falling or flying

2019年グラミー新人賞ノミネート経歴を持つUKの女性R&Bシンガー、Jorja Smithが2枚目となる最新フルアルバムをリリース!

During 2021, the year she released the intermediate and mostly downcast Be Right Back EP, Jorja Smith moved back to her native Walsall after determining that London -- where she had moved to establish her career -- was not the place for her. The return enabled her to slow down in a familiar setting as she made the true follow-up to Lost & Found, her Mercury Prize-nominated album debut. Created primarily with Barbara Boko-Hyouyhat and Edith Nelson, an emergent Walsallian duo known as DAMEDAME*, Falling or Flying also involves, in roughly one-third of its tracks, P2J -- a versatile producer known for his work with Beyonce, Wizkid, and Burna Boy -- showing that the still-independent Smith can attract high-profile collaborators as if she were a major-label flagship act. The complete turnover of collaborators and her retreat from the spotlight result in a fresh progression from Lost & Found that sees Smith examine herself, her relationships, and the ways she herself is scrutinized. Compared to the debut, the songs are a little tighter in structure, communicate more, and bounce from style to style -- whereas Lost & Found presented an evolved, commercially minded brand of street soul -- with introspective R&B always somewhere in the mix. The farthest deviation is "Go Go Go," a strummy bit of light pop-punk for Smith to sweep aside a lover with a pouty belligerence she hasnt shown before. Two others seduce in different backdrops. The title song, lush sophisti-pop redolent of Jessie Wares Devotion, sees Smith suggesting a rendezvous with an implied ellipsis or batting eyelash at the end of "I dont know where you are, but I dont wanna go to sleep, babe." Swift U.K. garage soundtracks Smiths chance romantic encounter on "Little Things." More compelling from a lyrical perspective is the greater number of inward-looking songs. Cinematic opener "Try Me," the darkly shimmering "She Feels," and the floating "Backwards" all come from a post-fame perspective but arent so specific that they cant relate to the average person navigating early adulthood. ~ Andy Kellman

現代UK R&Bの旗手がEPを挿んで放つ5年ぶりのアルバム。パンデミックを経験して自分を見つめ直したという今作は、先行曲のひとつ"Go Go Go"がストレートなロックであったように、オルタナティヴな存在であることを自認する彼女が、内省的な雰囲気を出しながらも自由闊達に好きな音楽をやってのけた印象だ。メインで制作にあたったフレンチEDMのデイムデイム*らによる鋭くも弾力性に富んだトラックと合体するクールかつエモーショナルな歌声にも固い決意を感じる。P2Jらが手掛けたトライバルなハウス"Little Things"、J・ハスとのアフロスウィング、リラ・アイケを迎えたレゲエ風味でホーリーなミディアムも力強い。
bounce (C)林剛