Monument＜限定盤/Colored Vinyl＞

Belarusian cold wave trio Molchat Doma had a breakthrough year in 2020, as their first two albums were reissued by Sacred Bones and their song Sudno (Boris Ryzhy) became a surprise hit through the power of social media. They were set to make their North American touring debut when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, forcing them to stay in Minsk, their hometown, and finish working on their third album. Just as second album Etazhi was a step up from the bands murky debut S Krysh Nashikh Domov, in terms of both recording fidelity and songwriting, Monument sounds much brighter and more polished, and contains some of their most hook-filled songs to date. Its also more overtly danceable than their earlier records. Etazhi flirted with dark new wave funk and contained a song about dancing to escape ones troubles, and the best tracks on Monument go further in this vein. The album opens with Utonut, a dramatic disco tune that almost sounds like the bands attempt at making Latin freestyle, complete with orchestra stabs, busy drum programming, and glittery yet aching synth melodies. The nearly Hi-NRG Discoteque is about dancing rapturously and not caring about what happens later. After a vibrant instrumental bridge with a trace of vocoder, the track ascends to a higher level during the final chorus. A more spiffed-up version of their 2019 single Zvezdy appears, upgrading from rough, demo-like sound quality to clearer, less reverb-saturated production, and with a more emotive performance by lead vocalist Egor Shkutko. The late-night sophistication of Ne Smeshno (with its bitter, nearly howled chorus) and Leningradskiy Blues (containing the albums most haunting guitar lines) leans a bit closer to David Sylvians group Japan. As with the bands other albums, Shkutkos poetic Russian lyrics describe disenchantment and profound emptiness, and the music brilliantly illustrates this despondency in a spirited, even assuring way. ~ Paul Simpson

ネットミーム的な愉しみやTikTokでの人気も含めて〈ソヴィエトウェイヴ〉や〈ロシアン・ドゥーマー・ミュージック〉といった奇妙なカテゴリーが注目を集めているなか、それらの括りにおいても重要バンドと目されるモルチャット・ドーマがサード・アルバムをリリース。彼らはベラルーシの首都ミンスクで2017年に結成された3人組で、本国のポスト・パンク・シーンではキーになるバンドのひとつだそう。陰鬱な男性ヴォーカルと冷たいシンセで繰り広げる音世界はリヴァイヴァルどころじゃない西欧ニューウェイヴのド真ん中という印象で、往年のニュー・オーダーばりにビシビシ鳴らされるマシーン・ビートとヴォコーダーのレトロな味わいにクラクラさせられる。どこまで狙ってやってるのかわからないがカッコイイです。
bounce (C)香椎恵