Albion

Tim Smith is from Texas, but youd never guess it to listen to Albion, the first album from his long-gestating musical project Harp. Smith was a co-founder of the group Midlake, but he left in 2012 to work on music of his own, and after a decade of dealing with personal matters and figuring out how to make the sounds in his imagination heard to others, hes given us an album of rare beauty thats informed by an unusual set of ingredients. The melodies and the dour grace of the lyrics recall British folk-rock of the 1960s and 70s (it doesnt hurt that Smiths vocals here recall Ian Matthews from his days with Fairport Convention), while the jangle of the guitars and the sensuous waves of the keyboards and winds suggest the more baroque side of U.K. post-punk bands like the Cure and Cocteau Twins, as well as the grand ambitions of vintage prog rock. It sounds like a curious amalgam on paper, but Smith and his collaborator Kathi Zung make it work with what sounds like effortless grace. Despite the downbeat shade of the music, its all but impossible not to get caught up in the spell of these 12 selections, sounding a bit like Mazzy Star if they were transported to the British Midlands in 1970 and found themselves charmed by their new digs. While a number of things were occupying Smith during the years he spent writing and recording this -- divorce, marriage, relocating, raising children -- its not hard to imagine it took a while to get these pieces to come together. Little of Albion sounds obvious, and none of it appears to have happened by chance. But the promise Tim Smith showed in his work with Midlake has paid off handsomely in Harps debut, and hopefully it wont take another ten years to hear the follow-up. ~ Mark Deming

ミッドレイクの元フロントマン、ティム・スミスが妻のキャシー・ツァンと共に始めたプロジェクト。ベラ・ユニオンからリリースされたこのデビュー作では全曲のソングライティングとプロデュースを2人が担当。彼らしいフォーキーな感覚を保ちつつ、音数も減らして全体にシリアスで崇高なムードを漂わせている。感傷的な歌声も印象的で、バンド時代とは違う新境地の作品だ。
bounce (C)赤瀧洋二