搬運(yùn)自：網(wǎng)易云音樂(lè)專(zhuān)欄【Music Online Zine Courier】（在原文基礎(chǔ)上添加了英語(yǔ)原文與排版調(diào)整）

翻譯：豆目豆科

Five years in the making, the UK band’s debut accomplishes something nearly impossible for a largely instrumental post-rock album: to project urgency and timelessness simultaneously.

這支英國(guó)樂(lè)隊(duì)的首張專(zhuān)輯歷時(shí)五年打造，完成了對(duì)于一張主要由器樂(lè)演奏構(gòu)成的后搖專(zhuān)輯來(lái)說(shuō)幾乎不可能完成的任務(wù)：投射出緊迫感的同時(shí)后勁十足。

An earnest belief in a better tomorrow didn’t seem quite as radical when?caroline?formed in 2017. Like a lot of people that year, guitarist and vocalist Casper Hughes was inspired by a nascent counterinsurgence of activism by people who’d previously participated in politics from the sidelines. As several band members canvassed for Jeremy Corbyn in the United Kingdom’s general election, Hughes channeled his cautious optimism for a more equitable future into the lyrics to “Good Morning (Red).”

2017年caroline剛成立時(shí)，他們對(duì)美好未來(lái)的誠(chéng)摯信念似乎并不那么激進(jìn)。同那一年的很多人一樣，吉他手兼主唱Casper Hughes受到了一場(chǎng)新興的激進(jìn)主義反革命運(yùn)動(dòng)的啟發(fā)，原先在政治活動(dòng)中常常袖手旁觀(guān)的年輕一代活躍了起來(lái)。幾個(gè)樂(lè)隊(duì)成員在英國(guó)大選中為Jeremy Corbyn拉票，與此同時(shí)，Hughes抱以對(duì)一個(gè)更公平未來(lái)的美好設(shè)想，將他心中的謹(jǐn)慎樂(lè)觀(guān)投射進(jìn)“Good morning (red)”的歌詞中。

Five years later, it’s the second song on caroline’s self-titled debut and, as with much recent pop culture, runs the risk of being tied to its era, either too specific or too naive to resonate in a time of increasingly immediate terror. While the lyrics of “Good Morning (Red)” haven’t changed, Hughes’ performance has adjusted to a new context. When he shouts, “Can I be happy in this world? We’ll have to change it, it doesn’t suit us,” it’s more desperate, a demand rather than a question. Words are sparse on?caroline,?but that indomitable, communal spirit courses throughout, accomplishing something nearly impossible for a largely instrumental post-rock album: to project urgency and timelessness simultaneously.

五年后，它作為樂(lè)隊(duì)同名處女作中的第二首歌問(wèn)世，和最近的許多流行趨勢(shì)一樣，這首歌原本極有可能因它所處的時(shí)代而被束縛，要么太過(guò)寫(xiě)實(shí)，要么太過(guò)天真，難能在這個(gè)恐怖主義日益盛行的時(shí)代引起共鳴。雖然“Good morning (red)”的歌詞并未改變，但Hughes的演繹已經(jīng)適應(yīng)了新的大環(huán)境。當(dāng)他吶喊道：“Can I be happy in this world? We’ll have to change it, it doesn’t suit us”，這更像是一種逼上絕境之后的反擊，一種訴求而非淺淺的詢(xún)問(wèn)?！癱aroline”話(huà)不多，但那種不屈不撓的團(tuán)結(jié)精神貫穿始終，完成了對(duì)于一張主要由器樂(lè)演奏構(gòu)成的后搖專(zhuān)輯來(lái)說(shuō)幾乎不可能完成的任務(wù)：投射出緊迫感的同時(shí)后勁十足。

If caroline’s hopeful tenor puts them at odds with the political climate, it’s done just as much to set them apart from their presumptive peers. Released by Rough Trade and sharing a producer with?black midi, caroline’s 2020 debut single “Dark Blue” established a loose affiliation with the UK’s burgeoning post-punk scene while actively contradicting its stylistic tropes. Contrary to the anxious, monological?Fall?fanfic that collages absurdities and abstractions until they register as “commentary on modern existence” or whatever, “Dark Blue” provoked vast, elemental emotions without being overt about which ones, a towering cumulus that hovers for nearly seven minutes and never breaks.

