Plunge

70's米英ロックのヴィンテージ感をモダンなセンスで鳴らした快作!
ビッグ・シーフやジョアンナ・サミュエルズなどの作品でエンジニアを務めたことでも知られる、ニューヨークを拠点として活動するSSW。着実にキャリアを重ね本作で4作目となりますが、70'sロックの暖かみあるサウンドとソフトな歌唱による(1)、エイドリアン・レンカーが参加した(4)やアーシーなサザンロック(7)など、ノスタルジックでありながら新鮮なサウンドが全編に渡って展開。裏方出身だけあって、ヴィンテージ楽器の使用も適材適所。The Lemon Twigs、Whitney好きは是非チェックを!

With his fourth album, Sam Evian (producer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and Celestial Shore founder Sam Owens) dials back some of the warped, woozy artifice that marked 2021s Time to Melt. That album was a political-minded one that looked to artists including Marvin Gaye for conceptual inspiration. While still incorporating spongy sounds and touches of psychedelia, the follow-up, Plunge, turns its attention to themes of family, home, and related complexities. Still steeped in vintage instruments and a collaborative spirit -- Liam Kazar, Palehounds El Kempner, Big Thiefs Adrianne Lenker, and longtime partner Hannah Cohen are among over a dozen contributors here -- its breezy mix of radio-friendly, late-60s and 70s singer/songwriter, psychedelic, and power pop brings it closer in line with cited inspirations like the Beatles, solo George Harrison, and Harry Nilsson, among many others. It was recorded at Owens newly established Flying Cloud Studios in upstate New York and released on Flying Cloud Recordings (in partnership with Thirty Tigers). The Beatles influence and Harrison-evoking guitar tones and riffs are conspicuous on "Jacket," an airy jaunt that seeks relationship reassurance. Kempner steps in on guitar for the angstier, driving "Another Way," a song elevated by its dancing bassline, while Lenker provides a refreshingly feral guitar solo on "Why Does It Take So Long," a lively, distortion-heavy entry with a group singalong chorus. Evian gets funkier on "Freakz" and more tropical on dreamy, midtempo charmer "Rollin In," on which he plays both Rhodes piano and saxophone. As it moves through these subtle mood changes and shifting musical references, the album hits its retro-period apex with late-arriving tracks like the improvisatory "Runaway" (parts the Band and John Lennon) and closer "Stay," a striding, slide guitar-inflected song, full of encouragement, that Owens wrote for his father. While arguably Sam Evians strongest set of songs yet, hes nothing if not consistent, and Plunge sits well alongside project debut Premium (2016) while at the same time offering something a little "more so" thanks to a live-in-studio recording philosophy that shunned headphones and playback and kept overdubs to a minimum. ~ Marcy Donelson