Walk Thru Me

フォーク・インプロ―ジョン....それはペイヴメント、ダスター、ベック、ダニエル・ジョンストンと共にUSインディ / ローファイを盛り上げた、ルー・バーロウ(ダイナソー・ジュニア / セバドー)とジョン・デイヴィスによる伝説のユニット。解散状態を挟みつつ、まさかの21年振り完全新作『WALK THRU ME』をJOYFUL NOISE RECORDINGSから発表!狂喜乱舞が止まらない!

2003年作『THE NEW FOLK IMPLOSION』にジョンは参加しておらずルーと多彩なゲストで構成した作品でした。本作は25年振りにジョンが復帰。それぞれマサチューセッツ州とノースカロライナ州に暮らしている為、リモートでお互いのアイデアを出しながら共同作業する、彼等らしい現代型宅録の鏡な制作を実行。そして曲が纏まった所でセイント・ヴィンセント、スプーンを担当してきたプロデューサー スコット・ソルターとスタジオにイン。完全セルフコントロールで完成した本作は、リード曲"MOONLIT KIND"で鳴っているように、成熟した青春と言える緩やかに瑞々しさで溢れた完璧なアルバムに!イントロから出ちゃってるルー×ジョン節が涙を誘い拳を突き上げさせるでしょう。

インディ映画金字塔『KIDS』でサントラ担当&主題歌"NATURAL ONE"のヒットで、USインディ / ローファイの凄味を世界に知らしめ、90年代を彩った2人。ここからまたスラッカーな快進撃を繰り出す!

Arriving more than 20 years after their last studio album, Walk Thru Me is yet another unforeseeable chapter in the long, unusual trajectory of the Folk Implosion. Originally begun as a lo-fi side project so unserious that even their name was a goof on another band (the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion), the duo of Sebadoh/Dinosaur Jr. member Lou Barlow and songwriter John Davis spent their first act in the 90s and early 2000s moving unexpectedly from fuzzy, experimental home-recorded albums to experiences with major labels and Top 40 radio play before going on a lengthy hiatus in 2004. Walk Thru Me follows the same ethos the band has drawn from all along, converting any and every idea on the table into the kind of oblong, rule-breaking pop theyve made their signature sound. Having kept his songwriting output at a high volume for decades with Sebadoh, solo albums, and other projects, Barlows songs have a familiar shape to them. The even-keeled pacing and blend of guitar tones on "My Little Lamb" provide a great framework for Barlows specifically angled melodies, and the crunchy distortion and pushy drums of "The Fable and the Fact" recall some of the basement punk energy of early Sebadoh. Davis songs are a little more off the beaten path stylistically, even by Folk Implosion standards. His growing interest in traditional Middle Eastern instruments is reflected in arrangements that include hints of oud, saz, and other decidedly non-American, non-rock sounds. "Bobblehead Doll" and "Water Torture," both Davis-sung tunes, have more in common with mellow alternative pop acts like the Lightning Seeds or Robyn Hitchcock than anything close to the angst of the punk-adjacent indie rock Barlow usually taps into. These contrasts in writing and instrumentation are a huge part of what makes the album work on the whole. Final track "Moonlit Kind" closes out Walk Thru Me with the same template of light dance rhythms and deep grooves that resulted in the bands 1995 hit "Natural One," this time shaking off some of the edgy discomfort that defined that song in favor of more lighthearted ambience. Still tuned in to an aesthetic of translating disparate ideas into fine-tuned songs, the Folk Implosion sound at home on Walk Thru Me, taking their music to new, strange places, as always, regardless of the years that have passed since the last time we heard from them. ~ Fred Thomas