Ecce Homo

13年ぶりの待望のニュー・アルバム

進化を続けるGavin Fridayのより豊で響きのある表現形態、そしてジャンルの既成概念を超越し、新境地を切り開いた作品。
前作は喪失、親子の悲しみ、後悔、実存的不安が顕著にあらわれた作品だったが、今作はカトリック的でより自由、束縛が少なく主観的であり、不屈でもある。
ダブリンとロンドンで録音されたアルバムは、Dave Ball (Sofr Cell)、Michael Heffernan、Riccardo Mulhallによってプロデュースされた。

Ecce Homo, translated as "behold the man," is the title of Gavin Fridays first album in 13 years. The phrase is credited to Pontius Pilate upon presenting Jesus Christ, badly beaten and crowned with thorns, to an angry crowd. Produced with Dave Ball and Michael Heffernan, Friday wrote lyrics to all the songs while his co-producers worked separately and together on the music. Friday arranged the album. The cast includes Ball and Heffernan on synths and Riccardo Mulhall handles the drum programming; there are chamber strings, woodwinds, reeds, electric guitars, piano, and basses. There isnt a drum kit in this weave of high art and danceable club sleaze; its topically drenched in heartbreak, grief, anger, hope, generosity, and affirmation. His complex relationship with Catholicism is evident everywhere in his engagements with love, commitment, eros, relationship, and loneliness. "Lovesubzero" opens with lilting voices, softly trilling strings, reeds, and piano as he intones, "My love is in your hands/Youve only to command/I can see it in your eyes/In a world without end/I bow my head in wonder…." It sounds like a prayer until the two-minute mark when four-on-the-floor beats explode amid synth pulses and industrial loops. Friday growls the lyrics in a paean to love and sex accompanied by a womens chorus. The title-track single is the very definition of PiLs "death disco." It could have been recorded in a high fashion dance club with its meld of Pet Shop Boys camp and Underworlds atmospheric beat intensity. It features a womens chorus and a glorious soprano solo by the inimitable Miriam Blennerhassett, founding and current member of Anuna. Friday contrasts his world, one of generosity with "kill cult king" culture (aka greedy, god- and spirit-killing men who only understand the language of take). "Stations of the Cross" is dedicated to Sinead OConnor, Fridays longtime friend and collaborator who was supposed to sing on the track. Church bells and a synth bass introduce the music as Friday sings: "How can I speak when you have not spoken/How can I sleep when all is broken? …." before a weave of winds, reeds, sequencers, and programmed beats frame the lyric as it examines the protagonists self-identity, grief, and eventually, invisibility. "Lady Esquire" is Berlin-era Bowie/Iggy Pop with a backing chorus in a football-esque chant. "When the World Was Young" is dramatic, mournful, and beautiful in framing a lyric of innocence atop a call to arms for todays youth and is dedicated to Bono and Guggi. "Lamento" is the sets most powerful song, an elegiac swirl of strings, synths, and voices, it speaks of letting go, reflecting Fridays recent losses, including his mother. On "Amaranthus (Love Lies Bleeding)," her voice is sampled with a snippet of the old dancehall song "Daisy Bell." "Cabarotica," an anthem to youthful love, lust, and pleasure, is stomping dancefloor pop. Its true that Fridays albums have sometimes been misunderstood, but Ecce Homo registers as strong, wildly creative, focused, and vulnerable. It may be his solo masterpiece. ~ Thom Jurek