Animaru＜Pink Marble Vinyl＞

日本人の母を持つブルックリン拠点のSSW、メイ・シモネスによる待望の1stフルアルバム!

日本人の母を持つブルックリンを拠点に活動する24歳のSSW/ギタリスト、メイ・シモネス。「ポスト・ボサノヴァ」を標榜するSSW、ジョン・ローズボロとの名曲「三月の水」カバーや、昨年リリースのEP『KABUTOMUSHI』等で大きな話題を集め、昨年は「BiKN shibuya」での来日公演も実現した。

そんな日本でも大人気の彼女が、いよいよ待望の1stフルアルバム『ANIMARU』をリリース。2024年夏、友人が運営するコネチカット州の農場スタジオでレコーディングが行われた。ボサノヴァ/ジャズ/チェンバー・ポップ/インディ―・ロックをブレンドした独自のサウンドは本作にも健在。人生への愛を表現した「Dumb Feeling」、家族愛を表現した「Zarigani」、音楽とギターへの愛を歌った「Tora Moyo」など、ロマンティックな形とは一味違った愛を表現した楽曲を収録している。本作につけられた『ANIMARU』というタイトルは、メイの直感に対する深い信頼を表現したものなのだそうだ。

なお、今回も、『KABUTOMUSHI』と同様に実の母親であるセイコ・シモネスがアルバム/シングルのアートワークを手がけている。

Around the time she was finishing up a degree in jazz guitar from the Berklee College of Music, Mei Semones put together a band made up of classmates and recorded her first EP, Tsukino (2022). It introduced her sophisticated, strings-enhanced take on affectionate indie pop. By the time she made her Bayonet Records debut with her second EP, Kabutomushi, in 2024, she had a regular, collaborative backing band made up of a violist (constant member and strings arranger Noah Leong), violinist, bassist, and drummer, and had strengthened her beguiling sound -- specifically, an indie pop injected with an effortless blend of breezy bossa nova, intricate jazz, and mathy indie rock. Another idiosyncrasy of her music is lyrics that go back and forth between English and Japanese within a song (Semones grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan, speaking Japanese with her mother). Arriving less than a year after Kabutomushi, her full-length debut, Animaru ("Animal"), sees Semones again rachet up the complexity of her singular sound and her songcraft. It begins with "Dumb Feeling," an uptempo, indie-inflected bossa tune with the albums first surprise scat break. While a few of the songs here are somewhat confrontational, this one isnt, embracing that weird feeling ("Theres something I like about it"). Later, "Tora Moyo" ("Tiger") is a love song to music and her guitar. It sounds like a possible movie theme from the 60s -- at least until the noodly guitar solo -- as she sweetly sings with a wispy voice made for twee, "My hands are yours/No other use for them/If this isnt love." That song is the perfect setup for the stunning "I Can Do What I Want," a virtuosic showstopper that may have invented the style kawaii prog. There, she establishes a casual confidence thats part of the albums charm, balancing out its more pining moments. Another example of this interplay is the regretful "Rat with Wings," which admits, "Sometimes I miss you still/Even though you were a rat," before firmly declaring, amid orchestral hard rock riffs, that shell never want them back. Elsewhere, "Zarigani" ("Crayfish") is a tribute to non-romantic love, namely hers for her twin sister, and "Donguri" ("Acorns") offers a bit of a breather with a stripped-back arrangement of guitar and upright bass underscoring Semones fantasy of life as a woodland creature. Throughout Animaru, Semones and her band play with dynamics, dramatic pauses, chord voicings, harmonics, and a steady stream of surprises -- the closer is a waltz -- resulting in a memorable debut thats much more likely to delight than challenge. ~ Marcy Donelson