Another Day

カーディガンズ、ワナダイズ、クラウドベリー・ジャム....スウェーデンはこのように良質なインディ・ポップを輩出し、世界を魅了してきました。そんな輝かしいスウェディッシュ・ポップシーンに誕生したアルパカ・スポーツは2018年、『FROM PARIS WITH LOVE』がスマッシュ・ヒットを記録。ここから更なる快進撃を見せるかと思いきや音沙汰無しに。そして7年、待望の新作『ANOTHER DAY』が登場!

『FROM PARIS WITH LOVE』で聴かせたキラキラのシンセ / インディ・ポップは、キャッチーさと鋭利さが研ぎ澄まされ無敵状態に。今までと一緒なようで違う深さと説得力が増した音作りは、名門ELEFANT RECORDSの看板としてシーン最前線に立つ強さに溢れています。”Tomorrow I'll Be Fine”の厳かな伝統芸且つ心をウキウキさせる躍動感の同居は、全インディラヴァー必聴のナンバーです!

7年の間に住む場所が変わり健康問題や失恋も体験し、波乱万丈の人生を過ごしたアルパカ・スポーツ。長期間に渡る試行錯誤の末に生まれた濃厚ポップ・センスを楽しみましょう!

On their second album, Another Day, Swedens Alpaca Sports keep the flame of Sarah Records burning brightly with a set of very gentle, very tuneful indie pop. As they proved on their debut, the band can sound tender and sweet without coming across mawkish or sentimental. Instead, they craft their songs with so much deeply felt feeling and unadulterated honesty that they brush right past tweeness and land on something real and true. The songs are sung with unabashed honesty by both Andreas Jonsson and Amanda Akerman, dealing with nostalgic impulses, determination to hold on to love, and belief in better days ahead. Swinging between glimmering disco pop like "Always on My Mind," quietly sung and played ballads ("Bluebells"), and lightly swinging vintage indie pop ("Break My Heart"), the band continue to recall great bands of the past, while never sounding in thrall to any one of them in particular. Helping to make the record special is the very fine production by Ian Catt that gives the songs an extra shine, and the increased reliance on backing vocals. Adding fellow Elefant artist Cristina Quesada to the vocal mix, Alpaca Sports fill in the spaces behind the lead vocal with soft clouds of harmony that wrap around the melodies like a warm breeze on a spring afternoon. The best songs on the record bundle up all these positive factors and deliver indie pop good enough to compete with the bands that have so inspired them. "Tomorrow Ill Be Fine" is a super jangly, very peppy song that bursts with melancholy and has a truly beautiful chorus, "Slipping Through My Fingertips" is a swoony neo-disco track complete with strings and a very tricky bridge, and "Tell Me"s sophisticated pop shows how far the band have come in their pursuit of indie pop perfection. They arent far off, and Another Day is the kind of retro but brand-new album that should have fans of classic indie pop both old and new lining up to sing its praises. ~ Tim Sendra