Entering Heaven Alive

The White Stripesのギタリスト/ソングライターとして知られるJack Whiteが、今年二作目となるフルアルバム『Entering Heaven Alive』を連続リリース!

1997年にThe White Stripesのシンガー、ギタリスト、その他多くの楽器を担当する異色のプレイヤーとしてデビューし、同バンドと並行・解散後も数多くのコラボレーションや新バンドの結成、ソロ活動、レーベル創立など精力的な活動を続け、世界的なロック・アイコンとしての地位を確立した。これまでに受賞・ノミネートされたグラミー賞は数知れず、現在ロックシーンを語る上で避けて通れないアーティストの一人。
今年4月にリリースされた『Fear Of The Dawn』に続き、今年二作目となるアルバム『Entering Heaven Alive』を連続リリース。

Calling Entering Heaven Alive the acoustic counterpart to Fear of the Dawn, the album it follows by a mere three months, isnt quite accurate even if this designation illustrates the divide between the two records. Where Fear of the Dawn is coiled, nervy, and tense, an explosion of paranoia and dread, Entering Heaven Alive is quieter and contemplative -- the music that arrives after the dawn, as it were. Jack White does pluck and strum an acoustic guitar throughout Entering Heaven Alive, sometimes conjuring ghosts of the softest White Stripes moments, but the arrangements on the album are detailed, spirited, and, in their own way, as adventurous as their counterparts on Fear of the Dawn. Witness "All Along the Way," the second song on the record: it begins as a hushed folk tune and then takes a left turn toward prog-reggae on its bridge. The album is filled with little moments like that: the stiff funk of "Ive Got You Surrounded (With My Love)" slowly, surely gets jazzier as it crawls on, while the mellow melancholy pop of "If I Die Tomorrow" cascades to a Baroque crescendo. These are surrounded by sly stylistic excursions, such as the plaintive, skeletal ballad "Love Is Selfish," the old-timey shuffle "Queen of the Bees," and "Taking Me Back (Gently)," which flips the frenzied Fear of the Dawn opener into a ragtime shuffle. The musical range is remarkable yet not flashy: the detours and rambles all feel as if they stem from a natural stream of consciousness. Entering Heaven Alive feels of a piece with Whites previous work, yet the ideas are synthesized and executed in fresh, inventive ways, suggesting that the ungainly Boarding House Reach was indeed a transitionary album to allow him to do music thats as relaxed and vibrant as this. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

映画「エルヴィス」のサントラで帝王と疑似共演した"Power Of My Love"も話題のなか、4月の『Fear Of The Dawn』に続く今年2枚目のアルバムが到着。電撃バリバリな前作に対し、今回はアコースティックな編成に弦楽器も絡めてフォークやブルース、ジャズなどを聴かせる。意匠の古めかしさよりも粗削りな音像の新鮮さが先に立つ作りは流石。前作のオープニング曲のスロウ版"Taking Me Back(Gently)"をラストに置いた構成も光る。
bounce (C)轟ひろみ