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：Will Lin

校對(duì)：Joonly EC

排版：Ryan-Chopin

The second album from singer-songwriter Sophie Allison is piercing and unpredictable. In contrast to its bigger and brighter sound, the mood is grimmer, the emotional truths darker.

歌手兼創(chuàng)作人Sophie Allison發(fā)布個(gè)人第二張專(zhuān)輯。專(zhuān)輯人聲刺耳，出人意料。人聲越來(lái)越響，越來(lái)越亮，與之相比，專(zhuān)輯情感越來(lái)越喪，情緒越來(lái)越低落。

When Sophie Allison sings, she sounds wide-open and guarded, casual and intense, intimate and coolly removed. In her best songs as?Soccer Mommy, a piercing line —“I don’t wanna be your fucking dog,” for example, from “Your Dog”—wriggles away from direct interpretation as she delivers it, turning from declaration to hypothesis. Some of the magnetism of her pop-inflected indie rock comes from the winding shape of her melodies; in their unpredictable motion, they often resemble counterpoint written to a root melody that’s been erased. But a lot of her power derives from the immediacy of her voice—when she opens her mouth it’s as if a spotlight appears.

Sophie Allison一開(kāi)口，歌聲張弛有度，若即若離。她以Soccer Mommy發(fā)行的最佳歌曲中有一首歌，名叫“Your Dog（你的狗）”，其中有一句用刺耳人聲演唱的歌詞——“我他媽不想做你的狗”。歌詞直截了當(dāng)，從聲明轉(zhuǎn)變?yōu)榧僬f(shuō)。她的流行獨(dú)立搖滾很有魅力，一部分源于旋律迂回婉轉(zhuǎn)。旋律推進(jìn)出人意料，通常類(lèi)似于在已除去的根音上采用對(duì)位法。但是，她許多力量來(lái)源于自身嗓音具有的緊迫性。她一開(kāi)口，好像就會(huì)成為焦點(diǎn)。

The songwriting of her earliest direct-to-Bandcamp material was still hazy at the edges, but by her 2018 studio debut?Clean, a world-class indie rock singer-songwriter was standing in her place. It doesn’t always happen this way, but the acclaim followed her swiftly and her fanbase multiplied. She toured with?Vampire Weekend?and?Wilco, with?Liz Phair?and?Paramore?and?Kacey Musgraves. In another era,?Clean?might have landed her a lucrative major-label contract. In this era, she enters the low-level managerial world of a successful indie rock band, one in which you become your own manager and booker and agent, even if you also hire and pay those people. “I’m touring for a living and I run a small business, basically,” she told the?New York Times?last month. “It’s a very isolating existence.”

她早期將創(chuàng)作素材上傳到音樂(lè)營(yíng)（個(gè)極簡(jiǎn)主義模塊化布局，并允許音樂(lè)人充分按照自己的藝術(shù)品位和喜好進(jìn)行個(gè)性化和自定義網(wǎng)站），這些素材仍然鮮為人知。但是，2018年她發(fā)布了錄音室處女專(zhuān)《clean（干凈）》，之后這位獨(dú)立搖滾歌手兼創(chuàng)作人名聲大噪。這樣的成功并不常有，但對(duì)她而言，贊美隨之涌來(lái)，粉絲數(shù)量暴漲。她給一些歌手當(dāng)過(guò)巡演嘉賓，比如Vampire Weekend,Wilco,Liz Phair, Paramore以及Kacey Musgraves. 她生錯(cuò)了年代，否則《clean》可能早已讓她簽下大廠牌。在這個(gè)時(shí)代，即使是成功的獨(dú)立搖滾樂(lè)隊(duì)，也缺少高水準(zhǔn)的管理團(tuán)隊(duì)。雖然雇了這些人，還付他們薪水，但實(shí)際上自己也得身兼數(shù)職，比如經(jīng)紀(jì)人、演出負(fù)責(zé)人以及代理人。上個(gè)月，她接受《紐約時(shí)報(bào)》采訪(fǎng)，稱(chēng)“自己以巡演為生，基本上也算經(jīng)營(yíng)一個(gè)小型公司，孤立無(wú)援。”

color theory?exhibits much of the growth—and some of the growing pains—that usually attend massive transformations. She’s on Loma Vista now, home to fellow indie-label graduates like?St. Vincent?and?Andrew Bird. It might not be Caroline or DreamWorks in the ’90s, but Allison makes the most of her opportunity, and the songs feel like a response to an exponential leap in platform and possibility.

