I DES＜数量限定盤/Gold Vinyl＞

スコットランドが誇るDIYポップス・シンガーソングライター、キング・クレオソートによる最新アルバム発売!

自ら戴冠式を行いキングと名乗り、ソロ・デビュー・アルバムをリリースしてから四半世紀、キング・クレオソートとして知られるケニー・アンダーソンは、スコットランドの地元ファイフをこよなく愛するDIYポップの大航海者であり、これまでに100枚以上のCD-Rや楽曲を発表してきた。そんな彼が新作『I DES』を＜Domino＞からリリース!

全10曲収録の本作には、既発表曲の「Susie Mullen」や「Walter de la Nightmare」、そして36分の大作「Drone in B#」などが含まれ、ビブラフォン、アコーディオン、サンプラー、傷だらけのレコード、ワイングラスを使ったドローンなど、万華鏡のようなサウンドが展開されており、アンダーソンのいたずらっぽく、放浪的な歌声が全体をまとめ上げている。高揚感のある先行シングル「Blue Marbled Elm Trees」で、アンダーソンは嬉々として次のように歌っている。
「文句なんか言わないさ/娘たちと笑いあった時間は最高だった/最高の人生を授けられた/この青いビー玉にいても、どんな異世界でも」

A poetic seaside bard with a strong experimental streak, Scotlands Kenny Anderson has been making music under the King Creosote name since 1997. A deluge of D.I.Y. releases on his own Fence imprint eventually gave way to more structured highlights like 2005s KC Rules OK and 2011s Diamond Mine, his acclaimed ambient folk collaboration with electronic producer Jon Hopkins. Wildly prolific in his early days, Andersons output has been comparatively slim in the past decade. After 2014s poignant From Scotland with Love and its spottier follow-up, Astronaut Meets Appleman (2016), little was heard from the Fife-based artist. 2023s I DES, is King Creosotes first album in seven years and marks Andersons 25th year working under that banner. During that first quarter-century, his music has swung in a variety of directions from woolen, sea-salted folk to quirky psych-pop and noisy indie rock. Tonally and musically, I DES feels a bit like a composite of Andersons various attributes, a wild mid-career overview imbued with the veteran presence of an artist who has always sounded like an old soul. King Creosote has never shied away from weightier subjects, but here he faces mortality both with grace (the heartful "Blue Marbled Elm Trees") and outright refusal ("Burial Bleak"). Co-produced with Derek ONeill, whose nickname "Des" is referenced in the albums title (which, with a little rearrangement could also indicate "DIES" or "IDES," the latter of which also being one of its song titles), Anderson effectively marries his trad folk leanings with lush synth pop, pulsing Krautrock, and even drone music. Hes always been a hard artist to pin down, intentionally zigging and zagging throughout his exploratory career, and I DES is no different. There is the quirky "Susie Mullen," an incessant, uptempo romp centered around what sounds like a J-pop chant, followed a few songs later by the gorgeous 13-minute, multi-part suite "Please Come Back I Will Listen, I Will Behave, I Will Toe the Line." Less a closer than a Part 2, the 36-minute "Drone in B#" (a key that exists as only as a microtone) effectively turns I DES into a double album and is its own thrilling group-jam ecosystem. Woven throughout the record is Andersons rugged, keening voice (its own special instrument) and sense of adventure. Perhaps its not King Creosotes most cohesive effort, but its an appropriately ambitious celebration of his first 25 years. ~ Timothy Monger