Patching＜限定盤/Olive Green Vinyl＞

ミネソタを拠点とするシンガー・ソングライター、runo plum によるデビュー作。パンデミックの年には、徐々に聴衆の輪を広げ、独立してシングルやEPを次々とリリースしつつ、Searows、Angel Olsen、Hovvdyのサポートライブで経験を積んできました。今作は愛と喪失という両刃の剣を、初期のJulia JacklinやBig Thiefの作品のような率直さで描くインディーロックの痛みを伴う自由落下の中で編まれています。TikTok(フォロワー2万人)やInstagram(フォロワー2万人)で自作曲の自宅パフォーマンスを共有するなど強力なファン層がいます。Pitchfork London、Pitchfork Paris、London Callingに出演するなど今後期待のアーティスト。

Singer/songwriter runo plum started devoting more time to her music in 2020 during COVID-19 shutdowns, resulting in a handful of singles and EPs over the next four years. Not a spare solo act, she wrapped her intimate, introspective songs in atmospheric full-band arrangements early on, and she recorded her debut album in a remote cabin in Vermont with producer Lutalo (a fellow Minneapolis-born singer/songwriter and Winspear labelmate who also played drums on the record) and guitarist Noa Francis (plums partner). Titled patching, the breakup- and isolation-inspired album opens with "Sickness," a song with both a light bounce and notes of melancholy, and with strummed acoustic and electric guitars, all combining to underscore lyrics that are equally applicable to viral illness and heartsickness ("Going through Kleenex, its nothing new"). Later, the dreamier "Alley Cat," with its languid slide guitar, light touches of atmospheric electronics, and relaxed rhythms, ruminates over social situations ("Word vomit, per usual"), and the borderline-hooky album highlight "Halfway Up the Lawn" tries to get out of the post-breakup funk ("Watching through the window/Waiting for a seed"). Elsewhere, patchings sparsest track, "The Quiet One," reluctantly pours over loss ("How can I make this as vague as I possibly can/Without giving it away/And without you knowing that Im sad?"). The albums title refers to the idea of picking up the pieces and attempting to heal, and one of patchings strengths is indeed its complicated mix of disappointment, acceptance, and the vulnerable in-betweens. ~ Marcy Donelson