The Runners Four ＜限定盤/Pink & Blue Vinyl＞

まもなく結成30年を迎えるUSインディ番長ディアフーフ。どんなに活動と作品を重ねてもポップとエキセントリックの融合を忘れない彼らのキャリアの中でも、ずば抜けて何もかも大作(20曲入り!)で、「警告と希望を伝える」コンセプトアルバムだった2005年7TH『THE RUNNERS FOUR』が2枚組カラー盤としてオリジナルリリース以来の再発!

現在さまざまなバンドのサポートをこなしソロ作も充実しているクリス・コーエンが参加した最後のアルバムとなった本作。クリスの奇天烈センスが火花を散らしながら、内容をどんどん深化させているのが分かります。”WRONG TIME CAPSULE”のフワフワと浮かぶマツザキのヴォーカル、グレッグとクリスの交差がそれぞれ美しくバンドアンサンブルを築いて盛り上げる、ある意味総決算的なナンバーに感涙必至!

After seven albums' worth of gleeful pandemonium, Deerhoof calm things down a bit with The Runners Four, a collection of songs that are even more restrained than Milk Man and the Green Cosmos EP. Perhaps trying for the unpredictability of their earlier work got too, well, predictable for the band. Even though the manic intensity that characterized work like Reveille is missed a little here, The Runners Four is still a far cry from typical indie rock; in fact, it sounds more like one of Deerhoof's older albums played at half-speed than anything else. Most importantly, the joyful creativity that radiates from all of the band's other work is here in spades, too: it's hard not to smile at "Twin Killers"' zigzagging riffs or "Scream Team"'s giddy, girl-boy vocals. At the beginning of the album, there's more of an emphasis on pretty, relatively gentle songs like "Chatterboxes," "Odyssey," and "Vivid Cheek Love Song," although even these tracks have enough shifts in tempo and dynamics to prove that they're the work of Deerhoof. However, as The Runners Four unfolds, it gets progressively louder and more overtly playful, with "Spirit Ditties of No Tone," "Lightning Rod, Run," and "O'Malley, Former Underdog" providing some of the album's most irresistible moments. By the time "You're Our Two" and "Rrrrrrright" close out the album, Deerhoof are back to the sugar-buzzing rock of their early days. In between these extremes are the pretty pop of "Running Thoughts" and noisy, experimental cuts such as "Midnight Bicycle Mystery" and "Bone-Dry," which recalls the more elliptical moments of Deerhoof offshoot Curtains. While it's not as clearly conceptual as Milk Man was, The Runners Four also seems to tell an extended, if fractured, story involving murderous twin beauties, spies, pirates, and smugglers. There's a lot to look and listen for in The Runners Four; it's Deerhoof's longest, most eclectic work yet, and more proof that the band can expand its sound without losing what makes it special. ~ Heather Phares

マトモスやスティーヴン・マルクマス（元ペイヴメント）、さらにはルーツからも熱烈なラヴコールを受けるフィラデルフィアの4人組による新作。アヴァンやらサイケやらポップやらを咀嚼しすぎてドロドロにした、もはや形容のできない〈なにか〉が宿命的に身体を通り抜けていく衝撃作だ。突発的に轟く雷鳴の如きギター・ノイズといい、サトミ・マツザキの妖精の如きロリ声といい、すべてが突出し、すべてが何周も先を行っている。
bounce (C)加賀 龍一