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

翻譯：Simon Joanne

校正：Ryan-Chopin

In 2013, Hozier broke through with “Take Me To Church,” a somber folk song that became an unlikely Top 40 smash, catapulting the twentysomething Irish singer-songwriter into momentary pop stardom. But after releasing his debut album in 2014, he’s waited five years before putting out a follow up.

早在2013年，那首帶有憂郁色彩的民謠——“Take Me To Church（帶我去你的教堂）”就沖入榜單前40名，并讓這位20出頭的愛爾蘭唱作者一舉躋身時下最受歡迎的音樂巨星之列。在2014年發(fā)布了自己的同名處女作專輯之后，Hozier花了整整五年的時間來醞釀自己的下一部作品。

Turns out, that was a wise move.?Wasteland, Baby!?is relatively free of the too-high expectations that tend to plague young artist’s anticipated second albums. In addition to the soul-searching title track, songs like “Nina Cried Power and “Shrike” show new depth. The former, an ode to musical truth-telling with a fitting appearance from Mavis Staples is a welcome pop-protest left-turn that finds Hozier conjuring the power of his record collection as a means of symbolic resistance. The latter, a Celtic-lilted torch-song, features his sharpest lyricism to date: “I couldn’t utter my love when it counted,” he sings, “Ah, but I’m singing like a bird ’bout it now.”

事實證明，Hozier這步棋下得非常高明。大眾對于新出道的藝人發(fā)布的第二部作品都會持非常高的期待，但相對來說，這些期待帶來的壓力卻并沒有對《Wasteland, Baby!》產(chǎn)生任何負面影響。除了在主題上挖掘內(nèi)心的專輯同名曲，像“Nina Cried Power”和“Shrike”這樣的曲目也具有不一樣的深度。前者（“Nina Cried Power”）是一首贊美敢于吐露真相的頌歌，在Mavis?Staples制造的精巧外飾之下有意識地做出與流行相悖的轉(zhuǎn)向，由此展現(xiàn)了Hozier能夠駕馭音樂并使其成為表達自己反抗的象征性工具，并且操作起來也越來越成熟。后者（“Shrike”）是一首凱爾特式歡快的歌曲，它標(biāo)志出了Hozier至今最奔放的激情——“當(dāng)我的愛真正顯得重要的時候，我卻不能表達出來，”他唱道，“但是我現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)能像一只小鳥一樣把愛大聲唱出來?！?/p>

And yet, Hozier still spends much of the album burdened, in one form or another, by the success of “Take Me To Church.” That song’s spectral presence can be found in moments like “Almost” and “To Noise Making (Sing),” songs that can feel like they’re merely piling on feel-good folksy handclaps and grandiose gospel choirs in the hopes of landing on a chill-coffeehouse Spotify playlist.

不過，Hozier的這張專輯還是在很大程度上沒有擺脫“Take Me To Church”帶來的影響。在“Almost”和“To Noise Making (Sing)”這些歌曲中，我們有時候還是能感覺到“Take Me To Church”幽靈般的存在，這些歌曲仍然只是在簡單地堆砌抓耳的民謠風(fēng)格擊掌鼓點和宏大的福音和音合唱，感覺就像是那些只追求能被加入到某間咖啡店的Spotify播放列表的歌曲罷了。

Nevertheless,?Wasteland, Baby!?has enough encouraging displays of maturation to feel like a transitional moment for Hozier. At its best, the album carves out a space for the singer to work out his creative tensions as he finds new ways to make his straight folk influences more accessible without losing anything along the way.

話雖如此，對于正處于轉(zhuǎn)型期的Hozier，《Wasteland, Baby!》仍然提供了令人欣慰的證據(jù)來證明他已足夠成熟。從積極的角度來看，這張專輯為歌手展現(xiàn)自己的才華與思想提供了足夠的空間，同時，Hozier也在不做出任何犧牲的情況下，不斷嘗試著新的方式使自己的民謠音樂風(fēng)格更加成熟。