The Ultra Vivid Lament＜Picture Vinyl＞

The Ultra Vivid Lament almost plays like a riposte to Resistance Is Futile, the 2018 album that found the Manic Street Preachers attempting to return to the roar of their younger years. Theres no such feint toward harder rock here. James Dean Bradfield wrote the majority of the album after learning to play piano, so the records 11 songs have sculpted, crafted melodies that call for the kind of introspection Nicky Wire gravitates to in his set of lyrics. Writing during the global COVID-19 pandemic -- the kind of world-historic event that seems like catnip to a songwriter as socially conscious as Wire -- the bassist/lyricist turned inward, searching for humanity and common bonds in an age of digital disassociation. Wires introspection is given a cinematic lift by Bradfields melodies and the Manics painterly anthemic soft rock. This Is My Truth, Tell Me Yours is the touchstone for The Ultra Vivid Lament, as the album achieves a similar sense of heightened emotional reality, but the record feels deeper and more resonant delivered by middle-aged Manics. No longer urgent yet still passionate, the band conjure a sense of operatic melancholy on The Ultra Vivid Lament that feels reassuring, even consoling. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

約3年ぶり、オリジナル作としては通算14枚目となるニュー・アルバムが到着。デビュー以来多くの作品を共にしてきた盟友でもあるUKロック界の大御所デイヴ・エリンガがプロデュースを手掛け、録音にはウェールズの名門スタジオであるロックフィールドも使用……と、今作も英国音楽好きにはたまらないキーワードが並ぶ。興味深いのはソングライティングがギターではなくピアノ中心に行われ、演奏でも数多くフィーチャーされていること。曲はよりメロディアスに変化し、サウンド面でも芯の強さに加えて美しさと豊かさが増しており、作品全体が醸し出すのはノスタルジックな印象。つまりマニックスらしさを保ちつつ、そのセンティメンタルな持ち味をさらに強調した、過去のどのアルバムとも色の違う新たな傑作だ。
bounce (C)赤瀧洋二