Wicked Jaw＜Sky Blue Vinyl＞

パートナーでもあるOF MONTREALケヴィンをプロデューサーに据えて評価を上げた前作『PERSONALIA』から3年、ジョージア州拠点のCHRISTINA SCHNEIDERのプロジェクトLOCATE S,1がさらにポップ度数を爆増させた『WICKED JAW』をリリース!

ディスコ、コールドウェーヴ、ソフト・ロックなど多岐に渡るジャンル横断で自らのセンスを知らしめたLOCATE S,1。本作はセルフプロデュースで真っ向正面から「とにかくポップ」な作風にチャレンジ!先行シングル"YOU WERE RIGHT ABOUT ONE THING"で徹頭徹尾ノスタルジックなポップを響かせリスナーを感傷まみれにするはず!そこに現行のインディロックぽさを盛り込む辺りもさすが!MVでCHRISTINAが扮装しながら唄う姿は、これまでのキャリアと本作のポップを象徴しているかのよう!

名門CAPTURED TRACKSから引き続きリリースという事で、段々と名門を背負っていくスケールが出始めた記念となりそうな盤です!

On Wicked Jaw, her third album as Locate S, 1, producer, vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist Christina Schneider lightens up a little, but only musically. 2020s Personalia was a vision of thrilling disco-pop, but if often took turns toward cold atmospheres or busy, uncomfortable arrangements that mirrored the albums emotional states. Wicked Jaw feels more straightforward in comparison, even as Schneider swerves quickly between airy bossa-nova, slick synth pop, crunchy guitar rock, and various other styles. As with Personalia, Schneiders sonic personality serves as the glue that holds all her disparate impulses together. The high life-informed guitar leads and ethereal, floating melodies of "Danielle" feel connected to the swaying bossa nova dreamscapes of "Go Back to Disnee," and even when Schneider reconfigures girl group melodrama into something abstract and strange on the title track, all of these various experiments feel of one piece. The captivating noir-pop of album opener "You Were Right About One Thing" is just one example of Wicked Jaws deft ability to conceal its lyrical intensity beneath deceptively joyful sounding hooks and silky smooth arrangements. Reading the lyrics while not listening to the song reveal a harrowing depiction of an abusive relationship akin to a natural disaster, and the lasting wreckage left in its wake. Throughout the album, Schneider obscures personal horrors and trauma with gorgeous sonics, and the effect is both engrossing and disorienting. As ever, Locate S, 1 balances pop perfection with unpredictable artistry, and the always-shifting stylistic landscapes of Wicked Jaw find Schneider living out therapeutic catharsis while paradoxically crafting some of her most enjoyable and fun music to date. ~ Fred Thomas