Adrian Younge Presents Something About April III

Adrian Youngeによる待望のアルバムは30人編成のオーケストラ、アナログ・シンセサイザー、ブレイクビーツ、そしてポルトガル語でサイケデリックなメロディを歌い上げるブラジル人ボーカリストによって生み出された音の世界。『Something About April』シリーズは、現代のレコード愛好家やプロデューサーの間で時の試練を乗り越えた名作として認識されており、DJプレミア、Jay-Z、コモン、50セントなど、多くのアーティストにサンプリングされてきた。今作は1960～70年代の偉大なブラジル音楽にインスパイアされた作品でArthur Verocaiの1972年のセルフタイトル・アルバムを彷彿とさせる複雑なオーケストラ・アレンジとドラムブレイクの上で才能あふれるボーカリストたちが輝いている。

Fourteen years after Something About April and almost a decade following Something About April II, Adrian Younge completes his romantic psychedelic soul trilogy. Unlike the first two volumes, the third one is not a Venice Dawn band recording. Younge arranged and conducted a 30-piece orchestra at his Linear Labs Studios, and in Sao Paulo gathered Ceu, Manu Julian, Luiza Lian, Miguel Lian Leite, and Antonio Pinto to sing lyrics he wrote in Portuguese, having studied the language for several years. With the exception of Jack Watersons guitar on one song, Younge plays all other instruments, from drums, upright bass, and guitar to organ, analog synthesizer, and Mellotron. While its another one of Younges vintage-sounding soul LPs foregrounded in his baroque boom-bap, its an outgrowth of his Jazz Is Dead sessions with Brazilian legends Marcos Valle (JID003), Azymuth (JID004), Joao Donato (JID007), and Hyldon (JID023) as much as it is the finalization of a concept. Subtle rhythmic elements of 60s and 70s Brazilian jazz and MPB are neatly threaded, especially so in the lapping, swaying percussion within the last two songs, "Nunca Estranhos" and "Sorrir na Chuva." (And are those sci-fi synthesizer pulsations a nod to Deodatos "UNIVAC Loves You"?) Most of the vocals are choral and in unison, rendering the material less intimate than that of the preceding volumes. The way the highly expressive and emphatic voices radiate and swarm on highlights like the bursting "O Som do Amor" and stormy "Ainda Preciso do Sol" result in heightened senses of drama and vitality. Notwithstanding Younges vocabulary limitations, theres an evident wide range of emotions put forth by the singers, and the complexity and richness of the melodies are undeniable. For every familiar Younge sound -- the jutting organ, the bad-trip psych guitar, the altered-state harpsichord -- theres a new wrinkle or two. Moreover, this contains some of the mans warmest, most inviting work. ~ Andy Kellman