如果說(shuō)caroline充滿(mǎn)希望的主旋律讓他們與政治氣候格格不入，那么這也同樣讓他們與那些自以為是的同行們區(qū)別開(kāi)來(lái)。caroline 20年的首支單曲“Dark Blue”由Rough Trade發(fā)行，更任用了black midi的制作人，雖與英國(guó)新興的后朋場(chǎng)景建立了松散的聯(lián)系，但依舊積極地與場(chǎng)景中的主流風(fēng)格套路相抵觸。與焦慮而單一的The Fall樂(lè)迷小品背道而馳，“Dark Blue”激起了更為巨大、卻最為原初的情感，并沒(méi)有大肆宣揚(yáng)點(diǎn)明是哪些情感，它匯聚起一個(gè)高聳的積云，在高空盤(pán)旋了近7分鐘，從未消散。

In the two years since, about half of?caroline?has been released in some form. Similar to?Black Country, New Road’s?For the first time,?it’s as much a compilation as a debut, an imposed deadline for a band accustomed to constant tinkering. The sequencing is vaguely chronological, with the first half reflecting a more accessible, “triumphant emo” version of caroline. “Dark Blue” and “Good Morning (Red)” have been in development since the group’s origins as a duo in 2017: guitars still play legible chords and tangled arpeggios, countable rhythms are dictated by a standard drum set, and languid vocal melodies sound composed rather than improvised. Taken together, “Dark Blue” and “Good Morning (Red)” are like an album within an album, so complementary and complete that they threaten to overshadow everything that follows. The former’s simmering tension gives way to a bleary vulnerability, a hangover slowly transforming to a flicker of hope for the day ahead. One repeats a mantra of “I want it all,” the other aches for serenity. If caroline had tried to sustain this emotional pitch for the entire album, it might have come off as manipulative, too self-consciously cinematic.

在此后的兩年里，《caroline》中近一半的曲目都以某種形式發(fā)行。同Black Country, New Road的《For the first time》類(lèi)似，它既是樂(lè)隊(duì)的首演，也是一個(gè)匯編，對(duì)一個(gè)習(xí)慣于不斷修補(bǔ)的樂(lè)隊(duì)來(lái)說(shuō)，這次發(fā)行無(wú)疑是一個(gè)強(qiáng)加的ddl。歌曲依稀是按時(shí)間順序排列的，前半部分描繪了一個(gè)更易理解的、“積極向上”版本的caroline?！癉ark Blue”和“Good morning (red)”自17年該團(tuán)體還是個(gè)雙人組合至今一直在發(fā)展：吉他仍舊演奏著清晰的和弦和糾纏混亂的琶音，節(jié)奏在標(biāo)準(zhǔn)鼓組的支配下按部就班地行進(jìn)，而慵懶的人聲旋律極富創(chuàng)作痕跡，顯然并非即興而為?！癉ark Blue”和“Good morning (red)”合在一起，就像嵌在一張專(zhuān)輯中的另一張專(zhuān)輯，如此互補(bǔ)而完整，以至于它們的光芒甚至可能會(huì)使之后的一切黯然失色。前者醞釀出的緊張氛圍讓位于一種朦朧的脆弱，宿醉慢慢變?yōu)閷?duì)未來(lái)新一天的一絲祈盼。一人重復(fù)著“I want it all”的咒語(yǔ)，另一人則求寧?kù)o而不得。如果caroline試圖在整張專(zhuān)輯中維持這種情緒，可能給人以刻意、過(guò)于做作之感。

But caroline take a molecular-gastronomy approach to both sweeping post-rock and weeping Midwest emo, toying with structure, arrangement, and texture. As it progresses,?caroline?becomes a daring document of its creators’ process, maintaining just enough convention to draw attention to the way their atypical presentation defies it. Looser compositions like “Engine (eavesdropping)” are the result of endless studio hours obsessing over the imperfections captured within improvisation, contact mics, and room sound. caroline would rather let a track collapse before they resort to a stock post-rock crescendo. Having only recently solidified their eight-person lineup, they’re still exploring the correlation between their strengths and interests. Of the four interlude-length tracks, the most compelling is “desperately,” a solo showcase for cellist and vocalist Jasper Llewellyn, whose earthy and operatic quaver evokes a virtuoso moonlighting as a shepherd; it’s an instrument all the more devastating for its scarcity throughout?caroline.?Meanwhile, the longest interlude, “Zilch,” is two minutes of what sounds like someone trying to cut rusted guitar strings with a dull knife. The choice to include something so willfully challenging feels more like a philosophical point than a purely musical one.

