Pretty Idea

ニューヨークを拠点に活動する本格派インディR&Bシンガー、アンバー・マークが、2022年のアルバム『Three Dimensions Deep』以来となる新作『Pretty Idea』でカムバック！

『Pretty Idea』は、かつて存在したことも、これからも存在することの無い幻想に囚われ、それを手放すことを学ぶというテーマを描いている。70年代と80年代のグルーヴに根ざしたノスタルジックな夏のサウンドは、アンバーのグローバルでジャンルを融合させたスタイルを忠実に守りながらも、レトロな温かさに満ち溢れ、アンダーソン・パーク、ジュリアン・ブネッタ、ジョン・ザ・ブラインドといった面々がコラボレーションしている。

Three Dimensions Deep was atypical for a debut album in that it was constructed more like a fifth or sixth LP: an hour in length, divided into three acts, loosely conceptual, and quite eclectic. It had the size, shape, and scope of a work by a veteran artist tired of (and/or constricted by) the standard format. All that room enabled Amber Mark to continue the processing of grief and loss -- with additional lyrical inspiration from astrophysics -- and go off on a good number of stylistic tangents. Pretty Idea, the follow-up, is concise and nearly airtight. Although the songs bounce between varied states of a relationship, the album flows easily with retro-modern soul and pop (and a touch of country) produced by Mark, debut contributors Julian Bunetta, John Ryan, Two Fresh, and Afterhrs, and roughly as many new collaborators, including Rob Bisel. Pretty Idea achieves instant flight with an escalating synthesizer line evoking Kool & the Gangs "Summer Madness," setting the mood for Mark to confidently anticipate post-breakup liberation on the dancefloor. By the swirling and driving second song, one of several where the rhythm section is pushed into the red, shes responding to a potential lovers apprehension with lines like "Boy, youre looking at a dream come true." Over the pure Southern soul of the following "Sweet Serotonin," shes hyperfocused, willing to wait to get what she wants, while on the buoyant "Let Me Love You" -- what could pass for a cover of a lost early-80s AOR hit -- shes a mix of joyous flirtation and creeping vexation. Marks voice, consistently demonstrative without staginess, is at its most candied here. The sharpest curveball is thrown with "Different Places," a duet with Ryan that has all the reverb and off-center funk accents of an A.K. Paul production for Nao, Fabiana Palladino, or Ruthven. That song is part of a second half containing a greater amount of heartache that peaks with the acoustic ballad "The Best of You." The mood starts to lift when Mark cleverly alludes to retail therapy ("Turn problems into Prada"), then reasons that "Its heavy holding baggage -- no refunds, no returns." She shakes off the blues again before the title song ends the set with her in a state of conflicted longing. Although the outcome is uncertain, the whole trip is highly appealing. ~ Andy Kellman