共に福岡出身で同い年の小山田壮平と長澤知之のプライヴェート・ユニットとしてスタートし、藤原寛と後藤大樹という元andymoriのリズム隊が順に加わることでバンド化したALのデビュー作。〈レノン＝マッカートニー〉のように、作詞／作曲のクレジットが小山田と長澤の連名で統一された全13曲は、各々のキャリアで培ってきた音楽要素が散りばめられた幅広い作風で、掛け合いが楽しいロックンロール・ナンバー“HAPPY BIRTHDAY”はリバティーンズのカールとピートのようでもある。ただ、作品全体の軸はフォーキーなメロディーと美しいハーモニーで、言ってみれば、小山田と長澤によるフォーク・デュオの曲を、バンド4人が自由度高くアレンジしていったという感じなのだろう。ピアノやトランペットも用いて3部構成の大曲に仕上げた“ハートの破り方”は、本作のなかでもベストの仕上がり。“15の夏”“さよならジージョ”など、若き日の原風景を重ね合わせたような歌詞も実に素晴らしい。
[English Translation]
AL "Kokoro no Naka no Shikishi (meaning Colored Paper in My Heart)"
The first album from AL, which started out as a private unit between Sohei Oyamada and Tomoyuki Nagasawa, both of an age and from Fukuoka, and became a band when Hiroshi Fujiwara and Hiroki Goto, the rhythm section of the disbanded Japanese alternative rock band andymori, joined one by one. All the 13 tracks are jointly credited to Oyamada and Nagasawa, as in the [Lennon-McCartney] credit, offering a wide range of musical elements the two have accumulated over each individual's career. The rock 'n' roll number "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" sung joyfully with a call-and-response by the two reminds me of Carl and Pete of The Libertines. The whole album is based on folky melodies and beautiful harmonies, and comes out as if they were written by the folk duo Oyamada-Nagasawa, and then arranged freely by the band. One of the best tracks on the album is "Ha-to no Yaburikata (meaning How To Break A Heart)," a great piece consisting of 3 parts using piano and trumpet. As in "Jugo no Natsu (meaning Summer of Fifteen) and "Sayonara Jijo (meaning Good-bye Gigio)," the outstanding lyrics depict a nostalgic landscape from their younger days.
