Dance Called Memory＜限定盤/Colored Vinyl＞

With the band garnering more and more acclaim with each album as Ian Devaney and associates expanded their somber synth pop sound to include more experimental 70s touchpoints alongside vintage inspirations ranging from goth to the New Romantics, Nation of Languages third album, Strange Disciple, became their most highly lauded yet, even topping Rough Trades list of best vinyl albums of 2023. The group re-enlisted Strange Disciple producer Nick Millhiser (Holy Ghost!) to record their Sub Pop label debut, Dance Called Memory. Still experimenting with recording techniques as well as their style spectrum -- Strange Disciple, for instance, found them incorporating more live instrumentation than before -- Dance Called Memory includes what Devaney referred to as a "shifted palette," which involved things like running live percussion through a synthesizer and using chopped-up samples for drum breaks. The spacey and driving "In Another Life" is one example of the former practice, achieving a rhythmic, laser-like effect overtop its Peter Hook-esque basslines. Unlike "In Another Life," in which any chance of finding a sympathetic vocal to latch onto is buried in multi-tracking, Devaney recalls Talk Talks Mark Hollis during the pleading melodic choruses of the melancholy "Silhouette." "Melancholy" may be a somewhat meaningless term on a consistently anxious, paranoid album (as John Lennon once said, "Paranoia is just a heightened sense of awareness"), where lyrics are delivered with frown lines. This is true even of a more skittery, guitar-oriented track like "Im Not Ready for the Change," whose title says it all, or of "Inept Apollo," a shimmery, uptempo lead single that became the bands first song to land on the Billboard Triple A chart. Throughout, Dance Called Memory is danceable, eccentric, and immaculate at once, often using space to emphasize alienation as well as its shifting minimalist instrumentation. Between the quality of the album and Nation of Languages new label home, the project is on course to continue its upward climb. ~ Marcy Donelson

知られざる80年代のUKエレポップ・バンドの未発表音源集と言われたら、信じてしまうかも!? 前作がラフトレードUKの年間ベストの1位に選ばれた、ブルックリンの3人組による4枚目のアルバム。展開の多さに頼らずメロディーの魅力をリフレインで際立たせる"In Your Head"をはじめ、歌としての訴求力の強さは作品全体を覆う寂寥感のなかで聴きどころのひとつだろう。
bounce (C)山口智男