Salad Days (10th Anniversary Edition)＜限定盤/Holographic Black Vinyl＞

Mac DeMarcoの名を一気に世界中に知らしめる事となった傑作『Salad Days』から10周年を記念した2枚組カラーLPが登場。オリジナルの『Salad Days』と『Salad Days Demos』の両方をとフルカラーのポスター/『Salad Days』ツアー日程/オリジナル・ライダー/未発表写真/マックによる書き下ろしのライナーを掲載した12ページのブックレットを収録。

With his 2012 debut, 2, Canadian songwriter Mac DeMarco offered the world a look into his dazed but brilliant mind's eye, his songs landing somewhere between a hallucinogenic re-imagination of '70s soft rock, oddball outsider jams, and laid-back indie fare. The tunes were somehow both tuneful and antagonistic in the subtlest of ways, and DeMarco easily shifted between characters of the stoned joker and sincere balladeer, playing each remarkably convincingly. Salad Days picks up where the strange vibes of 2 left off, brightening the production and shying away from Mac's more insane impulses for a clearer picture of his immensely cracked idea of what pop music is. By this point, DeMarco's guitar sound is becoming one of his signatures. Mellow, snaking, busy lines of chorus-drenched leads intertwine and chime over the top of thoughtful, sometimes restrained chords. This guitar work shows up at its most melodic on tracks like "Let Her Go" and the standout "Blue Boy," and appears in a more jagged form on mellow rockers like "Goodbye Weekend." DeMarco has his feet in a bevy of styles on Salad Days without coming off scattered, including the brittle '80s R&B synths of "Chamber of Reflection" and the channeling of songwriting greats like John Lennon and Ray Davies elsewhere. The title track goes so far as to sport some "la la la"s that could have been lifted directly off The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society. Absent from this album are both the highly contrasting moments of dreamy-eyed indie rock and wobbly, Ween-indebted weirdness that came through more sharply on 2. With songs touching on themes of maturation, life in the public eye, and good old-fashioned romance, DeMarco has trimmed the fat both musically and conceptually on Salad Days, turning in a streamlined picture of his musical development. With more memorable tracks and a slightly more accessible feel, the album is less distracted and more tuneful than before without losing any of the freewheeling spirit that made his songs and persona so attractive in the first place. ~ Fred Thomas

ライヴ中に全裸でとんでもないことをしたり(ここでは書けない!)、フェスのステージ上で恋人を肩車したり、タイラー・ザ・クリエイターとコラボしたりと、何かとお騒がせなすきっ歯野郎がニュー・アルバムをドロップだ!チューニングのずれたギターを鳴らしながら、ヨレヨレの歌を飄々と披露する様は、アリエル・ピンクに取り憑かれたジョナサン・リッチマンか、はたまたハリー・ニルソンかってな風情。さらに今回はシンセを大幅に導入し(YMOに感化されたのだそう)、そのモヤッとした電子音がレイジーな世界観と絶妙な調和を見せている。リリックも〈気楽にやろうぜ〉とか〈女の子には良くしてやんなよ〉など、友達にそっと語りかけるかのような優しいものが多く、ほっこりできるよ!
bounce (C)佐藤一道