The Invisible Band

セカンド同様プロデューサーにナイジェル・ゴルドリッチを招いた2001年発表のサード。先行シングル「SING」で幕を開ける本作は前作の流れを汲みつつも、よりメランコリック度を増した質の高い楽曲が増えている。商業的には今ひとつでしたが内容は本当に素晴らしい作品。

Rolling Stone (6/21/01, pp.75-6) - 3.5 stars out of 5 - "...[The album] succeeds by approximating...Simon and Garfunkel fronting U2....Healy's unrelentling earnestness gets raised to new heights by his newfound confidence....sympathetically disarming." Rolling Stone (6/21/01, pp.75-6) - 3.5 stars out of 5 - "...[The album] succeeds by approximating...Simon and Garfunkel fronting U2....Healy's unrelentling earnestness gets raised to new heights by his newfound confidence....sympathetically disarming." Spin (8/01, pp.138-9) - 6 out of 10 - "...An LA album in all senses of the term - pretty, temperate, and incredibly surface....These are lovely songs that mean little, signify less, and, sometimes, are all the better for it." Q (7/01, p.122) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...A great record...It saddens, it soothes, it cheers...music for real people....equal to, if not better than, that second record [THE MAN WHO]..." Mojo (7/01, p.94) - "...A strong record..." Uncut (8/01, p.88) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...It hits the spot at the two extremes of the Travis experience - the quietly introspective and the mass singalong....Here are songs of loss, betrayal, uncertainty and insecurity..." Uncut (8/01, p.88) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...It hits the spot at the two extremes of the Travis experience - the quietly introspective and the mass singalong....Here are songs of loss, betrayal, uncertainty and insecurity..." CMJ (6/11/01, p.4) - "...Mixing both melancholy and optimism in gorgeous little pop songs....Travis doesn;t exactly rock the house, but INVISIBLE BAND will no doubt rock the world of those who love warm and tender pop with substance..." Mojo (Publisher) (1/02, p.71) - Ranked #33 in Mojo's "Best [40] Albums of 2001". NME (Magazine) (12/29/01, p.59) - Ranked #23 in NME's 50 "Albums Of the Year 2001". NME (Magazine) (6/9/01, p.38) - 8 out of 10 - "...Plenty of Jeff Buckley, Nick Drake, latter-day Beatles and even...Roy Harper. Timeless, simply expressed, inescapably real feelings..."

After the momentous success achieved with their sophomore effort (The Man Who), Travis' return to melodic rock & roll with The Invisible Band is once again personal and earnest. Having spent most of 2000 supporting Oasis and playing their own headlining gigs in the States, Travis remained humble while collecting a dozen solid tracks for another album, most of them plucked from Fran Healy's own humming and tinkering around with an acoustic. The Invisible Band finds Nigel Godrich (Radiohead, Beck, Neil Finn) mixing and mastering again, and vulnerability found within these songs is what makes Travis a decent band. They are not afraid to be catchy and they're certainly suckers for a sweet love tune. But Travis is conscious of the unconscious and reflects any kind of lyrical emotion. Debut single "Sing" is charming while addressing inhibitions within a relationship. The banjo is a nice touch, for it becomes a mainstay throughout and adds a slightly different touch versus the simplicities of an acoustic. "Side" and "Flowers in the Window" are instantly endearing with their Beatlesque hooks, but "The Humpty Dumpty Love Song" is Travis' finest moment of musical clarity with Healy's heart on his sleeve. Written while on tour with Oasis, "The Humpty Dumpty Love Song" reflects a hero's fading fervor of love lost -- "All the kings horses and all the kings men/Couldn't pull my heart back together again/All the physicians and mathematicians too/Failed to stop my heart from breaking in two." Indeed, Travis is the basic man's poets and The Invisible Band plays toward the simplicities of humility. They've done it again, but with more internal charisma. The Man Who took them from indie angst to melodic humdrum. The Invisible Band perfects the ever-changing growth within the band for something great. ~ MacKenzie Wilson