Pinball Wanderer (+Signed Print)

In addition to his main band Ride enjoying a respectable second act since reuniting in 2014, Andy Bell has continued evolving with a strong and steady run of solo material. After exploring electronic and dancefloor-geared sounds for a while, Bell returned to the structured songwriting of solo albums like 2020’s The View from Halfway Down and 2022’s Flicker, while keeping the door open for more experimental one-off projects. While Bell sometimes used his earlier solo albums to refine song ideas he’d been ruminating over for years, sometimes decades, his third proper solo album, Pinball Wanderer, is a collection of eight freshly minted, mostly newly written tracks. Emphasizing this air of spontaneity further, Bell completed the album in a single, frantic, all-night mixing session, abandoning his usual tinkering and refinement and instead cultivating a crackle or raw urgency. This makes for an album that’s loose and exciting even in its more understated moments. Opening track “Panic Attack” is a propulsive rocker, jogging steadily to a Motorik rhythm while spirals of jangly guitar and soft synth notes bubble around the pushy beat. Dot Allison takes over lead vocals on Bell’s cover of the Passions’ “I’m in Love with a German Film Star,” retitled “I’m in Love…” here. The song is translated from the post-punk coldness of the 1981 original into something far dreamier, with the bristly fuzz of lead guitar from Neu’s Michael Rother adding another layer of sweet haze to the production. Songs like these, as well as the mysterious minor-key vocal harmonizing and drifting moods of “Madder Lake Deep” are excellent continuations of the shoegaze path Bell has been forging for decades, but he also ventures far off of that track as the album plays out. Longer, groove-based tracks “Music Concrete” and “Apple Green UFO” are minimal and hypnotic, borrowing the airtight rhythmic sensibilities of Can and lacing the arrangements with subtle electronic textures or deeply buried percussion. Two spacious, electronically centered tracks, “The Notes You Never Hear” and “Space Station Mantra,” end the album, offering a make-shift chillout room to relax in as the album comes to a gentle close. The essence that Bell distills on Pinball Wanderer is one of happy exploration, indeed wandering from one creative idea to the next with very little second guessing or restraint. If there are any unfinished thoughts or untidy loose ends in that approach, they’re easily outshined by the feeling of radiant joy that carries the album. ~ Fred Thomas

オアシス合流の可能性はさておき、再結成後のライドも堅調なアンディ・ベルが通算3作目となるソロ・アルバムを完成。淡い歌声と幻想的な音像を中心に、パッションズ"I'm In Love With A German Film Star"のカヴァーにはヴォーカルでドット・アリソン、ギターでミヒャエル・ローター(ノイ!)が参加。まあ、演奏陣にゲム・アーチャーがいるといろいろ気になりますが……。
bounce (C)狛犬