I Am The Moon: III. The Fall ＜限定盤＞

『いとしのレイラ』を越え、TTBの新たなストーリーが始まる―
パンデミックの中、バンド全員が同じストーリーを読み、つながり、創り上げた壮大なプロジェクト

昨年リリースの『レイラ・リヴィジテッド』が好評を博した、新世代3大ロック・ギタリストのひとりであるデレク・トラックスと、5度のグラミー賞ノミネート歴のあるシンガー&ギタリストのスーザン・テデスキが率いる大所帯ブルース・ロック・バンド、テデスキ・トラックス・バンドの全4章に及ぶ新プロジェクトの第3章。

ツアーができずパンデミックに伴う孤立の中、メンバーが互いにつながりを保つ方法として、「いとしのレイラ」の出典元、ペルシャの12世紀の詩人、ニザーミーによる詩「ライラとマジュヌーン」を深く掘り下げようとヴォーカルのマイク・マティソンが提案。全員が同じ詩を読み、原作に描かれているさまざまなテーマからインスパイアされ曲作りに取り組み、セッションを重ねた中、彼らのキャリアで最も野心的なプロジェクトへと変化したという超大作。

スタジオ作品としては2019年発表の『サインズ』以来3年ぶり5作目。バンド全員で一つの普遍的なテーマに取り組み、共同作業で創り上げた本作は、ロック、ブルース、ニューオリンズ・ソウル、サイケデリア、ルーツ・ミュージックからフリー・ジャズまでTTBが誘う広大で刺激的、そして野心的な音楽の旅。ギターはもちろんのこと"世界最高のライヴ・バンド"TTBにしか成しえないサウンドが満載!
ほぼ4ヶ月間にわたって連続発売される本プロジェクトは「I. クレッセント」、「II. アセンション」、「III. ザ・フォール」 「IV. フェアウェル」の全4章から成る。

I Am the Moon: III. The Fall is the third in a projected series of four conceptually related, bi-monthly releases by Tedeschi Trucks Band in 2022. Each is accompanied by its own film from director Alix Lambert. It was informed by the epic, 12th century Persian love poem "The Story of Layla and Majnun" by Nizami Ganjavi, which also provided inspiration for the music on Derek and the Dominos 1970 album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs. Discovering complex themes and storylines in the poem, I Am the Moon was written collaboratively, with band members contributing their own unique perspectives on the work. The Tedeschi Trucks Band sets its gaze on loves bittersweet dimensions on this third installment. Opener "Somehow" by Gabe Dixon and Tia Sellers is a wrangling blues-rocker driven by Trucks signature slide guitar. Hammond B-3, Rhodes piano, horns, drums, and a backing chorus surround Susan Tedeschis aching vocal -- "How many times will you walk away?/How many times is the price I pay too high?/How many times can you make me beg?/Look that way and wreck my head..." -- as the rootsy, blues-jazz mix underscores the emotional grain in her voice. No matter the cost, she affirms a commitment to follow it and the beloved wherever they go: "What strikes a match in a strangers eye so bright?/Makes us want and makes us seek/The flicker of somebody’s heat?/How can what should be wrong on paper/Be written in the heart so right?" "None Above," written by Tedeschi and Mike Mattison, is a brief, souled-out choogler that weighs the tensions between obsessive commitment and the potential for destruction it poses, all inside a pop melody worthy of vintage AM radio. "Yes We Will" is funky, greasy, and drenched in gospel dynamics. It swaggers and sways as its lyrics detail the trials and tribulations emerging in this world and the one to come. Tedeschis and Trucks guitar breaks are mean, lean, argumentative, and edgy atop a soul shuffle on the drum kit, doo wop backing chorus, and Dixons chugging keys. "Gravity" was composed by Dixon and Oliver Wood. Saturated in funky, NOLA rhythm and blues, it owes a debt to Dixie Chicken-era Little Feat, with killer piano and lead vocals from Dixon amid strutting horns and biting slide guitar. Mattisons "Emmaline" is a midtempo romantic ballad offered an absent lover under the night sky in country-waltz time. Alecia Chakours stunning backing vocals add depth and resonance. Closer "Take Me As I Am" is a love anthem sung by Tedeschi and Mark Rivers. Framed by sweet horns, a swaying backing chorus, and breakbeat drums, guitars, organ, and piano hover and float with painterly poignancy that send the set off on a celebratory note. While The Fall sticks closer to the blues, soul, and Americana roots aspects of TTBs sonic persona than did the earlier volumes, its searing honesty and inspired musical performances make this volume the finest in the series so far. ~ Thom Jurek