The Secret To Good Living

ブルックリンを拠点とするバンドHiding PlacesによるデビューアルバムがKeeled Scalesより登場。ヴォーカル/ギターの Nicholas Byrne が書いた「Waiting」は歪みを多用したグランジーなサウンドに深い喪失感と悲しみを湛えた楽曲。

An indie rock group with a lo-fi, slowcore sensibility, Hiding Places formed in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, with several members of the original lineup serving as DJs at UNCs student radio station. They then scattered across various states, occasionally meeting up in places like Athens, Georgia, and releasing a handful of EPs while shifting members of their rhythm section. Produced by new bassist Michael Matsakis, The Secret to Good Living marks the bands full-length debut, Keeled Scales label debut, and their first release to be recorded together after they all relocated to New York. A certain Southern aesthetic inhabits the album, however, at least after it opens with the dark, metal-tinged rocker "Dead Dove (Your Love Was Never a Waste of Time)." It then proceeds to slow to a stroll and, later, stillness, a journey that begins before the end of the opener, when Audrey Keelin, newly doubled by co-leader Nicholas Byrne, seems to sink into memories of a relationship. Melodic midtempo entry "Holy Roller," another pedal-effects-heavy outing, is next, before "One Hand" takes a semi-acoustic bearing alongside repetitive verses with elongated syllables that further stretch time. (Matsakis reportedly slowed down the bass and drums on tape for the song.) The sparer, dirge-like "Ballad No. Infinity" has Keelin ruminating over behaviors and their damage, and the plodding, nearly six-minute title track serves as counterpoint from Byrne. The album eventually comes to a near standstill with the quietly humming instrumental "If the Floor Is Burning," whose field recordings of birds and weather have the effect of letting the outside in and potentially breaking the spell. Along the way, track titles like "Waiting" and "Pile of Thought" underscore the bands intentions before the album closes on the resigned yet relatively uplifting "Forget It All," which, in stark contrast to the opener, consists only of acoustic guitar, nature recordings, occasional light synths and electric guitar sustain, and sighed, double-tracked vocals. While blending slowcore, sadcore, buzzy indie rock, and gentle folk, as well as structured nod-along tunes and depressed trances, The Secret to Good Livings design and implied narrative help to captivate. ~ Marcy Donelson