Teal Dreams

音楽がErykah BaduやLauryn Hillを引き合いに出し賞賛したファースト・アルバム、『Voice Notes』から2年7カ月ぶりとなるYazmin Laceyの待ちに待ったセカンド・アルバム!優しい気持ちにさせてくれる歌声は健在。

2年7カ月ぶりとなる2作目のスタジオ・アルバム。ソウル、スカ、ラバーズロック、インディーを融合させた彼女の特徴的なサウンドをベースに、実生活、深夜の考え事、そして急遽決まったタイ旅行などを歌った、鮮やかで感情豊かなアルバムに仕上がっている。一流のアーティスト、Miles Clinton James (Little Simz 'Lotus')、Barney Lister、Matt Maltese等とのコラボレーションはこのアルバムに深みを与えてくれている。リリースはYazminが設立したOwn Your Own Recordsから。
■仕様:環境に優しいデジパック、8ページ・ブックレット(歌詞掲載)

The heady mix of styles Yazmin Lacey served with Voice Notes earned the singer and songwriter a 2023 MOBO nomination for Best Jazz Act. Ezra Collective won the award, which Lacey evidently took in stride, as she then co-wrote and fronted the quartets "God Gave Me Feet for Dancing" -- it fast became her most popular song and then an ecstatic highlight of Glastonbury 2025. Lacey didnt perform at the festival -- the former youth workers role was appropriately filled by a member of North Londons Jubilee Youth Club -- but she maintained the celebratory spirit the next night in Paris, where she previewed material from Teal Dreams with backing from BadBadNotGood. While neither that band nor most of the crew that assisted on Voice Notes was involved in its making, Teal Dreams is a fluid continuation. Its taut and winding rhythms, produced by compatible figures such as Miles James, Jonny Lattimer, Barry Lister, and the returning Melo Zed, more prominently show Laceys Caribbean roots. Her alternately introspective and observational writing is a little sharper and wiser, and shes somehow even more confident here than on the debut, her supple and enticing voice always at the fore. The twisting Afrobeat-soul hybrid "Aint I Good for You" began the rollout with Laceys rhetorical question posed as emphatically as that of the Isley Brothers "Aint I Been Good to You," but with shrugging "your loss" sentiment instead of bitterness. Bolder yet, Lacey smacks down a time-sucking "little bitch" on "Two Steps," a highlight built on a light Motorik beat with minimal dressing. Still, the tunes with the Jamaican rhythms stand out most, and the lyrics are as much a factor. The skanking "Wallpaper" contains a chorus that succinctly covers almost every love language. "Love Is Like the Ghetto" rocks steadily with Laceys philosophy ("The ghettos unforgiving with no corners to hide/Lift the veil off the ego") punctuated by a Sade quote. Theres also "Grace [Reflective Dub]," a sumptuous if introspective track produced by Ezra Collective keyboardist Joe Armon-Jones. Two of the albums plainer songs are connected and become more moving with each line. In "Ribbons," Lacey yearns to rekindle a friendship that ended on bad terms, and then on "Water," a more flavorful hip-hop soul ballad, she connects with Tyson and conversates with her about the different paths their lives have taken in adulthood. For all the positive self-talk Lacey practices, the singer accounts for her faults in those songs and elsewhere, like when she admits to closing herself off, or expresses apprehension about committing herself to a relationship. "Crutch" finds her at an especially low point, "Clinging on like chewing gum stuck to the sole of my shoe," yet it doesnt stop her from writing the albums most memorable hook. ~ Andy Kellman

在英カリビアンのソングストレスによる2年半ぶりの新作は、リトル・シムズの近作に貢献したマイルス・クリントン・ジェイムスとマーシーのバーニー・リスターを中心にUKの気鋭たちがバックアップ。彼女の根幹となるレゲエ～ラヴァーズ・ロックのほか、アフロビート風、ネオ・ソウル、ポップ・ロックなど楽曲は多彩で、エズラ・コレクティヴのジョー・アーモン・ジョーンズが手掛けたエレガントなスロウ、タイソンと声を交えたジャジーでハネたビートの90s風R&Bまでが、まろやかなハスキー・ヴォイスのもとで破綻なくまとまっている。前作以上にスケールの大きさを感じさせる快作だ。
bounce (C)林剛