搬運(yùn)自：微信公眾號(hào)【評(píng)論搬一堆】（在原文基礎(chǔ)上添加了英語(yǔ)原文與排版調(diào)整）

翻譯：Nina Wang

校正：Ryan-Chopin

The title track of?Pageant Material, Kacey Musgraves’ last album, is among her subtler wordplays. “I ain’t pageant material,” she sings: bad with high heels, iffy on swimsuit competitions. But it’s also a nod to the fact that women in country tend to?produce?pageant material, as in repertoire; conservative songs for big voices that might be sung, alongside “Broken Wing” maybe, by Junior Misses across the heartland.

Kacey Musgraves在上張專輯《Pageant Material（選美小姐）》的主打歌中玩起了文字游戲。“I ain’t pageant material（我不是選美小姐的料）”歌詞說(shuō)：踩高跟穿泳衣走臺(tái)步，我可做不來(lái)。的確，就像這首歌唱的那樣，美國(guó)鄉(xiāng)村盛產(chǎn)選美小姐，她們把傳統(tǒng)鄉(xiāng)村音樂(lè)（比如“Broken Wing（折翼）”）唱遍中心地帶。

That’s never quite been Kacey, who since acerbic debut single “Merry Go Round” has occupied an uneasy place in the country industry. She’s a woman in a genre where radio consultant Keith Hill drew criticism in 2015 for advising programmers that “if you want to make ratings in country radio, take females out.” She doesn’t quite fit the standard archetypes for women in country: not a Southern belle like countless ingenues, not a brash spitfire like Miranda Lambert, not a maternal elder like Dolly or Reba. And she sings about such un-conservative topics as gay rights and marijuana—topics that are?not without?recent precedent, or even precedent decades ago, but like most of the world, the Nashville industry finds such outspokenness more pardonable in men.

這樣的Kacey有點(diǎn)反常。憑借一首尖酸刻薄的處女作單曲“Merry Go Round（旋轉(zhuǎn)木馬）”，Kacey在鄉(xiāng)村音樂(lè)界占據(jù)一席之地，但也引起了爭(zhēng)議。2015年，廣播制作顧問(wèn)Keith Hill曾建議廣播制作方“想提高收聽率，就別放女歌手的歌?！钡湫偷泥l(xiāng)村女孩，要么天真無(wú)邪，要么像Miranda Lambert那樣急性子，要么像Dolly 或Reba有仁慈溫和的長(zhǎng)者風(fēng)范，但Kacey一點(diǎn)都沒(méi)中。她唱同志權(quán)利，唱大麻，唱最新鮮的話題，幾十年前的事她理都不理?？杉{什維爾與其他地方也沒(méi)什么兩樣，比起男性，女性的直言不諱更不受待見。

Where?Same Trailer, Different Park?and?Pageant Material?were largely written with Luke Laird and Shane McAnally, with hundreds of country credits between them,?Golden Hour?is written with Daniel Tashian, of alt-country group Silver Seas, and Ian Fitchuk. The difference is palpable from track one. Kin in melody and wistfulness (and title) to the Civil Wars-penned “Slow Disco” from St. Vincent’s last album, “Slow Burn” is essentially Musgraves’ re-introduction: incorporating lines from one of her earliest tracks, “Burn One With John Prine” (“grandma cried when I pierced my nose”). The chorus drifts along quietly, unlike much of country radio’s weapons-grade Southern rock choruses; the lyrics are plainspoken, with none of the neat packaging (“tying everything up in a bow,” she called it) of her old work. Where she once had a compelling songwriting portfolio, here she has a compelling mood.

