Pink Noise＜Orange Vinyl＞

Getting dropped by a label is practically a rite of passage for an artist, but its likely that Laura Mvula is the only one to receive the news by email after delivering a Top Ten U.K. debut and an Ivor Novello Award-winning follow-up, both of which were nominated for the Mercury Prize. Thats where the singer, songwriter, and producer found herself in 2017. Four years later and with another major label, Atlantic instead of Sony, she rebounds with Pink Noise. Its a wounded if proud and defiant response that draws from vintage high-tech R&B and art pop -- the 1982-1987 era with greatest frequency -- with all sharp edges melted off. Got Me is all bounding romantic jubilance like Michael Jacksons The Way You Make Me Feel. Remedy and Pink Noise work low-end cyclonic synthesizers recalling the System and Kashif. INXS-via-Chic guitar wriggles spring up in the latter and elsewhere. A soundtrack for a neon-rich film set in the mid-80s would do well to feature Safe Passage, an anthem of independence that gleams and pops, and the duet What Matters, a tears-in-the-food-court love theme. Mvulas writing is typically to the contrary of what might otherwise sound like an escapist fantasy. The sting of rejection and betrayal, and regret over ceding control, are felt in many of the songs, though shes never so specific that the average listener cant relate. She laments A provisional kindred soul/Another blow to the ego in the prowling verses of Conditional, confronts and teases a fraud in Church Girl with How can you dance with the devil on your back, then delivers an unequivocal protest song with the urgent and scathing Remedy. While all of those moments are remarkably powerful, Mvula finds another gear for Golden Ashes, a pulsing and towering ballad that could fill a stadium. Born of dejection, it takes aim at them scary power people yet alludes to not just survival but immortality, her voice more robust than ever. Lemons into lemonade is an understatement. ~ Andy Kellman

5年ぶりの3作目は、デビュー作で纏っていた神秘性を脱ぎ去り、2作目でも見せていたニューウェイヴ・ファンクやダンサブルな側面へと思い切り振り切った内容だ。ネオンに照らされながら、グレイス・ジョーンズ風の髪型と巨大肩パット入りジャケットで歌う"Safe Passage"のMVからも狙いは明らか。全編が80s直球なシンセ・ポップで統一されており、そんな音世界のなかを彼女のヴォーカルがこれまでになく活き活きと躍動する。
bounce (C)池谷瑛子