Cut & Rewind

70sディスコ×サイケファンク×社会意識の融合
Say She Sheが放つ極上ディスコサウンド

70～80年代の音楽に深く影響を受けたサウンドは、ミニー・リパートン、ロータリー・コネクション、リキッド・リキッド、ESGなどを引用してきましたが、今作ではそのスケールをさらに拡大させた楽曲を制作。ロニー・リストン・スミスやリジャドゥ・シスターズの要素を取り入れつつLambrini Girlsやアミル・アンド・ザ・スニッファーズといった同時代的なスピリットも楽曲に投影させています。脈打つディスコビート/スペイシーなホイッスルトーン/耳に残るメロディが融合するサイケデリックな音世界。The Meters風のジャムや、Booker T. & The M.G.'sのスタジオでの規律のある行動、さらにリキッド・リキッドのSal Principatoとのポストパンク即興バンド経験を持つマリクの影響が感じられます。

Say She She were praised by none other than Chic leader Nile Rodgers after the release of Silver, their second album. Its impossible to imagine a greater form of validation for an accurately self-described "discodelic" vocal trio whose name is a play on the refrain from Chics indelible "Le Freak." Singers and songwriters Nya Brown, Sabrina Cunningham, and Piya Malik keep riding the wave with their third album, on which theyre backed again by the flexible-as-ever instrumentalists of Orgone. The slick, supercharged "Disco Life" reaffirms their affinity for disco as a crucial subcultural movement while envisioning "a playing field where all are free." The song uses that and other baseball metaphors in reference to Disco Demolition Night, the Neanderthalic 1979 stunt -- in promotion of a rock radio station -- that left Chicagos Comiskey Park unplayable while bringing about the so-called death of disco. Whether by chance or design, the song bears some likeness to the Whispers "And the Beat Goes On," an everlasting dancefloor jam that topped Billboards R&B and disco charts and went Top 20 pop months after disco had been declared dead. (This might fit Rodgers definition of "deep hidden meaning.") Several other uptempo delights center three-part harmonies and Orgones funk-inclined rhythm section. The relationship-questioning "Chapters" is slinking jazz-funk that could be slotted between the Blackbyrds and Lonnie Liston Smith. "Take It All" splits the difference between funk and post-punk, more specifically Rick James and Rip Rig + Panic, if while bewailing thievery and paralysis. "She Who Dares," as in "She who dares to show him up/Runs the risk of a shutdown," works a sinewy groove worthy of Compass Point-era Grace Jones. Theres also "Cut & Rewind," a jagged opener with a quasi-operatic hook that stupefies like that of the Associates "Club Country." Say She She rarely refer here to pre-disco inspirations, but when they do, they make it count, infusing the psychedelic soul-pop nugget "Under the Sun" with celestial harmonies. Life on the losing end of class warfare at least has an invigorating soundtrack for survival. ~ Andy Kellman