ソロの電子音楽家から15人編成のフィルハーモニック・オーケストラへ――そして、ふたたび自身名義として放つ新作で向き合ったのは、表題通りに〈メロディーたち〉。これが本当に素晴らしい。千住宗臣、ゴンドウトモヒコ、徳澤青弦らを迎えた優雅なアンサンブルには彼らしい緻密なリズムと音響が敷かれているものの、その中心で軽やかに躍る〈歌〉には、例えば小沢健二や星野源の如き品の良い人懐っこさ、ポピュラリティーが備わっている。学童唱歌のような“ハミング”、都市感覚のテック・ハウス“テレポート”、ミニマリズムのなかにポエトリー・リーディングを浮かべた“ニュー”などアレンジの振り幅も広いが、どこまでもジェントルな当人の歌声が全曲をひとつのトーンに繋ぐ。それは、じんわりと染み入るような幸福感。いわゆるシンガー・ソングライター作品のように感情が直截的に表出していないことに由来しているのかもしれないが、このさりげなくも巨大な充足感は、そう体験できるものではない。


[English Translation]
Shuta Hasunuma  "Melodies"

After starting out as a solo electronic musician and then organizing a 15-member philharmonic orchestra, musician and composer Shuta Hasunuma has released his new album “Melodies”, once again under his solo name, in which he gives full attention to ‘melodies’ - as its title goes. And the outcome is a true masterpiece. While well-thought-out rhythms and sounds totally in his style are underlaid in the elegant ensembles performed with artists such as Muneomi Senju (drummer/former member of rock band Boredoms), Tomohiko Gondo (euphoniumist/member of musicians collective anonymass), Seigen Tokuzawa (cellist/member of anonymass and piano&cello duo Throwing a Spoon), the songs that are leaping up and dancing at the center have the genteel affableness and popularity as in the songs by Kenji Ozawa (singer-songwriter) or Gen Hoshino (musician/actor/writer). Although the arrangements span a wide variety as seen in numbers from the school-song-sounding “Humming,” the urbane-tech-house tune “Teleport,” to “New” which sounds like poetry reading floating in minimalism, Hasunuma’s profoundly gentle voice links all the numbers into one tone. It feels like contentment permeating into our hearts. It might be because Hasunuma expresses his feelings and emotions not as directly as most singer-songwriters do, and this subtle but huge satisfaction is not like anything you can experience every day.