The Past Is A Garden I Never Fed

サンフランシスコの奇才GLENN DONALDSONとその友達からなるD.I.Y.キッチンポップ・プロジェクトTHE REDS, PINKS AND PURPLES。これまでSLUMBERLAND、TOUGH LOVEなどの人気レーベルから多くの作品をリリースしてきたバンドの新作はフィジカル・メディア未収録の楽曲を集めたコレクション。

TELEVISION PERSONALITIESのダークなフィーリングとBYRDSを彷彿させるツイスト、 JARVIS COCKERスタイルのレトリックにHUSKER DUのファズ、 THE CHAMELEONSの壮大さなど多様な要素を織り交ぜた作品。美しいギターソロが散りばめられた"THE WORLD DOESN'T NEED ANOTHER BAND"、EDDIE AND THE HOT RODSばりのプレ・パンクなリフが炸裂する"I ONLY EVER WANTED TO SEE YOU FAIL"などなど、D.I.Y.なホームレコーディング・プロジェクトとしてスタートしたバンドの進化の過程を振り返ることの出来るジャングル・ポップが満載です。

About once a year since the projects inception near the end of the 2010s, Glenn Donaldson has released at least one new full-length album as the Reds, Pinks & Purples, the primary outlet for his jangly, tuneful indie pop impulses. The solo project/band has operated at such a steady clip that it has become the home for close to 200 of Donaldsons compositions, steadily moving through phases that evoked the drum-machine rhythms and reverb clouds of certain Felt albums, the dour melodics of the Magnetic Fields, or the nihilistic noise pop of the Jesus and Mary Chain. Donaldsons clever songwriting style and subtle but masterful compositional voice are at the core of all of his many songs, though, making the Reds, Pinks & Purples a playground where he can let his mind and music wander wherever they may. The Past Is a Garden I Never Fed collects 14 tracks, some of which had been previously released only on digital platforms, but none having ever gotten a proper offline release. This aspect of the album is fairly inconsequential, however, because the songs flow with just as much cohesion and natural rhythm as an exactingly arranged track list, fitting together even when Donaldsons approaches shift. As is common with many RP&P albums, Donaldson addresses the state of modern-day indie rock on several tracks here. "The World Doesnt Need Another Band" is a pretty straightforward proclamation about how oversaturated the musical landscape can be, riding on waves of shoegazing guitar textures and cymbal crashes. "I Only Ever Wanted to See You Fail" has the same levels of contempt for a musical peer as Morrissey showed circa Your Arsenal on "We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful," and has a similar blend of bright acoustic guitars and anguished sentiments. The glumly beautiful "Slow Torture of an Hourly Wage" delivers its melodies with heavy sighs, but moments of lighthearted fun come through in the Television Personalities-meets-the Smiths jangle of "Marty as a Youth," while scorned lyrics are overshadowed by the fuzz-coated joys of "My Toxic Friend." Though The Past Is a Garden I Never Fed is pieced together from various individualized tracks, they all connect nicely as an album, and show us another room of the ever-expanding mansion of melancholic pop that Donaldson has been building. ~ Fred Thomas