Headlights＜Red Vinyl＞

In 2022, onetime home recordist Alex Giannascoli made his Billboard 200 debut with his ninth album, God Save the Animals, a record that not only saw him hitting the studio but working with a half-dozen engineers at multiple studios, each with the directive to capture their "best" recording quality. The result was his most dynamic and disjointed LP yet, and an extension of his career-long experimental bent. One of those engineers, Jacob Portrait (Unknown Mortal Orchestra), who also produced Alex Gs otherworldly House of Sugar, returned to the studio with the songwriter/guitarist for his RCA-issued major-label debut, Headlights. It may come as a surprise, then, that rather than following an increasingly exploratory and high-contrast trajectory, Headlights is his most unassuming, back-to-basics (Neil Young, Elliott Smith) record in years. There are still manipulated vocals, other occasional effects, and some electric guitar on the album, but it was performed almost entirely by Giannascoli, with the exception of some backing vocals and strings. In line with the arrangements, and despite some typically impenetrable lyrics, Headlights is a personal work featuring songs inspired by first-time fatherhood, childhood remembrances, and taking stock of things in general. It opens with the meditative "June Guitar," which introduces a pitched-up, backing "kid voice" that he has used before and which still has a few things to say. In contrast to the prevailing ambling, ruminative folk-rock here are tracks like the jauntier "Afterlife," which delves into the theme of rebirth; the Smith-evoking rocker "Spinning"; the dreamy electro-acoustic title track; and the clattering, kid-vocalized "Bounce Boy," easily the trippiest and poppiest entry among the 12 tracks. Theres also a song thats eerily reminiscent of Peanuts "Christmas Time Is Here." "Is It Still You in There?"s piano and brushed snare fall squarely into the first category of song but defies the records dominant circular harmonic, melodic, and even lyrical structures. Alex Gs longtime touring band (guitarist Sam Acchione, bassist John Heywood, and drummer Tom Kelly) do surface on Headlights closing track, "Logan Hotel (Live)," a rambunctious highlight captured around the piano at a hotel in the songwriters hometown of Philadelphia. ~ Marcy Donelson

ペンシルベニア出身のシンガー・ソングライターがドミノからRCAに移籍して発表した通算10作目は、ルシンダ・ウィリアムスやニール・ヤングを連想させる。カントリーとフォークの要素が色濃く、牧歌的雰囲気を漂わせている。物悲しい響きのピアノが印象的なジャズ・ナンバー"Is It Still You In There?"など、音数を絞ったアレンジが多いのも特徴だ。
bounce (C)近藤真弥