Chemtrails Over The Country Club

ドリーム・ポップのその先へ。

映画を見ているかのように情景を想起させる音楽、哀しみを帯びた声とメロディ。
そして50's、60'sのアメリカ音楽を取り入れた独自の世界感を繰り広げる'孤高のシンガー'による最新アルバム。

2019年にグラミー賞にノミネートされた前作『ノーマン・ファッキング・ロックウェル!』以来、1年半ぶり7作目となるスタジオ・アルバム!

Lana Del Reys 2019 album Norman Fucking Rockwell! represented a new level of artistry, as the singer moved further from the disaffected Hollywood starlet persona of her early recordings into something more restrained, subtle, and mature. With seventh album Chemtrails Over the Country Club, Del Rey shakes off the cocoon of her slick pop days completely, continuing the nuanced songwriting and hushed perspectives of NFR! and turning in her most atmospheric set of songs to date. Much like its predecessor, the arrangements on Chemtrails are toned down, keeping the rhythmic elements minimal if they show up at all. This puts her layered self-harmonizing in the forefront of most songs, and also makes room for colorful smears of laid-back 70s-style lead guitar or delicate, jazz-informed touches. Del Rey again pairs with Jack Antonoff for production, and the duo map out every song with slowly evolving subtleties. White Dress opens with spare piano and a drawn-out vocal line, and slowly adds nearly imperceptible layers of sound as it goes on. On the surface, the song appears to be a simple nostalgic reflection, but the introduction of each new instrument adds tension and uneasiness, shifting the emotional undercurrents. In the first moments of the album, Del Rey delivers surreal and devastatingly sad commentary on the brutal machinery of the music industry and the sinister side of her own journey with fame, all deftly disguised with lyrics about remembering simpler days spent listening to the White Stripes and talking all night with friends. The title track is similarly sad and subdued, with willfully trite lyrics about the slow passing of an idyllic summer pushed forward by a dark, simmering instrumental. While NFR! also had a restrained approach, there were multiple moments of accessible pop in the moody cover of Sublimes Doin Time and the classic rock grandeur of The Greatest. Theres barely a hint of that here, with the booming bass and steady drum loop of Dark But Just a Game being the closest Chemtrails gets to pop production. There are more tendencies toward ghostly folk, as with the acoustic guitars and bongos of Yosemite or the lonely, drifting strumming of Not All Who Wander Are Lost. Del Rey experiments with expanding the depths of her long-established persona, occasionally breaking the fourth wall with overtly personal lyrics. Wild at Heart includes one of several moments where she alters her phrasing to fit extra lyrics into a single line, wondering aloud about what would happen if she escaped her music career for a more frivolous existence. The opening lines of Dance Til We Die refer to covering Joni and the next song is a pristine cover of Joni Mitchells Ladies of the Canyon classic For Free, with vocal contributions from Weyes Blood and Zella Day. The track is a perfect closer for an album that further advances Del Reys evolution from a constructed pop persona to a complex artist. Its on an entirely different page than the club-ready remixes of her earlier material, but with Chemtrails Over the Country Club, Del Rey shows her softest moments can be her most powerful. ~ Fred Thomas

前作『Norman Fucking Rockwell』で絶賛の嵐を受けたラナ・デル・レイのニュー・アルバムは、富と名声を得た自身への言及が目立つ。"White Dress"では音楽業界に対する幻滅を歌い、"Let Me Love You Like A Woman"にはまとわりつく喧騒を遠ざけたい心情が滲む。彼女の自伝的な歌詞が多く、みずからの華やかさよりも暗部に焦点を当てている。たおやかな雰囲気が際立つサウンドは、哀愁混じりの虚無感を漂わせつつ、音としての気持ち良さがある。カントリーやフォークなどの要素が顕著で、憂いと甘美さを併せ持つ彼女のヴォーカルとの相性はベストマッチ。その歌声は、ポップスターというペルソナがもたらす痛みでいっぱいだ。
bounce (C)近藤真弥