ロバート・プラント、アリソン・クラウスからブランディ・カーライル、エルトン・ジョンまで、また映画『オー・ブラザー!』や『ウォーク・ザ・ライン/君につづく道』といった象徴的なサウンドトラックでの仕事でよく知られる、オスカーやグラミー賞を受賞した作曲家兼プロデューサー兼ソングライターT・ボーン・バーネットの最新15枚目のソロ・スタジオ・アルバム。リスナーに焦点を当て、「you(あなた)」という言葉にフォーカスしたという新作。

テクノロジーが長年にわたって我々の文化に与えてきた影響を探求した作品で、ロザンヌ・キャッシュ、ルシウス、ワイズ・ブラッドとのコラボ曲や、レオン・ラッセル、エルトン・ジョン、カサンドラ・ウィルソン、ウィリー・ネルソン等と共演してきたキーボード奏者・作曲家のキーファス・カンシア、ドラマーのジェイ・ベルローズらが参加した全12曲を収録している。同アルバムから、ルシウスをフィーチャーした先行曲「Waiting For You with Lucius」が現在先行配信中。
このアルバムは、この手強いギタリスト/シンガーソングライターの、フォークとフォームへの徹底的な回帰を約束するものでカントリーとブルーグラスのルーツに敬意を払いつつ、同時に新しいファンが直感的に好きになる音楽を引き立てるサウンドで、今日のインディーやオルタナティヴ・ロックのサウンドを確立したバーネットならではのアメリカの良心のようなヴォーカル作品。

発売・販売元 提供資料 （2024/03/01）

Most good songwriters and producers understand the value of spontaneous inspiration, and T-Bone Burnetts long and distinguished career establishes him as somewhat better than "good." In 2019, he released The Invisible Light: Acoustic Space, which he announced would be the first installment in a trilogy of albums that would be the summation of what he has to say as an artist and his final work as a musician. The second chapter, The Invisible Light: Spells, appeared in 2022, but while working on the final chapter, Burnett treated himself to a new guitar, and in the space of a few weeks he wrote enough songs for an LP that falls outside the confines of the Invisible Light series, changing the tone of his final act. If the Invisible Light albums were clearly meant to be a grand statement about humanity surrendering to technology accompanied by percussion and synthesized sounds, 2024s The Other Side is nearly its polar opposite. Its a collection of 12 songs of uncluttered eloquence informed by Burnetts belief in the human spirit, while the arrangements are almost exclusively taken up by acoustic instruments and vocals. Of the previous albums in his catalog, The Other Side most closely resembles 1986s T-Bone Burnett in its straightforward and naturalistic sound, while the opening track, "He Came Down," recalls the intelligent meditations on Christianity that dotted his early albums; however, most of these songs are about love, simple in their construction but deceptively deep in their contemplation of the demands and consequences of caring for other people. Burnett also takes occasional detours into his concerns about a world mired in greed and pride, themes that have long been present in his work but with special urgency on the Invisible Light projects. The Other Sides arrangements are so spartan that they dont even feature drums, with the guitars of Burnett and Colin Linden and the string bass of Dennis Crouch dominant among the instruments and the vocal duo Lucius lending lovely harmonies on several tracks that reinforce this albums intimacy. While the collected aphorisms of "Everything and Nothing" and the witty breakup tune "(Im Gonna Get Over This) Some Day" (the latter featuring Rosanne Cash) show Burnett hasnt lost his sharp wit or cleverness, this time out, hes more concerned with speaking from the heart, and in this case it pays off. In its sincerity, elegance, and compassion, The Other Side is one of T-Bone Burnetts warmest and most emotionally resonant works, and if its less ambitious than the Invisible Light albums, its a powerful example of what he does best as a songwriter, a vocalist, and a producer. Perhaps someone should get him another new guitar and see if he has another LP this good waiting for us. ~ Mark Deming

Rovi