Quietly Blowing It (Alternate Cover Version)

ソングライターM.C. TAYLORを中心に、ゴスペルやサザン・ソウル、インディ・フォークを横断するサウンドで支持を集めてきたナッシュヴィルのプロジェクトHISS GOLDEN MESSENGER。MERGEと共に歩んだこれまでの作品群で、オルタナ・カントリー以降のアメリカーナを更新してきました。

2019年作『TERMS OF SURRENDER』に続く2021年作は、TAYLOR自身がソングライター、アレンジャー、プロデューサーを担ったパーソナルな内容の一枚。2019年作がグラミー賞のBEST AMERICANA ALBUM部門にノミネートされた流れの中で制作され、成長や疎外感、責任、家族、階級、再生といったテーマを、本人いわく自分自身に向けた内省として綴った作品です。レコーディングにはDAWESのGRIFFIN GOLDSMITHとTAYLOR GOLDSMITH、THE LONE BELLOWのZACH WILLIAMS、ナッシュビルのギタリストBUDDY MILLER、BONNY LIGHT HORSEMANのJOSH KAUFMANらも参加し、親密さとアンサンブルの厚みを両立させています。

穏やかな低音ピアノとカントリー寄りのビートがTAYLORの声を支える"THE GREAT MYSTIFIER"、フォーク/ロックのレンジを行き来しながら経済と信仰の揺れを歌う"MIGHTY DOLLAR"、ミニマルなR&B感覚のグルーヴで静かな高揚を生む"IT WILL IF WE LET IT"、GREGORY ALAN ISAKOVとの共作でスモーキーなムードが広がる"PAINTING HOUSES"、ゴスペルの要素を取り入れた"SANCTUARY"など、南部ソウルやフォーク、ブルースの文脈を通して、静かな共感と希望の感覚を少しずつ積み重ねていく構成。派手さよりも細やかなアンサンブルと歌詞の行間に重きを置き、聴き手それぞれの心情に寄り添うアルバムです。

騒がしい時代の中で、自分の足元と周囲の関係を静かに見つめ直したくなるような、丁寧な筆致のアメリカーナ作です。

M.C. Taylor, the vocalist and songwriter behind Hiss Golden Messenger, was struggling with some heavy emotional baggage when he was making 2019s Terms of Surrender, written and recorded as he grieved the death of his father and experienced a deep slide into depression. A little more than six months after the album was released, the rest of the world sunk into the doldrums as a global pandemic and a divisive culture held sway, and its comforting that Taylor is here to commiserate with us all. 2021s Quietly Blowing It was written between March and June 2020, when Taylor spent his days in a tiny home studio with his guitar and his thoughts. Without dealing with the specifics of the litany of disasters that dominated that year, the tenor of this album reflects a world that struggles to understand just whats going on and why. The uphill battle of simply getting by informs Hardlytown, the growing divide between the haves and have nots is at the core of Mighty Dollar, mortality and survival walk side by side in Sanctuary, and the struggle to keep hoping without knowing if it will ever pay off is the theme behind If It Comes in the Morning. Quietly Blowing It is the work of a man who has far more questions than answers, and hes sadly short on concrete advice at a time when we could all use it. But while the lyrics of these songs confront the realities of a cruel world, the music is there to offer all the solace Taylor knows how to give. The melodies are not always upbeat, but they have the warmth and determined compassion of a hug from an old friend, and the arrangements dress the tunes in sounds that recall the rootsy end of 70s soft rock but with an emotional eloquence thats often very beautiful, even when his characters are chasing a happiness thats out of their grasp. On Quietly Blowing It, M.C. Taylor reminds us he knows how we feel, and that he feels the same way; perhaps that helps only so much, but theres a lot to be said for a friendly voice during a hard time, and thats just what this album delivers. ~ Mark Deming

カリフォルニア出身のシンガー・ソングライター、MC・テイラーによるソロ・プロジェクト。この約2年ぶりの新作でもスモーキーでソウルフルな声を響かせ、フォーキーでディープなアメリカーナを聴かせてくれるが、本人いわく〈適切な環境で曲が書けた〉ということもあり、よりリラックスしながら、なおかつ感傷的な雰囲気を持つ。グラミー賞にノミネートされて評価の高かった前作に勝るとも劣らない大傑作だ。
bounce (C)赤瀧洋二