Slowdive＜Apple Opaque Vinyl＞

When they returned to the stage after two decades, the members of Slowdive had no intention of being a mere shoegaze nostalgia act. They almost instantly made plans to record new music, and after a few years of writing and recording, 2017s Slowdive is the result. Taking elements from the music each member has made in the time since the bands demise and wrapping them in modern production techniques while still coating everything in a familiar velvety haze, the album is a worthy addition to their catalog. Slowdive may play it a bit conservative at times, sounding more like a follow-up to the poppy Souvlaki than the experimental Pygmalion, but the bandmembers dont merely rest on their shoegaze bona fides. While the guitars are suitably drowned in FX and let loose to billow like clouds, there are looped samples running through the mix, some of the folky melodies Neil Halstead has been playing on his own come through, Rachel Goswells vocals show much more power (there are a couple times she really belts it out), and there is the occasional bit of sonic trickery courtesy of the records mix engineer Chris Coady. It all comes together very well, thanks to both the subtle hooks of the songwriting and the commitment shown by everyone to not just make an album of retreads. There is the occasional moment when the mix seems a little off, most notably the tinny drums on No Longer Making Time, but mostly the album delivers exactly what a Slowdive fan would want. Lots of songs to dream to (the ethereal, Cocteau Twins-sounding Dont Know Why, the calming Sugar for the Pill), get lost in (the noisy Go Get It), and swoon along with (the positively dreamy pop song Everyone Knows). The group tosses in some surprises, too, with a couple songs having a bit more energy than vintage Slowdive may have felt comfortable displaying. Star Roving sounds like a Ride song dipped in honey; the closing Falling Ashes is a piano-led ballad that lasts a long time without getting boring and feels like the albums one nod to the sparser, less guitar-driven direction they were heading in on Pygmalion. Slowdive will comfort fans of the band, both those who loved them at the time and those who have discovered them in the intervening years, by being very much a Slowdive album. One that feels modern enough, but also very classic at the same time. ~ Tim Sendra

ジーザス・アンド・メリー・チェインやライドを筆頭に、〈いったいどうしちゃったんだよ!?〉ってくらいオリジナル・シューゲイザー世代の朗報が続いているなか、ここにまたひとつ。2014年にリユニオンし、実に22年ぶりのニュー・アルバムを発表した。オープニングから〈キター!〉と歓喜の声が漏れること必至のトロットロに耽美なギターをお見舞いし、立て続けに〈コレだよ!〉と唸らされる男女混声をブッ込んできて胸アツ。さらに、前作『Pygmalion』の試みを発展させるべく、より濃密に現代音楽の要素を採り入れるなど、決して過去を懐かしむだけには終始していない点が頼もしい。そうしたバンドの現役感を引き出すのに大きく貢献しているのが、ビーチ・ハウス仕事で名高いヘバ・カドリー&クリス・コーディのコンビによるミキシング。分厚い轟音だけでなく、適度に余白のあるパートも挿むことで、とてもモダンな聴き心地だ。
bounce (C)柴田和江