Seed Cake on Leap Year

言葉と音楽、夢に魅せられた変幻自在のシンガーソングライター
Cass McCombsによる初期の未発表曲集がリリース!

Grizzly BearやGirlsといったミュージシャンからも熱狂的な支持を集めているアメリカのシンガーソングライターCass McCombsが〈4AD〉からリリースされた3枚のリイシュー(『Not The Way EP』『A』『PREfection』)に続き、初期の未発表曲集『Seed Cake On Leap Year』を〈Domino〉からサプライズ・リリースする!!本先は、McCombsがカルフォルニア州バークレーに在住していた1999年から2000年に、サンフランシスコにあるJason Quever (Papercuts)の自宅で録音された10曲を収録。McCombsの魅力はすべて、この『Seed Cake On Leap Year』に詰まっていると言えるだろう。この時点で彼はすでに、アメリカ中のジュークボックスやラジオから時代を超えて歌い継がれてきたような、うっとりするような優美なメロディーをマスターしていたのだ。また、この作品の驚くべき点は、これらの曲がいかに鮮明で、生々しく、洞察力に満ちているかということだ。若き日の彼は、このアルバムを通して、これまで自分自身に許したことのないような赤裸々で正直な自分を表現している。

Following the release of his well-received tenth album, Heartmind, in 2022, singer/songwriter Cass McCombs only slightly diverged from his well-worn savvy-indie path with a fun, somewhat trippy collaborative childrens album in 2023. That year coincided with the 20th anniversary of his full-length debut, A. A period of nostalgia and stock-taking likely followed as 4AD marked the occasion by reissuing his first three records -- 2002’s Not the Way EP, A, and 2005’s Prefection) -- later in the year. Arriving on Domino in 2024 with little warning or fanfare, Seed Cake on Leap Year collects ten even older, previously unleased songs that were recorded in 1999 and 2000 in the San Francisco apartment of his then drummer (and engineer) Jason Quever. A set of fully and effectively arranged band songs, its unpolished production as well as the quality of the songs themselves put it on par with A and make it a welcome find –- a treasure trove, even -- for fans of his work from this period. McCombs trademark wit and wordplay are already evident in the title of ambling first track "Ive Played This Song Before." Early rock and 60s psychedelic folk-rock influences are in play on many tracks, with second entry "Anchor Child" conjuring the 19th century seaside with its accordion- and Irish flute-type timbres, thudding drums, and protagonist who was "raised queer by sewer rats neath planks" before meeting a tragic end ("Some say he was hit by typhoon fist/Others say he never did exist"). Elsewhere, "Baby" takes the form of a late-50s/early 60s teen ballad, and "If I Was a Stranger" draws on the more psychedelic side of the British Invasion from a few years later ("Would you take me in/If I was a stranger/Share a cookie from your tin?…Hide me from the law?…Or would you look at me at all?"). Characters, social criticisms, and introspection all provide fodder for McCombs here, with the autobiographical resurfacing on songs like the folk dirges "Wasted Again" and "Always in Transit" ("Never at home"). Most of these songs are fast-growers, and its ultimately hard to understand, at least with cursory knowledge, how they remained unreleased for nearly 25 years. ~ Marcy Donelson