而之后caroline采用一種“分子烹飪”的法子橫掃后搖和Midwest Emo，玩弄結(jié)構(gòu)、排篇布局和紋理于股掌之間。隨著音樂(lè)的發(fā)展，《caroline》將成為其創(chuàng)作者生涯中的大膽一筆，保持足夠常規(guī)的同時(shí)，又引起人們對(duì)其非主流表現(xiàn)方式的注意。像“Engine (eavesdropping)”這樣寬松、愜意的作品是耗費(fèi)無(wú)數(shù)時(shí)間待在錄音室后的成果，他們執(zhí)著于在即興創(chuàng)作、接觸麥克風(fēng)時(shí)或房間里的雜音中挑刺。近期確定了他們的八人陣容后，他們?nèi)栽谔剿魉麄兊膬?yōu)勢(shì)和創(chuàng)作意圖之間的關(guān)聯(lián)。在四首間奏曲中，最引人注目的是“desperately”，這是大提琴手兼主唱Jasper Llewellyn的獨(dú)奏，他樸實(shí)的歌劇式顫音令人腦中浮現(xiàn)出一個(gè)野生牧羊人演奏家的形象；這種形式的器樂(lè)演繹在整張《caroline》中的稀缺性使得它的出現(xiàn)愈加有力。同時(shí)，最長(zhǎng)的插曲“zilch”，兩分鐘，聽(tīng)起來(lái)像是有人在用一把鈍刀刮擦生銹的吉他弦。選擇包括上述在內(nèi)的極具風(fēng)險(xiǎn)、挑戰(zhàn)性的東西，感覺(jué)更像是一個(gè)哲學(xué)觀(guān)點(diǎn)，而不僅限于單純的音樂(lè)領(lǐng)域。

My best guess is that it’s intended to demystify the album itself, or at least to honor the ugly mistakes and tedious workshopping that accompany the creation of even the most miraculous pieces of recorded music. “zilch” segues into a nine-minute finale called “Natural Death,” which recalls the most mesmerizingly static compositions of?the Microphones?(who selected the group as an opener for their UK shows in late 2021). caroline have clearly absorbed lessons from Phil Elverum’s studio explorations: They share a belief in expressing the awesome power and fallibility of nature through analog decay, repetition, and minimalist drone played at concussive volumes. Small gestures matter in music this exploratory and sometimes there’s only so much you can capture within the music itself. Even caroline’s studio version of “Skydiving onto the library roof” might not be the definitive one: In the “Pool #2” rendition, the entire thing moves not on the two-note motif that runs throughout its entirety, but a small nod by Hughes that indicates?when?it repeats; the rest of the band responds as if in a private language. In this small, unspoken moment, caroline’s ideals as a “collective” extend beyond simply having a lot of band members. Theirs is a higher-minded definition of the term, a group whose fidelity to their own logic and laws approaches the utopian.

我能想到最好的這樣做的理由：它的目的是緩解專(zhuān)輯本身的神秘感，或者至少是為了紀(jì)念那些“丑陋”的錯(cuò)誤和乏味的研討，這些小瑕疵常隨著即使是最完美的錄音室作品的創(chuàng)作過(guò)程之中?！皕ilch”結(jié)束，轉(zhuǎn)入一個(gè)9分鐘的尾曲“Natural Death”，它會(huì)讓人想起the Microphone樂(lè)隊(duì)最令人著迷的靜態(tài)作品（他們?cè)?021年底的英國(guó)演出中曾選擇該樂(lè)隊(duì)曲子作為開(kāi)場(chǎng)曲）。caroline顯然從Phil Elverum的工作室探索中汲取經(jīng)驗(yàn)：通過(guò)模擬衰減、重復(fù)和以震蕩低音呈現(xiàn)出的極簡(jiǎn)主義嗡鳴來(lái)表達(dá)自然的可怕力量和世事易變。在這種探索性的音樂(lè)中，擺正姿態(tài)尤為重要，有時(shí)你只能在音樂(lè)本身中捕捉到這么微小的東西。即使是caroline最終拿出的“Skydiving onto the library roof”錄音室版本也可能不是最終版本。在“Pool #2”的現(xiàn)場(chǎng)演繹中，整首曲子并非在貫穿全曲的兩個(gè)音上輾轉(zhuǎn)，而是Hughes的一次示意，告知樂(lè)隊(duì)他人它何時(shí)重復(fù)；而樂(lè)隊(duì)其他成員的回應(yīng)就像一種小團(tuán)體暗號(hào)一樣難以捉摸。在這個(gè)小小的、不言而喻的時(shí)刻，caroline作為一個(gè)“集體”的理想超越了簡(jiǎn)單地作為一個(gè)擁有許多成員的樂(lè)隊(duì)。他們的理想是對(duì)這個(gè)詞的更高維定義，一個(gè)對(duì)自己的邏輯和法則之忠誠(chéng)近乎烏托邦的團(tuán)體。