I Killed Your Dog

マルチ・インストゥルメンタリスト、コンポーザー、キュレーターとして高く評価されているTaja Cheekの音楽プロジェクトL'Rain。Pitchforkで「BEST NEW ALBUM」を獲得する等、高い評価を得た前作から約2年振りとなるサード・アルバム『I Killed Your Dog』、リリース。

マルチ・インストゥルメンタリスト、コンポーザー、キュレーターとして高く評価されているTaja Cheekの音楽プロジェクトL'Rainは、待望のサード・アルバム『I Killed Your Dog』をMexican Summerからリリースする。彼女の前作に影響を与えた悲しみとアイデンティティというテーマをもとに書き下ろした16曲の新曲は、最も愛する人を傷つけることの意味を考察している。Cheekが「アンチ・ブレイクアップ」のレコードと表現する『I Killed Your Dog』は、愛という普遍的なポップ・テーマを出発点とし、大胆で、生意気で、そして、少し極悪非道でさえもある。
米ブルックリンをベースに活動するTaja Cheek は、MoMa PS1等、著名なニューヨークの美術館での仕事や、Naama Tsabar、Kevin Beasley、Justin Allenらとのコラボレーションでも知られる。ゴスペル、ジャズ、ネオ・ソウル、ポスト・パンク、R&B他、様々なジャンルが高度にブレンドされた2021年のセカンド・アルバム『Fatigue』は、Pitchforkで「BEST NEW ALBUM」を獲得する等、高い評価を得た。

The first two albums from Taja Cheeks LRain project were endlessly inventive, dreamlike efforts that delved into subjects relating to loss, grief, change, and identity. Third record I Killed Your Dog is themed around love, but not in the most typical ways one would expect. Specifically, its designed as an "anti-breakup" album, reflecting on the heartbreak of being hurt by loved ones and the endings of close friendships and relationships. The intentionally confrontational title provokes the listener to ask why someone would do such a horrible thing, and the fact that the title song is a confessional but not exactly apologetic ambient lullaby only adds to the confusion. Other songs like "I Hate My Best Friends" and "Uncertainty Principle" are riddled with contradictions, both in the lyrics and the arrangements (the latter has soft, smooth vocals but ends in a noise rock freak-out). The wavy, hazy "Our Funeral" describes how crushing loneliness makes an impending breakup feel apocalyptic. "Pet Rock" follows the trail of the more accessible selections from Fatigue, starting out with a Strokes-inspired guitar melody before blooming into something more psychedelic. The song addresses Cheeks relationship to rock music as a Black musician, and how she doesnt share many of the same classic rock reference points as other people. "5 to 8 Hours a Day (WWwaG)" is a lush folk-pop tune about the woes of studying, with subtle drums percolating in the background during a lengthy spoken word section. Synth sequences flutter throughout "Knead Bee," a fully developed version of the previous albums scratchy, minute-long "Need Be." Like Fatigue, I Killed Your Dog is connected by numerous fragments, interludes, and brief messages, often of a humorous nature, like "Whats That Song?" in which a full band accompanies someone trying to identify the melody of a jazz tune. The album concludes with "New Year’s UnResolution," a reflection on various stages of a relationship set to an aquatic dance rhythm. Every bit as creative and trippy as LRains first two albums, I Killed Your Dog has some of the artists most relatable lyrics, and cuts closer to the bone. ~ Paul Simpson