸かっているJUSTUS PROFFIT。そんな境遇から産まれるインディロックソングは外れな訳がありません!

『BURINIG THE GROUND』で聴ける瑞々しく透明なアレンジはJAY SOMの影響を感じずにはいられません!ノイズの膜を剥がしていく様に丁寧に緻密に作曲することを課した内容は、今までの活動から大幅スケールアップする事に成功!インディロックを人生かけて表現するJUSTUS PROFFITに拍手!

Justus Proffits second full-length follows a string of EPs, including the Jay Som collaboration Nothings Changed, and a 2019 debut album. Between releases, the twentysomething Proffit got sober and continued to operate Topspace, a D.I.Y. venue and living space in Inglewood, at least until the COVID-19 virus hit the States. Briefly quitting music, he eventually returned to writing and recording with a more elemental approach. The resulting Speedstar strips away much (though not all) of the noise and clatter of L.A.s Got Me Down, leaving the Elliott Smith and L.A. punk disciple with a grounded set that puts even more emphasis on sentiments like Upside Down Entertainer and There Goes the Fun. Speedstar was recorded partly at home, at a friends, and at Phil Elverums Anacortes Unknown studio in Washington State, a converted church whose cherished reverb can be heard on opening track River of All My Feelings. A gentle Wall of Sound comprising lush guitar jangle, midtempo drums and crash cymbals, clanking windchimes, and phrase-marking keyboard chords cushion vocals about living in the present, one of the albums guiding themes. Every day/Things get further away/I dont believe in yesterday are lines from Spitting on the Sidewalk, another one of eight under-three-minute entries here with ghosts of Smith in its melodic and harmonic qualities. Another one, jangly jammer Big Mistake, pushes the tempo, lights up the guitar solo, and throws in doo wop-derived backing vocals (like everything else by Proffit) without backing off the melancholia even a smidgen. The sparser Change further exposes the songwriters knack for melodic and rhythmic hooks at their purest, using just voice and guitar. He does indulge noise elsewhere, most notably on the fuzzy Invitation Declined, which ends in a burst of sustained distortion. Alongside nine original songs, Proffit includes a cover of Martin Newells Jangling Man that colors in any available spaces on the already antagonistic original with layered guitar, bass, and more cymbal. The compact Speedstar ends too soon on the hummable Thinking Type, likely to again leave fans wanting more of his engaging, shambolic pop. ~ Marcy Donelson