Worldwide

ナッシュビルのDIYシーンから世界各地のアンダーグラウンド音楽シーンへと急速に知名度を高めたSnooperのアルバムがジャック・ホワイトが運営するThird Man Recordsよりリリース。シングル"Worldwide"はこのアルバムのテーマを体現するミッション・ステートメントであると同時に、バンドのスタイルの探求を示している。容赦なく機械的で、バンドの生活のスピード感をそのまま写し取りながらも、Tramelの叫びやConnor Cumminsのノイジーなギター・ブレイクによって解放の余地が与えられた傑作。

When Snoopers Blair Tramel sings "Im not having any fun" on Worldwide, its understandable. She and the rest of the band may be known for their freewheeling sound and live shows, but their ascent from a way to kill pandemic-era boredom to a globe-trotting punk phenomenon was swift enough to give anyone whiplash. Fittingly, Snoopers second album reflects not just their rising profile but their rising anxiety. One of the upsides of their success is working with producer John Congleton. He helps Snooper deliver Worldwides seriously playful messages of disconnection and overwhelm by tightening their attack and heightening their greatest strengths: Tramels brightly deadpan vocals and the haywire guitars of Cummins and Conner Sullivan. Both are at their peak on "Company Car," where his squalling whammy-bar freakouts complement her singsong musings on "racing myself and getting there slow" perfectly. The cleaner sonics also spotlight Tramels deceptively simple, and highly effective, word collages. When she sings about her "contradiction lifestyle" on the standout "Guard Dog," its an eloquent summation of the songs nursery rhyme-meets-identity crisis. Worldwides rapid pace and relentless beats often feel more rigid than Super Snoopers ebb and flow, but thats the point. On every song, Snooper sound like theyre scrambling to keep up with -- or fight back against -- unstoppable forces. The only time the album breaks free from its claustrophobic pulse is on its finale, though "Subdivision"s cavernous, feedback-laden dance-punk suggests the breathing room the band craves might actually be an abyss. As they grasp at illusions of control with security systems ("On Line") and video games ("Blockhead"), the excitement of Snoopers earlier releases slides into classic punk feelings of paranoia and alienation that are still all too relevant in the 2020s. Existential dread lurks within phones, neighborhoods, and even track meets: on "Relay," Tramels off-kilter reading of lyrics like "Was it you/Who made me do that?" evokes an android starting to malfunction. As on the Unknown Caller EP, Snoopers embrace of electronics echoes their dystopian themes, and on the synth-fueled chaos of "Star 69," they find kindred spirits in electro-punks ranging from the Units to Sextile. However, their refusal to take themselves too seriously remains firmly connected to other exponents of the American Souths counterculture like Be Your Own Pet and Quintron and Miss Pussycat, as well as the cheeky new wave of the Waitresses and eggpunk forefathers Devo (Snoopers thorough dismantling of the Beatles "Come Together" is nearly as drastic as Devos version of the Rolling Stones "Satisfaction," and perhaps the finest tribute they could ever give to the Ohio legends). Snooper might not be having fun on Worldwide, but they make alienation served with an absurdist wink sound more entertaining than it has in some time. ~ Heather Phares