搬運自：網(wǎng)易云音樂專欄【Music Online Zine Courier】（在原文基礎(chǔ)上添加了英語原文與排版調(diào)整）

翻譯：Beans_Beans

The London musician Westerman began his career with a few spare, wordy folk singles, the kind of material that sits quietly on a low-hanging branch of Nick Drake’s family tree. With a hand from friend and producer Bullion, he’s since added complications like ticking drum machines and bright, frisky piano. His dreamy new single “Confirmation” concerns itself with the unpredictability of the creative process, and Westerman’s shifting sound and lyrics evoke the drudgery of churning out work in unexpected ways. He wastes hours staring into space and can’t figure out why concepts only spring into frame when he stops thinking entirely. He can be self-critical, too: “Scrabble up the walls/Good job, pinhead, so happy you were born.”

這位來自倫敦的音樂家 Westerman 以寥寥幾首字斟句酌的民謠單曲為他的職業(yè)生涯拉開了帷幕，而這些素材均取自他只身一人聆聽 Nick Drake 時所微微觸及的靈感。在朋友和制作人 Bullion 的幫助下，他在后來的作品中增添了些許復(fù)雜的東西，如滴答作響的鼓還有明亮、活潑的鋼琴。而他夢幻般的新單曲 “Confirmation” 則著重表現(xiàn)了創(chuàng)作過程中的種種未知，Westerman 富于變化的聲音和歌詞以意想不到的方式喚起了音樂創(chuàng)作歷程之中的艱辛。他耗費數(shù)個小時靜坐在房間之中，疑惑于為何僅有在他完全停止思考的時候才會有靈感涌現(xiàn)，他甚至也在自我嘲諷 “Scrabble up the walls/Good job, pinhead, so happy you were born”。

The arrangement mirrors this theme by mutating as if Westerman is changing his mind in real time. Unorthodox chord changes spring like traps, forcing you to reestablish your footing with each new passage; muted strumming is broken up by clean, silvery sprays of guitar; the second verse melts before it’s finished, overtaken by starry-eyed piano and glittering synth washes. Even with all of these moving parts at work, “Confirmation” never feels busy or chaotic. You spend its final minute appreciating the song’s hook and the elegant, airy tapestry that’s been built around it. It feels like an endpoint, if only for now: it captures a promising writer who’s learned how to take good ideas and warp them into stranger, more sublime shapes.

編曲中便反映了這一主題，它的富于變化正映射了 Westerman 實時涌現(xiàn)的靈感。非正統(tǒng)的和弦走向像連環(huán)陷阱一樣接連涌現(xiàn)，迫使你需在每一個新段落重新“站穩(wěn)腳跟”；低沉的弦樂被干凈、銀白色的吉他聲浪沖破；隨機的段落在收尾之前便已融化，被星光絢爛的鋼琴和明亮閃爍的合成器洗刷接替。即使所有這些活躍的部分一齊發(fā)聲，“Confirmation” 也從未使人聽感忙碌或深陷混亂之中。你將在最后一分鐘內(nèi)欣賞到這首曲子的高亮一筆以及圍繞它所編織而成的高雅、輕盈的綾羅綢緞。它想必已達成了極致，哪怕僅是當(dāng)前：通過它，我們捕捉到了一個前程似錦的作家，他早已能熟練運用他的那些奇思妙想，并將其鑄成更瑰怪，崇高的模樣。