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：WhitneyL

審校：Lynn Liu

Natalie Mering’s fourth album is a grand, sentimental ode to living and loving in the shadow of doom. It is her most ambitious and complex work yet.

Natalie Mering的第四張專輯，是一張氣勢(shì)磅礴且感人至深的頌歌，歌頌著在厄運(yùn)陰影下的生活與愛(ài)。迄今為止，這是她所有的作品中最雄心勃勃、風(fēng)格多樣的作品。

In the face of catastrophe, Natalie Mering always finds serenity. Throughout her fourth record as?Weyes Blood, tides are surging, trees are falling, the internet is ruining romance, capitalism is pushing workers to the brink of exhaustion, and reality is breaking her heart. In the wake of all this, Mering continues to search the stars for salvation. Belief—in oneself, in another, in myths—is?Titanic Rising’s only request. “I want to make sure everybody feels like they deserve to be alive,” she?told Pitchfork. “I hope you could have a smile during the apocalypse.” Building on the psychedelic chamber-folk of 2016’s?Front Row Seat to Earth, these convictions push the 30-year-old songwriter towards her most ambitious and complex work yet.

災(zāi)難來(lái)襲，Natalie Mering卻總是能夠找到庇護(hù)之處。在她以藝名Weyes Blood發(fā)行的第四張專輯中，潮水上漲，樹(shù)木倒下，網(wǎng)絡(luò)破壞了浪漫，資本主義將工人們推向了近乎精疲力竭的邊緣，而現(xiàn)實(shí)傷透了她的心。在這一切覺(jué)醒之前，Mering仍在堅(jiān)持不懈地尋找救贖之光。《Titanic Rising》中唯一的訴求就是相信自己，相信別人，相信神話。她在接受《Pitchfork》的采訪時(shí)說(shuō)到，“我想讓每個(gè)人都知道，他們都值得擁有生命，即使末日來(lái)臨，我希望他們?nèi)匀豢梢晕⑿σ詫?duì)?！边@些信念從2016年的專輯《Front Row Seat to Earth》開(kāi)始就已經(jīng)初露鋒芒，同時(shí)，這些信念給這位30歲的作曲家?guī)?lái)了她迄今為止最雄心勃勃的、風(fēng)格多樣的作品。

Titanic Rising?approaches these modern-day problems through a distinctly sentimental lens. Mering has?referred?to herself as a “nostalgic futurist,” and here she leans into that title by examining the strange ways technology has shaped modern romance through the earnest lyrics and golden, gigantic arrangements of 1970s pop songwriters. But unlike Joni Mitchell or the Carpenters, whose love affairs were clouded by plain old?anxiety?and?desperation, Mering’s love affairs are clouded by algorithms. As she seeks true love on the jaunty “Everyday,” Mering’s desire for companionship bursts forth like a geyser. When she bellows “I need a love every day” over a baroque clavinet, it’s with a herculean determination.

《Titanic Rising》以一種別具一格的視角來(lái)探討這些當(dāng)代的問(wèn)題。Mering稱自己是一個(gè)“懷舊的未來(lái)主義者”，她之所以這樣稱呼自己，是因?yàn)樗诎l(fā)掘科技影響現(xiàn)代浪漫的奇怪方式，通過(guò)重要歌詞、類似于70年代流行音樂(lè)創(chuàng)作人金碧輝煌、宏大的編曲體現(xiàn)出來(lái)。但不像Joni Mitchell和卡朋特樂(lè)隊(duì)，他們的風(fēng)流韻事被那些所謂的焦慮和絕望所籠罩，而Mering的愛(ài)情被算法所籠罩。當(dāng)她在歡快的“Everyday(每一天)”中尋找真愛(ài)時(shí)，Mering對(duì)伴侶的渴望像噴泉一樣噴涌而出。當(dāng)她伴隨著巴洛克風(fēng)格的輕手風(fēng)琴音調(diào)上高唱“I need a love every day（每天，我都需要被愛(ài)）”時(shí)，她有著無(wú)比堅(jiān)定的決心。

Even at her most optimistic, Mering grounds herself in reality. On the majestic opener “A Lot’s Gonna Change,” Mering yearns to return to the purity of childhood, a time when the world seemed to swell with wonder and possibility. But she cuts her fantasy short and admits that since progress is impossible to escape, why not focus on what matters right now? Later on “Mirror Forever,” she is her most blunt: “No one’s ever gonna give you a trophy/For all the pain and things you’ve been through/No one knows but you.” This advice comes off as almost gravely urgent and upholds?Titanic Rising’s acceptance of difficult truths.

