説明
R & S Recordsからの前作アルバムも当店で好評だったUKのFelix ManuelによるプロジェクトDjrumが3作目となるアルバムを発表！ピアノ独奏からアンビエント、テクノ、トライバル等をシームレスに展開した強力盤！
「私たちは人生を歩み、殻を脱ぎ捨て、やがて自分自身になる」
Patti Smithのこの言葉が、Felix Manuelの頭を巡り続けていた。6年ぶりのアルバム『Under Tangled Silence』は、創造的な再生を遂げた記録だ。2020年のロックダウン中に制作を開始したが、ハードドライブの故障で作業のほとんどが消失。精神的に追い詰められながらも、彼は音楽と向き合い、一から再構築する決意をした。
その結果生まれたのは驚くべき作品群だ。かつて神童と呼ばれた楽器奏者としての才能が、ピアニストやハープ奏者として前面に出ている。高度な電子音楽の技法を使いながらも、感情を隠さず「感じたままを音楽で表現する」姿勢が貫かれている。
Felixの名を一躍有名にしたヴァイナルDJとしての革新性も健在だ。オープニング曲「A Tune for Us」ではミニマルなピアノとジャズドラムがヴィンテージ・ジャングルのブレイクへと流れ込み、LP全体を通して未来派ダンスホール「L'Ancienne」やアシッド・ハウスの傑作「Galaxy in Silence」などが有機的に配置されている。
大音量での再生を想定した電子音響の衝撃は、これまで以上に確信に満ち、個性的な装いをまとっている。すべての要素が見事に統合されたこの作品は、真の音楽的人格が新たに誕生した瞬間を捉えた稀有な一枚。非凡な才能が刷新され、新たな命を吹き込まれた。
「Hold」のような深遠なアンビエントから、未来的なダンスホールまで──多様な音世界がひとつのヴァイナルに凝縮された。聴く者の心に深く響く、魂の再生を記録した音楽的傑作。
A1. A Tune For Us
A2. Waxcap
A3. Unweaving
B1. L'Ancienne
B2. Hold
B3. Galaxy In Silence
B4. Reprise
C1. Three Foxes Chasing Each Other
C2. Let Me
D1. Out Of Dust
D2. Sycamore
“We go through life. We shed our skins. We become ourselves.”
This line from Patti Smith was going round and round Felix Manuel’s head as he gradually constructed Under Tangled Silence, his first album in six years and a record of a literal creative rebirth. Felix originally began it in earnest in 2020 Covid lockdown, but a catastrophic hard-drive meltdown destroyed almost all his work and sent him close to psychic collapse himself. However, ultimately this pushed him to rebuild from scratch and in so doing to confront and reassess every part of his musical and psychological processes.
The result is utterly extraordinary. Felix was a child prodigy as an instrumentalist and his advanced musicality has always been prominent in his music, but here he has put himself front and centre as pianist, harpist and more. And this sense of exposure as a performer interweaves with an unflinching emotional openness too. Where sometimes electronic production as advanced as this can use intellect and techniques as shields from soul-baring, this is the sound of someone who can boldly say “I feel things, I cry all the time, and I'm not afraid to say it or show it in the music.”
But this doesn’t mean there’s a move away from the soundsystems and dancefloors where Felix made his name as a uniquely innovative vinyl DJ. Even just in the opening track “A Tune for Us”, minimalist piano ripples and jazz drumming flow into the breaks of vintage jungle – and as the structure of the LP unfolds, a deep ambient meditation like “Hold” can sit very naturally in between the futurist dancehall of “L’Ancienne” and the high-definition acid house mind movie of “Galaxy in Silence”. In fact, as with the hands-on musicianship, that gutsy big-speaker electronic impact is delivered with more certainty, more expertise, more personal flourishes than ever. And all of those elements are more integrated than ever too: the sound of a total musical personality emerging afresh is truly something to behold. An already remarkable talent has been refreshed, reborn and is making the music of his life.
