搬運自：微信公眾號【評論搬一堆】（在原文基礎上添加了英語原文與排版調(diào)整）?

翻譯：Peter D

審譯：Lynn Liu

排版：SpencerC

The second landmark album this year from Big Thief is raw, tactile, and essential. The intimate songs zoom in on a band that feels, at this moment, totally invincible.

Big Thief今年的第二張里程碑式的專輯新鮮出爐，它生動可觸且精煉出彩。此時，這些溫馨的歌曲把我們的視線猛地拉近到這支已經(jīng)無與倫比的樂隊。

Coming from a band who, just five months ago, materialized somewhere deep in a forest with a?mystical set of songswrapped in a vast, alien cosmos—a band who, in order to summon the perfect squall of noise,?claimed?to have suspended an electric guitar from the ceiling of a barn and batted it around like a pi?ata in a circle of amplifiers—Two Hands?is jarringly earthbound. For their latest album, the Brooklyn quartet?Big Thief?invites you to join them live and unadorned in the studio for the span of 10 songs. “Hand me that cable/Plug into anything,”?Adrianne Lenker?sings, moments after issuing a more basic instruction: “Cry with me/Cry with me.”

5個月前，這個樂隊用一組仿佛漫游在無垠又陌生的宇宙之中、充滿神秘感的歌曲把密林深處具象化；他們試圖召出最完美的噪音，聲稱曾把電吉他吊在谷倉頂上然后在一圈放大器中像是戳圣誕爆竹（譯者注：pi?ata，一種裝著禮品的彩色紙包，大家在游戲中用棍子戳破）似的敲擊、彈奏；對于這樣一個樂隊，《Two Hands》可以說是驚人的接地氣了。在Big Thief的最新專輯中，這支來自布魯克林的四人樂隊邀請你親自加入到他們簡單的錄音室中，共度這10首歌的時光?！癏and me that cable/Plug into anything（把電線遞給我/隨便插到什么上去），”Adrianne Lenker唱到，片刻之前她則給出了一個更簡單的吩咐：“Cry with me/Cry with me（和我一起哭吧/和我一起哭）。”

Nearly every song overflows with tears and blood, bared teeth and broken tongues; living, killing, dying. There are few overdubs, and sometimes you hear the band members instructing each other when to step back or take a solo, like they’re just rehearsing for the actual performance. It makes for a specific kind of rock record: an attempt to capture a band’s imperfect, raw essence, to show what happens when they simply count to four and take off. The approach is best known for accentuating a tough, ragged cohesion, like?Neil Youngrecords in the ’70s, but this record goes somewhere different. The more Big Thief zoom in, the more magical they sound.

幾乎每首歌中都充滿了血與淚、裸露的牙齒和破碎的舌頭；生活，殺戮，死亡。其中有幾支疊錄片段，有時你還能聽見樂隊成員們指示對方什么時候該往后站一點或是開始獨奏，就好像他們是在為真正的演出而彩排。這促成了一種特定的搖滾專輯：試圖捕捉樂隊的不完美與最原始的本質(zhì)，展示他們簡簡單單數(shù)到四然后開始演奏的時候到底是什么樣子。這樣的方式最為人所熟知的目的便是為了強調(diào)一種堅韌又粗糲的凝聚力，比如Neil Young在70年代的那些專輯，但是這張專輯在某些方面又是與眾不同的。越貼近Big Thief，他們聽上去就更加充滿魔力。

It’s a trick that these musicians have spent their careers perfecting. Since their 2016 debut,?Masterpiece, each successive album has felt like a breakthrough geared for larger spaces. But their own interpersonal dynamic has followed an inverse trajectory. “At this point we’re basically touching each other,” guitarist?Buck Meekrecently?observed?about their magnetic live shows, a connection made literal on the new album cover. After the spacious odes to the natural world on?U.F.O.F,?Two Hands?is a record defined by these collisions—a reminder that intimacy isn’t just about the comfort we bring to each other but also the proximity to our sickness and pain, blood and guts.

