This Is Stina Nordenstam＜限定盤/Clear Vinyl＞

スウェーデンのビョークとも称されるSSW"STINA NORDENSTAM"が2001年にリリースした名盤『THIS IS STINA NORDENSTAM』がカラー盤として待望の再発!

ミニマルなアンビエント要素に包まれたサウンドスケープに印象的な彼女の声が繊細に響き渡る楽曲は、白昼夢の中を泳いでいるかのような親密で素晴らしい体験をリスナーへと提供してくれます。全11曲にアヴァンギャルディな実験精神に満ち溢れたエッセンスが数滴たらされていますが、そんなクセの強い楽曲たちをいともたやすく自分色に染め上げてしまう彼女の神秘的な魅力と天性のポップセンスには脱帽です。

This Is Stina Nordenstam was received with relief by critics when it was released in 2001. After two difficult albums -- one exceedingly dark and distorted and the other full of experimental covers -- Nordenstam had returned with a modern pop album. And to further stress that it was pop this time, Brett Anderson from Suede participated on a couple of tracks. The sound of the album still has some in common with the sound of the cover album People Are Strange, applied on original material this time, but everything is more straightforward and the environmental noises are left out. If People Are Strange was twisting popular melodies, breaking them up, and leaving them as experimental compositions, this is more like dressing that same experimental sound in popular melodies. The album also has quite much in common with Nordenstam's critically acclaimed And She Closed Her Eyes from 1994, though the beat is more marked this time. But if more accessible than the former two albums and including tracks like "Lori Glory," which was even played on the radio, This Is in some ways feels like a step backwards. It doesn't have the sheer emotional effect that And She Closed Her Eyes had, and in leaving out some of the things that made People Are Strange difficult, it also left out some of its beauty. But that said, This Is is a very unusual pop album, and its only major drawback is that Nordenstam herself has used the same elements to better results before. ~ Lars Loven

彼女が歌えば、世界は彼女の色に染まる。君は天使?　それとも妖精?　そんな圧倒的な個性を放つウィスパー・ヴォイス。スウェーデンの歌姫、スティーナ・ノルデンスタンの最新作。ジャジーなアレンジが目立った初期作品と、ギター・ノイズなどの不協和音をうまく採り入れた近年の作品、そんなキャリアの集大成といえる素晴らしき音世界。で、なんとスウェードのブレット・アンダーソンがゲスト・ヴォーカルで参加。
bounce (C)永納秀祐