NYブルックリン拠点のインディ/エクスペリメンタル4人組ACTIVITY。2NDアルバムとなる『SPIRIT IN THE ROOM』でレディオヘッド級のバンドアンサンブルを獲得!

エクスペリメンタル・レジェンド PSYCHIC TVの末期メンバーJEFF BERNER、ビョークやビッグ・シーフ、直近ではMANDY,INDIANAの作品を手掛けたエンジニアHEBA KADRY、アートワーク諸々の写真家にトム・ヨークやミツキを切り取ってきたEBRU YIDIZとインディロック界のトップランナーな人選で固めた本作は、ツアーとリハーサルを重ね積み上げたバンドアンサンブルが炸裂。"CAREFUL LET'S SLEEPWALK"(MVが前衛的過ぎます)で鳴り響く『IN RAINBOWS』～『THE KING OF LIMS』期レディオヘッドのような不穏感と緻密さと、メンバー個人に襲った悲しい出来事から来る不安が混ざり、ハイレベルな音に仕上げる辺り大成長を遂げた証!そこにJEFF BERNERとHEBA KADRYのエッセンスが加わり、MANDY,INDIANAと共にエクスペリメンタル・ミュージックを引っ張って行きそうな存在に!
音やアートワーク全てがバンドの美学に基づいた必聴盤!

発売・販売元 提供資料 （2023/06/20）

When Activitys debut album, Unmask Whoever, appeared in early 2020, its dissolving, disjointed songs embodied the disorienting feeling of the times almost too well. Somehow, Spirit in the Room is even more hallucinatory than its predecessor. Written and recorded during the darkest, most isolated days of the COVID-19 global pandemic -- and while singer/guitarist Travis Johnson was mourning the loss of his mother to pancreatic cancer -- the bands second album uses their gift for otherworldly sounds as a conduit for complex emotions. Activity may have been physically separated while in lockdown, but Spirit in the Rooms songs float and wander in search of connection even when its impossible. Working once again with Psychic TVs Jeff Berner as producer, the bands transfixing sounds capture the instability of reality and the blurry meaninglessness of time in the wake of loss. Live drums push Johnson through the numbness and horror of grief on "Careful Lets Sleepwalk," one of the moments on the album that almost resembles a conventional rock song. Just a few tracks later, "Icing"s flickering collage of ambient tones and wordless vocals threatens to fall apart completely. While making Spirit in the Room, Activity namechecked Sonic Youth and Portishead as inspirations, and echoes of both groups brilliant use of texture and atmosphere lurk within the album. Dedicated to the late David Berman, "Heaven Chords" sways and shimmers like a lost Murray St. track. On "Department of Blood" and "Ect Frag," which was pieced together from samples of vintage folk recordings, the band channels the crumbling, dystopian feel of early trip-hop to perfectly unnerving effect. As delicate as Spirit in the Room sounds, its often warmer and more gripping than Unmask Whoever. When guitarist Jess Rees whispers "Its all right/Youre here now" over weightless tones on "Where the Art Is Hung," it falls somewhere between eerie and reassuring, like a ghost reaching out to comfort someone whos still alive. Emotion swells up in surprising ways throughout the album, perhaps most movingly on "Susan Medical City," where the gauzy guitars surrounding Johnson as he sings "Mother, come back to me" cant alleviate his pain. Even more oblique songs such as "I Like What You Like" sustain Spirit in the Rooms unforgettably haunted mood, which along with its fascinating sonics, make it a significant leap forward from the already impressive Unmask Whoever. ~ Heather Phares

Rovi