ナカコーこと中村弘二の、iLLでもNYANTORAでもないKoji Nakamura名義の初作は、自分では作詞せず、サウンド面とヴォーカルに専念した一枚。ニューウェイヴ調の“I know”や4つ打ちでシューゲイズなロック“DAISY”もあれば、ジュークなどのベース音楽が隆盛のなかでいま一度盛り上がりを見せているジャングルを採り入れた“B.O.Y.”、アクトレスかブリアルかというようなダークなディープ・テクノで歌う実験的な“Light Up / Tonight”もあり、気になるサウンド／リズムは何でもやってみたという印象。どれも付け焼刃でなく独自のものになっているし、そもそもこんなにバラバラなジャンルが無理なく同居するという絶妙なバランス感覚が彼の作品らしい。フィールド・レコーディングも入ってます!
[English Translation]
This new piece released neither under his solo-project names, iLL nor NYANTORA, but for the first time under the name of Koji Nakamura (nickname being ‘Nakako’ and former vocalist and guitarist of Japanese rock band SUPERCAR and currently of LAMA), is a piece including no lyrics written by himself, but given more commitment to the sound makings and singing. “I know” is given a new wave touch, where “DAISY” is a shoegaze rock tune, “B.O.Y.” adds in jungle elements from the bass music scene flourishing once again with the rising popularity of juke music, where “Light Up / Tonight” is an experimental piece sung in a dark deep techno tone in the likes of Actress or Burial. Though the artist seems to have freely given a whirl to any sound or rhythm he took interest in, he has artfully personalized with the tracks with none of them sounding like band-aid pieces, and more than anything else, the finest balance enabling the comfortable coexistence of all these disjointed genres from all sorts of places is just so ‘him’. Some of the tracks also feature some amusing insertions of field recordings.
