Everything Harmony＜限定盤/Colored Vinyl＞

Brothers Brian and Michael D’Addarios work as the Lemon Twigs has always been rooted in a power pop sensibility borrowed directly from the songwriting greats of the 70s. Their albums took different paths within the scope of that influence, with 2018s Go to School presenting a glammed-up take on Broadway musical pop and 2020s Songs for the General Public turning up the radio rock energy with aggressive melodies and polished production straight from the era when Billy Joel and Meat Loaf dominated the charts. Their fourth album, Everything Harmony, finds the Twigs changing directions yet again, turning the volume down and exploring a more sentimental side of their 70s-informed songwriting style. Acoustic guitars and subtle orchestral flourishes are everywhere throughout the album, beginning with the Simon & Garfunkel-esque "When Winter Comes Around." The song starts plainly, with simple folksy chord progressions and a steady, melancholic vocal that soon blooms into harmonizing. Before long, the arrangement erupts into a booming, almost anthemic outburst of percussion and a Phil Spector-like Walls of Sound. This reverb-heavy maximalism shows up again on the aching "What Happens to a Heart," with overdubbed strings swirling around multiple drum tracks and layers of other overlapping sounds. Its a knowingly dizzying effect, the same sound Spector achieved on his 70s productions for John Lennon, Leonard Cohen, and Dion. Everything Harmony cycles between huge, bombastic statements like these, straightforward Raspberries/Badfinger-like jangle rock nuggets like "Ghost Run Free," and far more sensitive fare. Its the especially gentle songs that show the bands progression the most. "Any Time of Day" is one of the albums most gripping moments, channeling the precision falsetto vocals of 70s soft rock and twisting that familiar sound around an ambitiously constructed song. The hooks arrive one after another and the key change at the end pushes the songs catchiness over the top. The softer songs on the album see the Twigs return to some of the Baroque pop influences they built their earliest albums on, but clear away some of the extraneous sounds that could clutter that material. Songs like the title track or the Beach Boys send-up "New to Me" are purposefully minimal, leaving more space for listeners to zero in on the sad, pristine beauty that serves as an emotional baseline for the entire album. ~ Fred Thomas

4枚目のアルバムはキャプチャード・トラックスに移籍して初となる作品で、彼ら自身でプロデュースを手掛けている。これまでのインディー・ポップのスタイルを残しつつ、よりソフト・ロックやアメリカーナに近い作品でアコースティック楽器の響き、彼らの美しい歌声とコーラス、メロディーが思う存分楽しめる。70年代初期のビーチ・ボーイズの名作群を彷彿させる快作。
bounce (C)赤瀧洋二