《Same Trailer,?Different Park（同一輛拖車，不同的停車場(chǎng)）》和《Pageant Material》的歌曲多數(shù)是與Luke Laird和Shane McAnally合作完成，而《Golden Hour》則攜手Ian Fitchuk和另類鄉(xiāng)村組合Silver Seas的Daniel Tashian。這一變化在專輯的第一首歌中就顯而易見。“Slow Burn（逐漸濃烈）”與St. Vincent上張專輯中映射內(nèi)戰(zhàn)的“Slow Disco（慢速迪斯科）”一樣，旋律舒緩，歌詞惆悵。這首歌是她早期的單曲“Burn One With John Prine（和John Prine一起燃燒）”的續(xù)曲，是Musgraves 對(duì)自己的再次詮釋。（“grandma cried when I pierced my nose”（看到我打鼻環(huán)，祖母哭得泣不成聲））多數(shù)鄉(xiāng)村音樂(lè)的副歌喜歡用南方的爆炸式搖滾，而“Slow Burn”的副歌緩慢，歌詞直言不諱，也沒(méi)有她以往編曲的小心機(jī)（她管這叫“把所用東西系成一個(gè)蝴蝶結(jié)”）。以往的歌展示了她高水準(zhǔn)的編曲能力，而這一首則飽含她耐人尋味的內(nèi)心獨(dú)白。

That mood’s best described as “content.” Musgraves just got married, which accounts for the uptick in love songs. But there’s a low-key contentedness to everything else, too, less akin to rootsy country than bedroom indie-pop. Musgraves’ voice, high and earnest, is reminiscent of folkies like Suzanne Vega or Sheryl Crow (at whose house?Golden Hour?was recorded). It’s not a belting voice, but it’s a remarkable instrument, capable of imbuing with winsome empathy songs like “Lonely Weekend” and “Happy & Sad” that might otherwise be tweenish sap. Even the druggy tracks approach Disney levels of earnestness: “Mother,” perhaps the most wholesome track ever?written on LSD, and the ethereal, vocoded “Oh, What a World,” which is like a rewrite of “What a Wonderful World” by someone who prefers a different sort of trees of green.

新婚的Kacey，毫無(wú)疑問(wèn)，內(nèi)心是滿足的。因而這張專輯的愛情單曲也稍多于以往。但她的音樂(lè)里也不妨有對(duì)其他事物的一絲滿足，比起正統(tǒng)鄉(xiāng)村音樂(lè)，她仍偏向獨(dú)立搖滾的臥室流行。Musgraves聲線高而純凈，讓人不由想起Suzanne Vega或Sheryl Crow（《Golden Hour》的錄音在Sheryl Crow家里完成）。這種聲線沒(méi)有充沛力量但也能過(guò)耳不忘。像“Lonely Weekend（孤獨(dú)周末）”和“Happy & Sad（開心與悲傷）”，充滿少女感的同時(shí)又能引起你的共鳴，要是用喊叫唱法恐怕會(huì)變成小孩的嚷嚷叫。有趣的是，她的歌就算沾了毒品，其真摯程度也照樣能趕上迪士尼的水準(zhǔn)：“Mother（媽媽）”可以說(shuō)是一個(gè)人在吸LSD（麥角二乙酰胺，一種半人工致幻劑）時(shí)所能創(chuàng)作的最健康的歌；空靈的“Oh, What a World（哦多么美好的世界）”就像 “What a Wonderful World（多么美好的世界）”的改版，只不過(guò)把綠樹換成了其他的東西。

The buzziest track on?Golden Hour?is undoubtedly “High Horse,” which gallops along with a?Shania twain conceit?and lite disco licks that sound more like pop-radio Pharrell than what one might think of as country. Then again, in 2016, Pharrell cut a record with Musgraves’s current tour mates Little Big Town. And for a couple of years now, middle-of-the-road country music has quietly come to sound a lot like radio pop circa the ‘90s, the kind that perhaps wouldn’t be classified as country if released then. Pick a country single off the charts; it’s as likely to sound like Southern rock as Fleetwood Mac or Lilith Fair or?even Hanson. The genre’s being blurred from the other direction as well—recording a country-adjacent album is the go-to of late for pop stars wanting to rebrand as “authentic,” from Lady Gaga and Miley Cyrus’s?Joanne?and?Younger Now?to Kesha’s?Rainbow?(“Godzilla” and “Spaceship” could be alternate-universe Musgraves tracks).

