搬運(yùn)自：網(wǎng)易云音樂專欄【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：Beans_Beans??

Dan Bejar帶著一張出色的、可接受度極高的專輯回歸，它汲取了20世紀(jì)80年代早期的繁茂內(nèi)核，同時(shí)也并未忽視詞作的重要性。

Every era has a sound. When considering this, it can be easy to forget that the sound developed as a way to express something. Music heard as kitsch years later was once put forth with complete sincerity. I mention this in connection with?Kaputt, the new record from Dan Bejar's Destroyer, because the first thing that strikes you about the album is its unusual sound, one for which we've all developed a cluster of associations. The production and arrangements evoke a narrow window of time-- sometime between, say, 1977 and 1984, or between Chuck Mangione's?"Feels So Good"?and Sade's?Diamond Life?with stops along the way for Roxy Music's?Avalon?and Steely Dan's?Gaucho. It slides between soft rock, smooth jazz, and new romantic pop. The bass is fretless; the synths have the blocky contrast of a?Nagel painting; there are heavily reverbed trumpets and saxophones that almost serve as a Greek chorus, trilling away at the end of every line to enforce the beautiful plasticity of these songs. For Destroyer, this sound is new, and it's there for a reason.

每個(gè)時(shí)代又有著一個(gè)標(biāo)志性聲音。當(dāng)考慮到這一點(diǎn)，人們便會(huì)很容易忽視聲音是作為一種表達(dá)方式發(fā)展而來的。多年后被世人認(rèn)為是庸俗的音樂，在過去也是被完全真誠(chéng)地創(chuàng)作而出的。我之所以提到這一點(diǎn)與Destroyer的全新專輯《Kaputt》有關(guān)，正是因?yàn)檫@張專輯給你的第一印象便是她非同尋常的聲音，引發(fā)我們對(duì)它產(chǎn)生的一系列聯(lián)想。它的排篇布局、它的制作喚起了一個(gè)時(shí)間狹縫——在1977年和1984年之間、或是說在Chuck Mangione的《Feels So Good》和Sade的《Diamond Life》之間，沿途我們還會(huì)領(lǐng)略到Roxy Music的《Avalon》和Steely Dan的《Gaucho》。它滑行穿梭在軟式搖滾、抒情爵士和新浪漫主義流行間。獨(dú)特的無品貝司；Nage畫作般塊狀的合成器；還有重度混響下的小號(hào)和薩克斯，像是來自古希臘的唱詩(shī)團(tuán)，它們?cè)诿恳辉?shī)節(jié)的結(jié)尾處顫動(dòng)，使這些美妙曲目的可塑性愈發(fā)強(qiáng)烈。對(duì)Destroyer來說，這種聲音是全新的，而它的存在意義也有跡可循。

The sound casts Bejar's songs in a very particular light, and reinforces the feeling of the singer as persona. Bejar has always come across this way to varying degrees, sure, and his albums all have their own unique feel-- the rootsy art-pop of?Destroyer's Rubies, the MIDI experiments of?Your Blues, and so on. But here the persona seems even more sharply defined. Singing these songs, Bejar comes over as the wizened ex-playboy; he's indulged every vice, come through the other side, and now looks on amused. The?cover of Leonard Cohen's?Death of a Ladies' Man, a record that seems to serve as a spiritual (though not sonic) father to this one, shows this figure in its quintessential form. On that sleeve, we see a man in sharp but slightly disheveled dress, a cigarette dangling from a couple of fingers; beautiful people are seated at the nightclub table, ready for another night of glamor and pleasure.

這種聲音使Bejar的歌曲好似沐浴在尤為特殊的舞臺(tái)光線中，并加強(qiáng)了歌手作為主角在其中演繹的感覺。Bejar總是在不同程度上以這種方式出現(xiàn)，當(dāng)然，他的專輯都有著自己的獨(dú)特感覺——《Destroyer's Rubies》中的根源藝術(shù)流行元素，《Your Blues》的MIDI實(shí)驗(yàn)，等等。但在這里，他所演繹的角色似乎愈加明確了。在演唱這些歌曲時(shí)，Bejar就像一個(gè)老練卻已“英雄遲暮”的花花公子；他放縱了他的所有惡習(xí)，走上了另一條路，如今來看顯得很是有趣。從Leonard Cohen《Death of a Ladies' Man》的封面來看，這張唱片似乎是《Kaputt》的精神（盡管并非音樂）之父——用它經(jīng)典的方式再現(xiàn)了這一人物。在這張唱片的封套上，我們可以看到一個(gè)身著艷麗但面色略顯凌亂的男人，手指間吊著根香煙；美麗的人們坐在夜總會(huì)的桌子旁，準(zhǔn)備迎接另一個(gè)迷人的夜晚和無盡的歡樂。

Leonard Cohen in that image has a sense of swagger, and you want to pull up a chair, have a drink, and hear him hold forth on the topic of his choice. The figure inside the songs of?Kaputt?understands the allure of this life while understanding equally its futility. On early listens, a couple of lines from the?title track?jump out and seem to serve as a thesis for the record as a whole. "Wasting your days chasing some girls, alright/ Chasing cocaine through the backrooms of the world all night," Bejar sings, as horns twist around in a bath of reverb. He sounds bemused, but not necessarily judgmental, holding two feelings in mind at once: our reflex to indulge ourselves, and the knowledge that it's killing us.

