Ceremony

ニュージーランドはオークランドのシンガソングライター、ホーリー・フルブルックのソロ・プロジェクトとして始まったフォーク・グループ、タイニー・ルーインズの新作アルバム『Ceremony』。インディー・ポップ/フォークをベースとした心地良いアコースティックなサウンドを軸に、繊細で緻密なバンドアンサンブルと、70年代女性ソングライター名盤かと錯覚するような普遍的な歌心とグッドメロディーが光る傑作。リード曲「Dorothy Bay」はグルーヴィ―なベースの上を、ホーリー・フルブルックの伸びやかな歌が浮遊するナンバー！アシッドフォーク/サイケクラシックなジャケットも素晴らしく、ビッグシーフやフリートフォクシーズといった現行インディーフォーク好きは勿論、カレン・ダルトン、ヴァシュティ・バニヤン、リンダ・パーハクス、マーゴ・ガーヤンといった女性フォークレジェンド好きまで注目の作品。

Begun as the solo project of Auckland singer/songwriter Hollie Fullbrook, Tiny Ruins retained its defining spare, folk-minded character even after becoming a quartet and subtly expanding upon instrumentation. That changed with 2019s Olympic Girls, an album that ventured into lusher and hazier psychedelic and dream pop territory without overshadowing the intimate sensibility of both Fullbrooks songcraft and gentle vocal delivery. Tiny Ruins pick up where that album left off for fourth long-player Ceremony, a set that began life as acoustic solo affairs by Fullbrook that were given an artful, intricate band treatment in the studio. Written during periods of personal loss and pandemic isolation, its songs are set along the shores of Aucklands Manukau Harbour ("Old Murky" to locals) and steeped in seaside imagery. Ceremony welcomes listeners aboard with "Dogs Dreaming," one of the pensive sets livelier entries. Its active acoustic strumming and organ, wide-ranging bassline, and bouncy vocal melody are somewhat at odds with lyrics inspired by the fear that set in on an excursion to a lighthouse alone at dusk ("Paws know when to run"). Later, the more poignant and poetic "Driving & Soaring" takes the form of an elegant, fluttering guitar lament visited by spacey effects ("My heart was diving and soaring with the seabirds flashing by"). Accompanied by a mix of hand drums and low-pitched toms, the more fully arranged "In Light of Everything" merges wistful indie pop and prog folk, while "Dorothy Bay" takes on a darker tone fueled by electric guitar distortion ("Theres a strong pull harbor-way"). Ceremonys minor-chord tendencies and cautionary melodies persist through a second half highlighted by the haunting psych-folk of "Earthly Things" ("Swing to my usual places/Check out the damage") and its strings-braced closer "The Crab/Waterbaby," which explains the albums title with the lines "I need a ceremony/I need a ritual"). However, theres no filler to be found on another accomplished and quietly haunted release from a group celebrating a decade together as a unit. ~ Marcy Donelson