This Is Memorial Device＜数量限定盤＞

The Pastelsのフロントマン、Stephen PastelとFindo Gaskの元メンバーGavin Thomsonが手がけた舞台芸術サウンドトラック作品をリリース!!

The PastelsのフロントマンStephen Pastelと、同じくグラスゴーのバンドFindo Gaskの元メンバーで、現在はThe Pastelsの専属サウンドマンでもあるGavin Thomsonが、David Keenanの2017年のカルト小説を舞台化したGraham Eatough監督の『This is Memorial Device』のサウンドトラックを発表!〈Geographic Music〉よりリリースされる本作は、過去のホーム・レコーディングを再編集したものや、元々この舞台のために作曲された楽曲の拡張版など全11曲を収録。小説に登場する架空バンド、Memorial Deviceの神話に新たな切り口が与えられた。この発表と同時に、「Introduction To Why I Did It」と「We Have Sex」が先行公開!軽快なピアノのソロで始まる「Introduction To Why I Did It」は、美しいクレッシェンドと「(未来は)すぐそこまで来ている」という興奮を煽る言葉がリスナーの耳に心地よく響く、アルバムのオープニング曲。刺激的なタイトルの「We Have Sex」は、10代の頃にStephenが旧友と録音した音源アーカイブを、Gavinと一緒に再構築し、ドラムマシンとベースを加えたもので、アートやセックス、音楽の可能性に魅了された若者たちのポジティブな喜びと狂気的なエネルギーが見事に表現されている。

First, This Is Memorial Device was a book, then a play, now an album. Written by David Keenan, the book tells the story of a fictional band from a small town in Scotland during the heady post-punk early 80s. Its structured like an oral history and captures all the promise, dreams, hallucinations, and hard realities of youth and getting older, all while trying to make some kind of grand, or at least lasting, statement. The book truly captures a fleeting moment in time and was begging for some kind of visual adaptation. It was reworked for the stage by Graham Eatough as a one-man show starring Paul Higgins that was bolstered by visuals and music. The latter was provided by someone who well ought to know what that era was like because he was there: Stephen Pastel, leader of the legendary band that bears his name. He was aided in the pursuit by Gavin Thompson, formerly of the band Findo Gask and the Pastels sound man for their rare live shows. The two weave together monologues from the show and haunting, autumnal music that gives the words and voices some extra emotional heft. Working with other members of the Pastels (Katrina Mitchell, John Hogarty, and Tom Crossley), they don’t seek to make music that Memorial Device might have made, but rather whip up shards of industrial noise that clatter and clang; clouds of dream-like melodies that drift like smoke; slowcore, guitar-forward tracks; and one song, "The Most Beautiful House in Airdrie," that only needs a chorus to rank in the pantheon of the Pastels best work. An exception to the perfectly pitched soundtrack-style music the duo and friends have made is the hilariously apt post-punk rocker "We Have Sex", which was actually sourced from teenage jam sessions Pastel had with his friend John McCorkindale back in the day. Thompson has re-edited the song, and its a glimpse of teenage vitality as it churns menacingly, guitars slashing at the air wildly, and McCorkindale howling like a pre-verbal Mark E. Smith. It may not sound like everyones idea of what Memorial Device might have actually sounded like, but they certainly could have shared a bill with the group at one of their very few performances. The albums -- and shows -- final song, "The Morning of the Executioners," does, indeed, attempt to imagine the final recordings made by the bands vocalist, Lucas Black. It is lovely and triumphant, the steadily strummed guitars and regal horns combining to lend an air of small-scale triumph to the tales conclusion. Despite the trials and tribulations the band went through, it is ultimately a success story, not because the group gained fame or riches but because they tried; they did something that was important, something that meant all the world to them and their circle of friends and fans. The stage show in this form is a perfect distillation of all the themes and feelings the book digs into, boiling them down to the truest, most intense nuggets, and Pastel and Thompsons music is a big part of why it works so well both in the show and as a stand-alone album. ~ Tim Sendra