這些音樂家們在職業(yè)生涯中不斷地進化、完善是有訣竅的。從他們2016年的首張專輯《Masterpiece》開始，接下來每張專輯都像是瞄準了更廣闊空間的突破。但他們之間的人際關系卻遵循了一條完全相反的路線?！暗浆F(xiàn)在這時候我們基本上就是在互相撫摸，”吉他手Buck Meek最近這樣評論他們那極富吸引力的現(xiàn)場演出，這也正是新專輯的封面所表現(xiàn)出的那份聯(lián)系?！禪.F.O.F》那對自然的廣闊頌歌之后，新專輯《Two Hands》則是一張由這些沖突和碰撞所定義的專輯——它提醒著我們：親密不僅僅是我們帶給對方的舒適感，也是和我們的厭惡、痛苦、鮮血與內(nèi)臟的緊密接觸。

The record proceeds along a bell-curve, with the heavier moments at the center reverberating through the quieter points on either end. The focus is on the patient interplay between Lenker’s guitar—rhythmic and physical, like a slot machine with infinite outcomes—and James Krivchenia’s drumming, as patient and instinctive as it’s ever sounded. The accompaniment from Meek and bassist Max Oleartchik, who plays a few solos in “Those Girls,” is more understated but just as crucial. In sparer, creeping moments like “The Toy” and “Cut My Hair,” you can sense the band listening to each other, responding with reassuring hums and nods. And when they do cut loose, you feel the thrashing.

專輯沿著一條鐘形曲線展開，中間部分最沉重的時刻在兩端更安靜的片段間不斷震蕩回響。核心就在于Lenker充滿律動與生命力、像是一臺有著無窮無盡效果的音效販賣機的吉他聲，和James Krivchenia聽上去無比耐心又隨性的架子鼓演奏之間那悠長的相互作用。伴奏來自Meek和貝斯手Max Oleartchik（他在“Those Girls”中有幾段獨奏），他們的演奏似乎更加輕描淡寫，但其實同樣十分重要。在像“The Toy”和“Cut My Hair”這樣更空闊舒緩的歌曲中，你似乎能感覺到樂隊成員之間在認真地相互傾聽，用叫人放心的哼哼和點頭來相呼應答。而當他們一下切斷聯(lián)系時，你就會有那種“一切都結束了”的感覺。

Variations on the word “crying” appear in half these songs, and each time Lenker sings it, she tells a different story. Occasionally her lonesome, quivering voice feels like an outsider descendent of country-folk singers like Kath Bloom or Iris DeMent, particularly in “Replaced,” a co-write with Meek. Other times, she sounds like someone clawing at her own skin, trying to escape. In “Forgotten Eyes,” a heartland rocker whose lyrics might be about homelessness, she trembles uneasily toward the final chorus, holding out the?“ng”?of “tongue” until it makes a phlegmy, growling noise in the back of her throat. Big Thief were built for moments like these, where sound merges with meaning, where the floating voice in your headphones finds its body.

代表著不同意思的“crying”一詞出現(xiàn)在了一半的歌曲中，每次Lenker唱這個詞，都在講述一個完全不同的故事。有時她那孤寂又輕輕顫動的嗓音聽上去簡直就像Kath Bloom或是Iris DeMent這樣的鄉(xiāng)村民謠歌手的后代，這一點在和Meek共同創(chuàng)作的“Replaced”一曲中表現(xiàn)得格外突出。其余的時候，她聽上去仿佛有人在撕扯著她的皮膚想要逃走。在“Forgotten Eyes”這首歌詞也許是關于無家可歸的heartland rock風格的歌曲中，她非常不協(xié)調(diào)地顫抖著唱著最后一段副歌，把“tongue”中的“ng”拖得很長很長，直到似乎都已經(jīng)有痰在她的喉嚨深處隆隆作響。Big Thief正是為了這樣的精彩時刻而存在，聲音與意境相融，耳機中游離的歌聲也找到其安身之處。

As a lyricist, Lenker has become newly adept at telling stories through her absences. She’s written songs in the past that dazzle with poetry (“Mary”) and others that are memoiristic in their precision (“Mythological Beauty”), but these are pared down to just the most crucial bits of dialogue and wisdom. “Everybody needs a home and deserves protection,” she sings in “Forgotten Eyes,” her voice breaking at the word “needs.” “Talk to the boy in me/He’s there,” she begs in the closing “Cut My Hair” as the music cuts out from underneath her. Best of all is “Not,” a fiery exorcism that merges some of her most explosive imagery with a climactic guitar solo; the desperation in her playing feels like a string of cries interrupted by shallow, gasping breaths.

