Fase Luna

元レイト・オブ・ザ・ピアのサム・ダストによるソロ・プロジェクト、ラ・プリーストの最新作は、ドリーミーでソフト・サイケデリックな極上のポップ・ミュージック!

KlaxonsやCSSと並んでUKダンス・ロック・ムーヴメントの一翼を担った伝説のバンド、Late of The PierのフロントマンSam Dustによるソロ・プロジェクトLA Priestが最新アルバムをリリース!
本作『Fase Luna』は、海にインスパイアを受けたという作品であり、Samが150個の電気回路を使って自ら設計したモジュラー・ドラムマシンにちなんで名付けられたものだという。シンセサイザーを一切使用しない、これまでで最もピュアなLA Priestサウンドが堪能できる本作は、Samがメロディーを口ずさみながら、メキシコの地元のミュージシャン、Carlos Gabriel Favela Manzanoがドラムを叩くことで「おとぎ話」のような仕上がりとなった。揺らいだギターサウンドがまどろむようなサイケデリアを作り出すオープニング「Fase Luna」、人魚に恋をした男が、陸の生活か海の生活か、どちらかを選ばなければならないという内容のファンキーなラブ・ソングの先行解禁シングル「It's You」、クールにこみ上げる名曲「Sail On」他、全曲必聴な9曲を収録。
不安定だけど心地良い、不思議な浮遊感が作品を通して漂う、坂本慎太郎～Bobby Ozora～Yo La Tengo～Fishmans好きにまでオススメできるドリーミーでソフト・サイケデリックな極上のポップ・ミュージック!!!!!!!!

The third album from Sam Eastgates mercurial project LA Priest began when he was stranded in Mexico. When travel restrictions dismantled his plans to go to Belize to build a drum machine at a patrons workshop, Eastgate settled into a time of beachy rumination, taking inspiration from his temporary environment for the drifting, aquatic sounds that congealed as Fase Luna. The warped guitars and distant percussion that start off the opening track, "On," set the tone for the rest of the album, offering beach music that sounds beamed in from another planet. Part relaxed funk, part chillwave, and part alien guitar pop, the song evokes images of glistening tropical shores and tiki parties on the surface of the moon. Eastgates smooth falsetto vocals glide over the happy grooves of "Silent," continuing the gentle and oceanic sounds by melting into a sun-damaged instrumental outro. Many of Fase Lunas songs fade in and out of each other without breaking the albums pervasively pleasant windswept atmosphere. Eastgate alternates between sounding like hes kicking sand with a carefree smile, as on the peppy "Its You," or contentedly out to sea on tracks like the soft and swaying "Ocean." Fase Luna is a continuous flow of these kinds of sun-bleached sounds, and while it can sometimes be hard to discern where one song filters into an interlude or the next track begins, this continuous wash of bleary melodies works as a mood that shifts but never gets too far off course. It represents a new chapter in LA Priests sound, as well. While earlier albums found Eastgates wobbly vision of funk delivered with drum machines, bent guitars, and fuzzy synths, theres something organic about Fase Lunas dreamlike (and mostly synthesizer-free) arrangement that feels warmer and more welcoming. The friendly and lackadaisical songs blur together to create a humid daydream where troubles are nowhere to be found and theres always a full moon shining down on the night tides. ~ Fred Thomas