Mount Crystal＜限定盤/Electric Periwinkle Vinyl＞

Ghostly Internationalから異彩を放つデビューアルバム!コンセプトは"ミステリー"

JOVIALEは、『ポップだけど衝動的』『緊張感を持ち合わせるドラマティックさ』といった一見反発しそうなもの同士が絶妙にマッチしてまるでショーのような音楽を作る。

Ghostly Internationalからリリースされる記念すべきデビューアルバムである今作のコンセプトはズバリ"ミステリー"!

それぞれのコラボレーターを物語の登場人物とし、例えば共同プロデューサーのJOHN CARROLL KIRBYはイギリスの奇妙なホテルで起きた事件を追うアメリカ人刑事捜査官になったり、JOVIALEやコントリビューターのFABIANA PALLADINOとLAURA GROVESはホテルのエンターテイナーになったり・・・など世界観の作り込みにも余念がない。

もちろん世界観だけでなく楽曲も細部にまでこだわりが見られる。

這うようなベースラインに角が立ったドラム、乱暴なビートなどといった威勢のいいサウンドで構築された楽曲は、エレクトリックでソウルフル、ジャジーで実験的、リズミカルかつロックに完成している。

遊び心の詰まった世界観と個性あふれる全14曲!

是非ご堪能ください!

Joviale first plotted their Ghostly International album debut as a surrealist whodunit play. The North Londoner went as far as assigning roles for their collaborators as the set was knocked into shape. Mount Crystal begins with Joviale singing "Careful not to slip and fall/You are not invincible" with a sense of teasing insincerity, but no murderous intent or action can be discerned in what transpires. Chiefly produced by Joviale, John Carroll Kirby, and Jkarri, Mount Crystal has all the spirited playfulness of the two EPs Joviale recorded with Bullion, though the protagonist here processes a greater amount of heartache, as signaled by the dissolved romance illustrated in track two, the suitably crisp ballad "Snow." Further surrounded by old mates such as Laura Groves and Fabiana Palladino (two of many lively background vocalists) and Ben Reed (supplying melodic basslines), and fairly high-profile new collaborators like Carter Lang, Will Miller, and Sam Wilkes (all of whom are on one track each), Joviale makes the best of their circumstances with this natural synthesis of left-field pop and R&B. A particularly vivid sequence runs from "Hark!," a swirling compound of dubwise house and thorny post-punk, through "Moonshine," a slinking and bewitching number seasoned with a dash of Sades "The Sweetest Taboo." Between those two highlights are the tense "Foul Play," replete with humorously quarrelsome dialogue, and the radiant "Let Me Down," a forthright plea and the closest the LP gets to out-and-out pop. The brightest melodies of all tend to arrive in tandem with Kirbys nimble, pearlescent keyboards, as on later highlight "Blu," a guardedly joyous view of a rekindled relationship, and on the closing "Wishing," a song of longing and disappointment that ends on an optimistic note. No matter the level of distress, Joviales voice remains enchanting and soft-hued. Earlier on, at their absolute lowest, they sing of yearning for vanishment, but it seems they have found it better to let it all out in the company of sympathetic friends. ~ Andy Kellman