The List

バングルスのスザンナ・ホフスが、全曲新曲のオリジナル・スタジオ・アルバムとしては14年ぶりとなる新作アルバム『The List』をリリース！

2021年と2023年にカヴァー・アルバム『Bright Lights』と『The Deep End』をリリースし、2024年にこれまで未発表であった音源を収めたアルバム『The Lost Record』を発表していたが、全曲新曲のオリジナル・スタジオ・アルバムのリリースは2012年『Someday』以来。新作『The List』はボン・イヴェールやポール・サイモンとの仕事でも知られるCJ・カメリエリがプロデュースを手掛け、ルーファス・ウェインライト、ダン・ウィルソン、エディ・ブリケル、グレッグ・リース、ライアン・ラーマンらが参加している。

Countless young men in the 1980s and 90s doubtless dreamed of what it would be like to go out with Susanna Hoffs, the lead singer with Paisley Underground charmers turned multi-platinum hitmakers the Bangles. Since Hoffs has been happily married for over three decades, the window of opportunity to make that happen has passed, but Hoffs gives us a faint insight into what it could have been like on her 2026 album The List. The LPs inspiration came when Hoffs was looking through an old notebook and happened upon a list shed made of all the men shed dated since her first high school boyfriend. Most of the songs on The List are memories of moments in relationships, some happy, some wistful, some bittersweet. Anyone hoping Hoffs will offer a major kiss-and-tell session here will be disappointed; while shes copped to "Casablanca" being about a brief platonic encounter with Bob Weir (who she rightly calls the cute one in the Grateful Dead, though when your competition is Jerry Garcia and Bill Kreutzmann, how much does that say?), and that "None of Them Were You" concerns her husband (though it offers in passing some blind items about less pleasing suitors), her subject here is matters of the heart rather than gossip. 2012s Someday showed how much Hoffs had grown as a songwriter since her days in the Bangles, and while The List isnt quite as impressive, its a wonderful collection of mature and heartfelt pop songs, in which Hoffs sings about relationships with an open heart that willing to acknowledge both the good and bad times as well as the excitement of the moment. She pairs them with melodies that reflect her exceptional taste in pop styles of the 1960s and 70s, and the arrangements are stylish and tasteful, evocative while leaving plenty of space for her vocals. And as a singer, Hoffs sounds every bit as good as she did in her glory days with the Bangles, her sweetly soulful instrument seemingly untouched by the passage of time, and her phrasing is subtle and emotionally satisfying. While none of us are going to be Susanna Hoffs significant other anytime soon (unless youre Jay Roach), The List shows she was and remains fine and beguiling company, especially when shes singing. ~ Mark Deming