Nowhere To Go But Up

80年代から活動を続け、すでに100枚以上のアルバムをリリースしているROBERT POLLARD率いるインディーロック・レジェンドGUIDED BY VOICES。2023年第3弾にして通算39作目!となるアルバム『NOWHERE TO GO BUT UP』がCD / LPリリース!
「GBVが作り上げたアルバムの中でも最も完成度の高い作品のひとつ」ともされ、レジェンド・バンドの絶好調っぷりを世に知らしめるに十分の内容です。

40 years and nearly as many official albums in, its amazing that Guided by Voices arent constantly repeating themselves. While theyre not breaking brand new ground with every release, the music is diverse enough to make the bands tendency to churn out multiple albums a year seem driven by inspiration more than mere compulsion. Even Nowhere to Go But Up, the bands third studio effort of 2023 and 39th long-player overall, stands apart from the two records that preceded it by months as much as it carves out a new space for itself in the lengthy GbV saga thats been mutating since the early 80s. Where La La Land broke up its art-prog experimentalism with Beatles-y pop melodies and Welshpool Frillies leaned into on-stage excitement by recording live to tape (both of these albums were also released in 2023), Nowhere to Go But Up finds the band embracing over-the-top production power. The album starts with Phil Spector levels of pop enthusiasm with the anthem-like "The Race Is On, The King Is Dead." Its all loud, melodic guitars and bashing drums, but the melodies are backed up by chiming bell tones and string sounds deep in the mix, making for one of the more orchestrated GbV tunes and a perfect backdrop for especially memorable vocal lines from Robert Pollard. The entire first half of the album is driving, excellently produced power pop. Songs like "Stabbing at Fractions" and "Punchers Parade" are beefed-up versions of the kind of tunefully melancholy, midtempo songs Pollard used to record exclusively on cheap cassette four-tracks, benefiting here from studio sheen and clarity without completely losing their mystery. Of course, the band wanders into weirdness before too long, indulging in a lengthy Who-like intro on the otherwise absurd abstract rock of "Love Set" and flexing their prog rock powers on "Jack of Legs," complete with epic and declamatory horns and a song structure that rarely repeats a section. By the end, Nowhere to Go But Up grows more compositionally adventurous, but saves some catchiness for even its most complexly mapped songs. The element that sets the album apart from other 2020s GbV output isnt the songwriting as much as the sound they achieve; a nearly slaphappy implementation of the studio to make Pollards oddball musings and occasional heart-rending turns of phrase bigger than ever. ~ Fred Thomas

多作で知られるバンドだが、結成40周年を迎えた2023年はこの39作目の前にも2枚のアルバムをリリース。ローファイともオルタナとも言えるパワー・ポップの魅力は変わらないものの、活動のテンションがおかしなことになっているところが頼もしい。ロバート・ポラード(ヴォーカル)は現在66歳。"Jack Of Legs"For The Home"ではハード・ロッキンなリフも鳴る。
bounce (C)山口智男