甚至她在最激動(dòng)的時(shí)候，她仍然讓自己保持冷靜。在氣勢(shì)恢宏的開(kāi)場(chǎng)曲“A Lot 's Gonna Change（很多事情將會(huì)發(fā)生改變）”中，Mering渴望回歸童年的純真，那個(gè)時(shí)候，世界似乎充滿了各種各樣的奇跡與可能性。但是，她打斷了自己的幻想，她認(rèn)為，既然承認(rèn)進(jìn)步是不可能逃避的，為什么不把注意力集中于當(dāng)下呢?在之后的歌曲“Mirror Forever”中，她坦率地說(shuō)到:“No one’s ever gonna give you a trophy/For all the pain and things you’ve been through/No one knows but you（沒(méi)有人會(huì)給你一座獎(jiǎng)杯/盡管你經(jīng)歷了所有的痛苦/而這些，除了你，沒(méi)有人知道。）”這似乎聽(tīng)起來(lái)非常急迫，但是卻同時(shí)支持了《Titanic Rising》中接受困難的真理。

Midway through the album,?Titanic Rising?moves into the murky realm of the subconscious through its instrumental title track, like a sunbeam finding its way to the ocean floor. On the subsequent “Movies,” Mering sounds as if she is singing from the album cover’s sunken bedroom, her voice wobbly and distended. As phosphorescent synthesizers swirl around her, Mering ponders cinema’s emotional shaping of our collective psyche, ultimately finding acceptance in the fantasy. “Movies” might be a melodramatic outlier on the record, but the song exemplifies the way Mering considers the world: as a constant renegotiation of self and place. If the record’s first half was built on swooning dreams, the second half faces the world with a melancholic but hopeful heart.

在整張專輯中，《Titanic Rising》通過(guò)它的主打歌毫不費(fèi)力地進(jìn)入了潛意識(shí)中的黑暗領(lǐng)域，仿佛一束陽(yáng)光直射入海底一樣。在隨后的 “Movies”中，她的聲音就像從專輯封面凹陷的臥室里唱出來(lái)一樣，顫抖而發(fā)脹。當(dāng)那些磷光合成器在她周圍旋轉(zhuǎn)時(shí)，她若有所思地思考著那些虛構(gòu)的情節(jié)對(duì)我們心理情感的塑造，最終，她在幻想中尋找到了認(rèn)同感?！癕ovies”可能是這部唱片的一個(gè)局外人，但這首歌體現(xiàn)了Mering思考世界的方式:作為一個(gè)不斷自我協(xié)調(diào)的地方。如果說(shuō)這張唱片的前半部分是建立在令人神魂顛倒的幻想之上，那么下半部分則以一顆憂郁但充滿希望的心面對(duì)著世界。

The truth that lies beneath?Titanic Rising?is that love blossoms and love wilts. This law of nature is mirrored in the emotional arc introduced by “A Lot’s Gonna Change.” “Everyone’s broken now/And no one knows just how,” she murmurs on the monumental “Wild Time.” The songs are more stoic and elegant even when Mering sings of apocalyptic imagery like a “million people burnin’.”

《Titanic Rising》背后的真相是:愛(ài)之花怒放，同時(shí)，愛(ài)之花也隨之枯萎。這一自然法則反映在由“A Lot’s Gonna Change”所引出的情感弧中。她在不朽的“Wild Time”中低聲說(shuō)道：“Everyone’s broken now/And no one knows just how（現(xiàn)在每個(gè)人都崩潰了/卻沒(méi)人知道是怎么崩潰的，）”。這些歌曲更加堅(jiān)忍和優(yōu)雅，即使是在醞釀著唱出“million people burnin（數(shù)以萬(wàn)計(jì)的人正在燃燒）”這樣的末日意象時(shí)也是如此。

But Mering’s business is not of misery, but of faith. She suggests dystopian images, but insists that with action, beautiful results are possible.?Titanic Rising?comes full circle with the instrumental closer “Nearer to Thee,” which borrows the string arrangement from “A Lot’s Gonna Change.” The song’s title alludes to the hymn that the Titanic’s house band supposedly played as the ship sank. Here, as it was then, Weyes Blood can’t help but offer one last breath of hope as she gazes towards an uncertain future.

但是，Mering生來(lái)并不是為了受苦，而是為了信念。她提出反烏托邦的形象，但她堅(jiān)持認(rèn)為，只要有了行動(dòng)，善果是可能的。《Titanic Rising》以一曲“closer to you（離你更近）”為背景做了一個(gè)完整的循環(huán)。這首歌的名字暗指泰坦尼克號(hào)即將沉沒(méi)之時(shí)，船上的樂(lè)隊(duì)所演奏的優(yōu)美的樂(lè)章。在這里，就像那時(shí)一樣，當(dāng)她凝視著一個(gè)不確定的未來(lái)時(shí)，Weyes Blood情不自禁吐露著心底的希望。