Not Here Not Gone

Blackwater Holylightによる4枚目のフルアルバムが完成。前作に引き続き今作でも光と闇の二面性を追求しています。威圧的なリフが魅惑的なメロディの基盤となり、密度の高いシューゲイズギターは浮遊感のあるシンセと対比され、重いテーマはサイレンのような歌声が響く。大きな変化の一つとして、インストゥルメンタル曲「Giraffe」では、David Andrew Sitek(TV on the Radio, Run the Jewels, Solange)のビートの上で、ふらふらとしたキーボードと脈打つベースが幻覚的に混ざり合う楽曲など収録。

On their fourth full-length Not Here Not Gone, Blackwater Holylight expand into new sonic territory by bringing densely layered production, shoegaze tonalities, and heavy atmospheres into their darkly doomy sound. Since forming in 2016, the band has undergone various shifts in their lineup and their stylistic approach, moving from groove-minded stoner metal sounds on their earliest material to increasingly cerebral readings of heavy sounds on later releases. With Not Here Not Gone, Blackwater Holylight locks these changes completely into place. The first half of the album announces the band’s shift towards shoegaze ideas loudly with morbid otherworldliness on “How Will You Feel,” perhaps their most dreampop-adjacent work to date. It’s melodic, but through a filter of noisy sludge and candy-coated distortion, and it immediately stands out from much of what the band has done before. While there are still ample riffs (in particular on the grungy “Spades,” the depraved and crawling “Bodies,” or buried deep within walls of noise on “Heavy, Why?”), just as often the group goes to the opposite extreme. “Fade” is a cavernous and dust-clouded slice of dream pop that sounds like its happening on a desert highway just after sunset, and the brief instrumental interlude “Giraffe” is a kind of lo-fi trip hop, complete with a lurching drum beat and wobbly synthesized bass. The emotional tenor of Not Here Not Gone remains dire, regardless of the sounds Blackwater Holylight experiments with in expressing them. Shadows of grief, loss, despair, and devastating challenges loom heavy on every track. Closing number “Poppyfields” hits hardest of all, beginning with a gothy, open-stringed bass line and ramping up consistently until the song is a blur of blast beats, demonic fuzz, and palpable dread, ending with mournful violin as the carnage dies down. While the album covers a wide range of heavy sounds, Blackwater Holylight designed the album so some of these intensities bleed into each others while some intentionally upset the balance. It’s a perfectly architected expression of uncertainty and stress, one that only occasionally offers a reminder of hope somewhere in the distance. ~ Fred Thomas