Leonard Cohen在這一形象的演繹中頗具豪邁之感，你會(huì)想拉過一把椅子、小酌幾杯、聽他聊著自己擅長(zhǎng)的話題，侃侃而談。而《Kaputt》曲子中描繪的人承納這種紙醉金迷生活誘惑的同時(shí)，也深知著蘊(yùn)含其中的虛無。早先聽到這張專輯時(shí)，主打歌中的幾句詞總是脫口而出，似乎奠定整張唱片的論調(diào)。“Wasting your days chasing some girls, alright/ Chasing cocaine through the backrooms of the world all night”Bejar忘情地唱道，號(hào)角在混響地池塘中穿梭起舞。他挺起來很是困惑，但并非主觀臆斷，我們也常常陷入兩種感覺的閾限空間：我們放縱著自己的條件反射，也深知這會(huì)引我們進(jìn)入深淵。

But this happens on just one level, which is what makes?Kaputt?so fantastic. It goes as deep as you want to go. People can miss that Dan Bejar is funny as hell-- he seeds his music with lyrical and musical in-jokes, and everyone has their own favorite lines to pluck out of his songs and admire for their concise wit. He likes surprises-- few lyric sheets have as many exclamation points. But the essential quality of all his records is complexity. They are doing a lot of things at once.?Kaputt?feels rich.

僅僅在這一個(gè)層面上，就已發(fā)掘《Kaputt》的神奇之處，同時(shí)你想多深入便能再深入下去。人們可能會(huì)忽視Dan Bejar的幽默感——他在他的音樂中夾雜了許多有關(guān)情感和音樂方面的笑話，每個(gè)人都能找到自己中意的詞句，從中摘出，欣賞其簡(jiǎn)潔的智慧；他同樣也喜歡驚喜——很少會(huì)有歌詞有這么多的感嘆號(hào)。但他們所有的唱片究其至深內(nèi)核總是復(fù)雜的，他們總是同時(shí)在做好多事，令《Kaputt》聽感極為富饒。

For one, there is the surface beauty of the sound. Some less inclined to the pleasures of the music from the aforementioned era might have an initial reaction to its essential corniness, but once you've tuned in, it sounds beautiful. The songs seem delicate and glassy and shimmering, and Bejar has toned down his quirky voice and sounds relaxed and focused. So it's easy to enjoy bumping the wet, jazzy pop of "Chinatown", which suggests the rainy streets of an old city and new dramas unfolding around every corner. Or wallow in the simple and elegant hook of "Blue Eyes", the way Bejar voice works next to Vancouver singer Sibel Thrasher, a regular vocal presence on?Kaputt?who sort of serves as the?Nicolette Larson?to Bejar's?Neil Young. But "Blue Eyes" also has sly lyrical references ("your first love's new order," "Mother Nature's Son") and funny put-downs ("I sent a message in a bottle to the press/ It said, 'Don't be ashamed or disgusted with yourselves'"). More than any other Destroyer record, you can just throw this on and it sounds good, and plenty will do well stopping there. But for those so inclined, there's more to explore.

首先是聲音的表象之美，對(duì)于一些不太喜歡上述時(shí)代音樂樂趣的人而言，初聽時(shí)會(huì)對(duì)其內(nèi)核里附有的粗糙質(zhì)感有“不良反應(yīng)”，但一旦你調(diào)整好了，它便會(huì)愈發(fā)美妙。這些歌曲聽起來會(huì)有晶瑩的玻璃質(zhì)感、散發(fā)著獨(dú)有的光澤，Bejar已慢慢淡化他古怪的聲音，能讓人更能沉浸其中、放松專注地享受。也因而，我們很容享受到“Chinatown”這一蒙著一層水汽的爵士流行樂，講述著一個(gè)在古老城鎮(zhèn)雨天街道上、角落里發(fā)生的故事；或是沉浸在“Blue Eyes”簡(jiǎn)單而優(yōu)雅的Hook中，Bejar與溫哥華歌唱家Sibel Thrasher（《Kaputt》中的又一常規(guī)主唱）常常相伴配合彼此，像是Bejar的Nicolette Larson（Neil Young的伴唱）。同時(shí)“Blue Eyes”中也有著一些委婉的抒情印證（“your first love's new order”，“Mother Nature's Son”）以及有趣的貶低（“I sent a message in a bottle to the press/ It said, 'Don't be ashamed or disgusted with yourselves'”）。比起先前的Destroyer的任何一張唱片，你可以毫不猶豫將它放在第一的寶座之上，它的聽感絕佳，相信有很多人會(huì)忍不住為它停下腳步，同時(shí)對(duì)于這些愿意為之駐足的人而言，這張唱片還有著更多值得他們探索的東西。