《Golden Hour》里最潮的一首歌當(dāng)屬“High Horse（盛氣凌人）”。駿馬飛馳帶著Shania?twain的狂妄，簡(jiǎn)版迪斯科風(fēng)格與鄉(xiāng)村不怎么沾邊，反倒會(huì)給你在聽Pharrell的流行樂(lè)電臺(tái)樂(lè)的錯(cuò)覺(jué)。不僅如此，2016年P(guān)harrell還與Musgraves現(xiàn)在的巡演搭檔Little Big Town有過(guò)合作。最近幾年，質(zhì)樸的鄉(xiāng)村音樂(lè)正向90年代的電臺(tái)流行樂(lè)靠近，不過(guò)這張專輯要是放在當(dāng)時(shí)發(fā)布可絕談不上鄉(xiāng)村。隨便挑一首當(dāng)下熱門的鄉(xiāng)村單曲，多半都聽起來(lái)像當(dāng)年Fleetwood Mac，Lilith Fair或even?Hanson的南方搖滾。鄉(xiāng)村音樂(lè)與其他流派的界限也越來(lái)越模糊――錄一張鄉(xiāng)村風(fēng)格的專輯成了流行歌手們證明自己“真格”的關(guān)鍵，比如Lady Gaga的“Joanne（喬安娜）”和Miley Cyrus的“Younger Now（青春進(jìn)行時(shí)）”。（可以說(shuō)，“Godzilla（哥斯拉）”和“Spaceship（飛船）”走的基本上是Musgraves的風(fēng)格）。

Little surprise, then, that?Golden Hour?falters where it’s closest to mainstream country.?“Space Cowboy”?is the sort of track where you suspect the writers came up with the titular concept first (“you can have your space, cowboy”) then paired it with a stock arrangement. But then there’s something like “Velvet Elvis,” co-written with Nashville longtimer Natalie Hemby. It’s a chameleon of a song, and it’s easy to imagine it sung brash, by a Miranda Lambert or Kellie Pickler type. Musgraves’s version is more understated, from its floaty “Every Breath You Take” riff to her near-deadpan vocal. “All I ever wanted was something classic,” she sings, echoing a diss in “High Horse,” whose subject is “classic in the wrong way.” If the right way’s a hunk of velvet kitsch, Musgraves sings, what’s the problem? And if the right way for Musgraves’s?music?is low-key folk, what’s the problem? It’s not classicist, but perhaps it might be classic.

不出所料，《Golden Hour》徘徊在主流鄉(xiāng)村音樂(lè)的邊緣。聽聽“Space?Cowboy（太空牛仔）”，你八成會(huì)懷疑這首歌和歌名是作者的隨機(jī)組合（“you can have your space, cowboy（野男孩，你可以有自己的空間）”）。緊接著畫風(fēng)一轉(zhuǎn)，“Velvet Elvis（貓王畫像）”。這首歌由Musgraves和納什維爾的Natalie Hemby共同制作，看名字你可能覺(jué)得它走M(jìn)iranda Lambert或?Kellie Pickler的路線，但Musgraves的版本更簡(jiǎn)單含蓄，情感寡淡，一句輕盈的“Every Breath You Take（你的每一次呼吸）”不斷重復(fù)?！癆ll I ever wanted was something classic（我要的是不朽的經(jīng)典）”，她在“High?Horse”里呼應(yīng)黑子們：“classic in the wrong way（你的經(jīng)典跑偏了）”。Musgraves唱到：肌肉男喜歡天鵝絨，那又怎樣？既然如此，Musgraves唱軟調(diào)民謠那又怎樣？《Golden?Hour》不學(xué)經(jīng)典，但或成經(jīng)典。