〈ついにここまで来たか〉と感嘆の声が漏れてしまう、大阪発の2人組による3年半ぶりの新作。ざっくりと言えば、ミニマル・テクノ～クラウトロックが融合したような異形のビート・ミュージックなのだが、柴田健太郎のサウンド・デザインは洗練を極め、ある種の構築美すら感じさせる。その奇妙なポップさは、シンプルながら違和感のあるジャケットとも確かにリンクしている印象だ。比較対象を挙げるならバトルスの最新作で、アルバム後半でやっとギターだとわかる音色が出てくると、ゴッタ煮音楽としての両者の類似性が見えてくる。そして〈sun sun sun sun〉と萩原孝信が繰り返す“Sunday”からは、バトルスの前作に参加していた関西の大先輩、BOREDOMSのEYEの姿も浮かび上がってくるのだ。
[English Translation]
'Finally… they have come this far' was my immediate and unintentional applause when facing the new album released 3-and-a-half years since the previous by this amazing duo YOLZ IN THE SKY from Osaka of Kansai region. Putting it roughly, it’s a sort of a variant beat music like a mixture of minimal techno and Krautrock, and by the hands of Kentaro Shibata (g), an extremely refined sound design even lets us feel some kind of structural beauty. And its weird-cool popness is seemingly linked to the simple yet unusual album cover as well. It’s not easy to find an equivalent for comparison, but the album gradually discloses something similar to the latest release from Battles with the hodge-podge flavor seen as the common denominator of the two artists, especially in particular when a sound barely recognizable as that of a guitar comes forth in the latter half of the album. Moreover, the vocalist Takanobu Hagiwara’s repetition〈sun sun sun sun〉on “Sunday” will surely make you recall the admirable figure of EYE (also from Kansai, the iconic leader and founder of legendary noise/punk/rock band BOREDOMS) who actually performed for the aforementioned Battle’s last album actually.
