Away From The Castle (Deluxe Edition) ［LP+7inch］＜限定盤/Queen's Tassel Pink Vinyl＞

昨年リリースされ賞賛されたVideo Ageの新作にボーナス7インチを収録したDeluxe Editionが登場。サイドAの「Record Shop」はレコード店の店員のためのテーマ・ソングで架空のレコード店の店員がレコードを売る典型的な一日を描いている。ドン・マクリーン、アメリカ、NRBQといった70年代の名曲を連想させるこの曲はアメリカの偉大なソングライターのパンテオンにふさわしい。サイドBはLPのタイトル曲「Out In The Country」のリワーク・ヴァージョン。この曲はアルト・カントリー/アメリカーナ・シンガーのエスター・ローズをフィーチャーしておりVideo Ageのロス・ファーベとデュエットしている。

After releasing their third album, 2020s Pleasure Line, which doubled as their Winspear label debut, Video Age -- singers/songwriters/multi-instrumentalists Ross Farbe and Ray Micarelli -- were feeling uninspired, so they sought out outside collaboration. Over the next couple years, Farbe produced albums for the Convenience and Esther Rose, Micarelli played out on the jazz and blues scenes of their base of New Orleans, and they both contributed to Drugdealers 2022 album Hiding in Plain Sight. Refreshed and somewhat diversified, they eventually reassembled with their touring band (the Conveniences Duncan Troast and Nick Corson) in a rented cabin in Eunice, Louisiana, their first time constructing an album together in the same room. The resulting Away from the Castle is a stylistically freer set thats still anchored in their previous albums synth-centric 80s pop but also drifts into disco ("Just Think"), driving country-rock (the title track), yacht rock inspirations ("Better Than Ever"), and more, all with the projects trademark tenderhearted demeanor. A track like the melancholy "In the Breaks," with its piano, acoustic strumming, and brushed snare, is a good example of a song without conspicuous synths that fits pretty seamlessly in with the rest, thanks to complementary touches like a delay-heavy sax, staggered harmony vocals, and Farbes smooth-as-silk lead. Those vocals help provide a through line for potential outliers like the disco-pop ditty "Just Think" (which includes lyrics about "disco night") and pulsing, New Order-on-weed post-punk ballad "Is It Really Over?" Meanwhile, those wanting more of Video Ages glossy, early-80s-era keyboard timbres will still find what theyre looking for, theyre just fleshed out more often by piano and Fender Rhodes. Its an album that puts the focus on song over production style, and given the melody-craft on display here, its an enhancement. ~ Marcy Donelson