作為作詞人，Lenker在她消失在大家視野里的這段時間里變得越來越擅長講述故事了。過去，她寫過如詩歌般讓人驚嘆的歌曲（“Mary”），還有其他像回憶錄般精準的歌曲（“Mythological Beauty”），但現(xiàn)在的這些歌曲都被削減到了最關鍵的幾句對話和哲理?！癊verybody needs a home and deserves protection（每個人都需要家，每個人都需要被保護），”她在“Forgotten Eyes”中唱著，唱到“needs”這個詞時有些破音?！癟alk to the boy in me/He’s there（去跟我身體里的那個男孩說吧/他就在那兒），”結尾曲“Cut My Hair”中她如此乞求著，音樂也仿佛從她的體內(nèi)戛然而止。其中最棒的一首就是“Not”，這首像火焰般燃燒著的“咒語”把她所描繪的最具爆炸性的畫面和和高潮迭起的吉他獨奏完美融合；她的表演中顯露的絕望就像是一連串被細微而急促的喘息而打斷的尖叫。

“Not” sits at the heart of the record with “Shoulders,” a stunner that’s been in the band’s live repertoire for years. Like a dark analog to Bruce Springsteen’s “The Promised Land” or the Mountain Goats’ “This Year,” it gains power from its folk simplicity: a plaintive melody and a chorus that snowballs with a momentum that seems physical—part promise, part prayer. Lenker, who once noted that she is often both the?attacker and prey?in her own songwriting, finds its gospel not by rising above her circumstances but through succumbing to her complicity. “The blood of the man who’s killing our mother with his hands is in me,” she sings. “It’s in me/In my veins.” Her voice sounds genuinely desperate, anguished, like she would rid herself of it if she could.

The version of “Shoulders” on?Two Hands?is the definitive take, though you can see its spirit in every live performance. During one?particularly great video?from Philadelphia’s Johnny Brenda’s in 2017, Lenker’s guitar cuts out during the first chorus. She takes it off and, for the rest of the song, is just a singer: pulling the microphone from the stand, closing her eyes, and doubling over as if in pain to deliver the second verse. Instead of picking up her guitar part, Lenker’s bandmates only highlight her absence, drawing your attention to the new void at the song’s core. By the end, all that’s left is Krivchenia’s steady drumbeat and Lenker front and center, sort of jogging in place, as everyone in the room holds their breath. It’s a random technical issue but it’s also a chance for Big Thief to pose their favorite kinds of challenges. How much can we strip away without losing our essence? What happens when our most basic modes of expression fail us? How will we carry on together? On?Two Hands, they are unstoppable.

與“Not”一樣居于專輯核心地位的還有“Shoulders”這首幾年來一直存在于樂隊的現(xiàn)場表演曲目中的絕妙作品。它就像是對Bruce Springsteen的“The Promised Land”或是The Mountain Goats的“This Year”的暗暗模仿，從民謠的樸素中汲取了源源不斷的力量：悲拗的旋律，帶著真實物體一般的勢頭愈發(fā)激烈的副歌——既是承諾，又是祈禱。Lenker曾經(jīng)提到過，在自己的創(chuàng)作中，她既是獵手，又是獵物；她找到自己的信條的方式不是從環(huán)境中脫身開來，而是屈服于種種的牽絆?！癟he blood of the man who’s killing our mother with his hands is in me（親手殺死我們的母親的那個男人的血就在我的體內(nèi)），”她這樣唱道?！癐t’s in me/In my veins.（就在我的體內(nèi)/流淌在我的血管里）。”她的聲音聽上去真真切切，充滿了極度的絕望與痛苦，仿佛如果她可以，她就會親手把自己從這世上抹去。

《Two Hands》專輯中的“Shoulders”絕對是最佳的版本，雖然說他們的每場現(xiàn)場演出你都能體味到這首歌的精髓。有一段格外精彩的視頻在2017年錄制于費城的Johnny Brenda’s酒吧，Lenker的吉他在第一段副歌時沒有聲音了。她取下了吉他，余下的時間里僅僅是作為一個歌手：她把麥克風從支架上取下，閉上了眼睛，弓起身子，仿佛正承受著巨大的痛苦，繼續(xù)演唱著第二段主歌。Lenker的同伴們也并沒有去填補她的吉他片段，反而強烈地突出了她的吉他的缺席，把你的注意力吸引到歌曲核心中這段新的空白。到結束時，剩下的就只有Krivchenia堅定不斷的鼓聲，Lenker站在最中間，好像在舞臺上閑逛，房間中剩下的人則都屏住了呼吸。這是偶發(fā)的技術性事故，但卻也是Big Thief展示他們最喜愛的挑戰(zhàn)的機會。我們能夠在不丟棄本質(zhì)的情況下剝?nèi)ザ嗌贃|西呢？如果我們最基本的表達模式都出了問題會發(fā)生什么呢？我們該怎么一起繼續(xù)走下去？在《Two Hands》中，他們是不可阻擋的。