Rex Orange County
Dream Fatigue
The Arts Desk 60点相当
Clash 80点相当
なんで評価の平均、もしくは中央値の値が
こんなに低いんだろうと
毎回のように思う。
アルバム Apricot Princess の少し後に知り
かなり期待をしたのだが、
ここまで
思ったより飛躍しなかった印象。
本名 Alex O’Connor (アレクサンダー・オコナー)
https://www.clashmusic.com/reviews/rex-orange-county-dream-fatigue/
Now a decade in, Rex Orange County remains one of music’s most poetic sentimentalists. The Grayshott singer-songwriter has always epitomised remarkable maturity with ‘Bcos U Will Never B Free’ and ‘Apricot Princess’ unfolding jazzy chamber pop to intro sunrise standards that tap a comforting kind of reverie, making his creativity immediately identifiable. 2019’s ‘Pony’ was his ‘Salad Days’, assessing his faults through 35mm slides and Boys Don’t Cry strings, while 2022’s ‘WHO CARES?’ laced his bedroom soul with Romantic-era flourishes. His latest album, ‘Dream Fatigue’, doesn’t rework his bliss-outs but it’s a transmission elevated by collaborative solitude.
Alex O’Connor is still very much an introvert as his heart has never been able to find a seat next to his neuroses, but a few sessions in Jamaica with Daniel Caesar and Mustafa The Poet led to creative assuredness. Next to ‘The Alexander Technique’, his melodies are sharper — exuding tones, desires, and layers of gossamer guitar that melt into the idea of a protagonist who wears different personas to win over a girl who is always on his mind. That intimate simplicity might not be a foreign concept but it swaps lenses to ensure his words are scraped hollow, even if efforts like ‘Roleplay’ briefly use them as an aesthetic. “Played every role you asked of me,” he admits, letting Uptown harmonies and hi-hat crashes collide midair to bury any avoidant tendencies that lingered for too long: “And all I asked was for you to take the role of someone who loves me.”