So the lite-jazz style can seem a little funny, but it can also be sad and sexy and joyous. And the writing is dense with references-- to other songs on the album, songs by other bands, to the music business, art outside the sphere of music. "Suicide Demo for Kara Walker" is the most striking example. It's a collaboration with the?artist Kara Walker, whose work, among other things, probes the racial history of America. Bejar adapted the words she provided for him on cue cards, and the result is fragmented and dream-like, taking the Destroyer project to a new place. "Wise, old, black and dead in the snow: My Southern sister..." isn't the sort of thing we've heard from him before. An early demo of the song reminded Bejar of the band Suicide,?hence the title. That's how things work in his world. Laughs are mixed with grim insights.

輕爵士樂的風(fēng)格聽起來有點(diǎn)滑稽，但它也可以是悲痛、性感和愉悅的。在這張專輯的詞作中充滿了參照物——專輯中的其他歌曲、其他樂隊(duì)的歌曲、整個(gè)音樂行業(yè)、甚至音樂領(lǐng)域以外的藝術(shù)?！癝uicide Demo for Kara Walker”便是其中最引人注目的例子，這是與藝術(shù)家Kara Walker的合作曲目（她的作品絕大多數(shù)探討了歷史上美國(guó)的種族問題）。Dejar改編了她在提示卡上為他提供的詞句，其結(jié)果便是支離破碎和像夢(mèng)一樣的一切，把Destroyer這一項(xiàng)目引領(lǐng)到一個(gè)全新的領(lǐng)域。“Wise, old, black and dead in the snow: My Southern sister...”這已然不再是我們以前從他那里聽到的那種東西。這首歌的一個(gè)早期小樣讓Bejar會(huì)想起Suicide，所以也才有了如今這個(gè)標(biāo)題。在他的世界里事情就是這樣的，笑聲中也會(huì)夾雜著嚴(yán)肅的見解。

Two tracks stick out a bit here. The astonishing?"Bay of Pigs", released as a single in 2009, concludes the CD version of this album, and it's the one song that feels out of place. It's longer, proggy, uses different textures, and ultimately seems to be here because it's an amazing song and as many people as possible need to hear it. Fair enough. And the vinyl version of?Kaputt?also has a side-long, 20-minute ambient track with just a bit of voice called "The Laziest River", which is enjoyable and immersive but not essential. Both indulgences are easily forgivable.

專輯有兩首曲目意外地有些突出。令人驚異的“Bay of Pigs”，在2009年時(shí)作為單曲發(fā)行，作為尾聲結(jié)束這張專輯，它是唯一一首令人感到不適的歌曲。它更悠長(zhǎng)，更前衛(wèi)，運(yùn)用了許多不同紋理的音色，最終近乎成為一首了不起的歌，因而公平起見，也希望盡可能多的人聽到它。而在《Kaputt》黑膠版中還有一首加曲，長(zhǎng)達(dá)20分鐘的氛圍樂，音量極低，標(biāo)題是“The Laziest River”，它令人愉快和不禁會(huì)沉浸其中，但也并非必要——這兩種放縱都很容易被世人承納。

Bands can be brands or concepts that can be summed up in a line or two-- which is the power of brands. It's a good thing in proper doses. But Bejar's essential complexity ultimately feels human. It seems absurd to look for genuine wisdom in music in 2011, when we're constantly gorging ourselves on the all-you-can-eat buffet of post-modern web culture. But?Kaputt?feels wise. Like a mirror that actually points back at something better. Something you can jam and let wash over you, but also something you can use. It feels funny, tragic, artful, and ultimately true.

樂隊(duì)可以是用一兩句話概括出來的品牌或概念——這就是樂隊(duì)的力量，在適當(dāng)使用下，這是一件好事。但Bejar內(nèi)核中的復(fù)雜性最終使這一品牌讓人體悟到人性。在2011年，當(dāng)我們不斷地在后現(xiàn)代網(wǎng)絡(luò)文化的自助餐中大快朵頤時(shí)，能在音樂中尋找真正的智慧似乎已經(jīng)變得荒謬至極。但《Kaputt》作為例外問世了，它極富智慧，像是一面鏡子，映射了世間許多更美好的東西。有些東西你可能會(huì)被它絆倒，磨練你，但也有些東西你大可以學(xué)會(huì)運(yùn)用它?！禟aputt》便是這樣的存在，趣味橫生，不乏悲劇色彩，頗具藝術(shù)性，而且最終也是落在實(shí)處、真實(shí)可感的。