專(zhuān)輯《color theory（顏色理論）》展示了許多成長(zhǎng)，以及一些不斷增多的痛苦。這些通常需要巨大的轉(zhuǎn)變。她目前喜歡《Loma Vista》這張專(zhuān)輯，這張專(zhuān)輯讓人想到同是獨(dú)立廠牌的佼佼者St. Vincent和Andrew Bird。這可能不是上世紀(jì)九十年代的卡洛琳或夢(mèng)工廠，但Allison不放過(guò)一絲一毫的機(jī)會(huì)，歌曲仿佛回應(yīng)了平臺(tái)和可能性上的指數(shù)跨越。

As she did on?Clean, she worked with producer Gabe Wax, who has also helmed projects by?the War on Drugs,?Deerhunter, and other indie A-listers. Where?Clean?was warm and rough-hewn, the product of a careful microphone set-up and mutual trust,?color theory?feels dazzled with the endless creative possibilities of the studio. The drizzle of acoustic and electric guitars on “l(fā)ucy” feels fine-tuned to evoke memories of?The Bends-era?Radiohead. On the seven-minute-plus “yellow is the color of her eyes,” layers of Mellotron, Wurlitzer, and Prophet synthesizer (all played by Allison) lend the song the sleepy-eyed sheen of shoegaze. The drums on “circle the drain” are subtly sweetened by drum machine à la the work of ’00s pop hitmakers The Matrix, and its edges shimmer with drones and synths until it resembles one of the billowing soap bubbles in the video for?Sheryl Crow’s “Everyday Is a Winding Road.”

和制作《clean》一樣，Allison和制作人Gabe Wax合作，一些頂級(jí)獨(dú)立音樂(lè)人的作品也曾由這位制作人操刀，比如the War on Drugs 和 Deerhunter以及其他有名的獨(dú)立樂(lè)手。《clean》給人純粹的溫暖， 這源于歌曲用麥克風(fēng)錄音，歌手和制作人相互信任。《color theory》創(chuàng)意無(wú)限，令人嘆服。歌曲“l(fā)ucy（露西）”運(yùn)用不插電吉他和電吉他，恰好喚起聽(tīng)眾對(duì)Radiohead《The Bends（潛水?。返幕貞?。在長(zhǎng)達(dá)7分多鐘的歌曲“yellow is the color of her eyes（她眼中的顏色——黃）”，美樂(lè)特朗（商標(biāo)名，一種計(jì)算機(jī)編程序的電子琴）、沃立舍（美國(guó)鋼琴品牌）以及模擬合成器（這些都是Allison演奏的）賦予歌曲一種睡眼惺忪般的自賞派（80 年代末90 年代初的英倫獨(dú)立音樂(lè)的一個(gè)流派）風(fēng)格。歌曲“circle the drain（榨干）”中運(yùn)用的電子鼓使其更具吸引力，而這是仿照本世紀(jì)00年代的大熱電影《The Matrix（黑客帝國(guó)）》制作。歌曲尖銳的聲音與合成器交相輝映，直到其類(lèi)似Sheryl Crow “Everyday Is a Winding Road（每一天都是一條蜿蜒之路）”的錄影帶中往上飛的肥皂泡。?

In deliberate contrast to the bright sound, the mood is grimmer, the emotional truths darker. Allison has said the album depicts three states of being, represented by three colors: blue for depression, yellow for mental and physical illness, gray for mortality.?Clean?began with the urgency of youth, in the moment of a break-up; the first lyric of?color theory?opener “bloodstream” is wearier. Observing the “pale girl staring through the mirror,” she remembers the way blood used to flow “into my rosy cheeks” before she looks down: “Now a river runs red from my knuckles into the sink,” she sings, her voice flat and resigned. She is quick to qualify and complicate the alarming image (“Maybe it’s just a dream”) but the feeling resounds:?color theory?pitches headlong into the anomie of early-20s depression—the moment in adulthood when the bright colors of adolescence start to dim for the first time and it occurs to you, with dull alarm, that?the rest of it?might be like this.

情感越來(lái)越喪，情緒越來(lái)越低落，和明亮的嗓音形成鮮明的對(duì)比。Allison表示，專(zhuān)輯用三種顏色代表三種狀態(tài)：藍(lán)色是憂(yōu)郁，黃色是身心疾病，灰色是死亡?！禼lean》開(kāi)篇就讓我們感受到一個(gè)失戀男青年的瘋狂。相比之下，《color theory》第一首歌“bloodstream（血液）”的第一句歌詞更讓人厭倦。看著這個(gè)“蒼白的女孩照鏡子”，她記起自己的血液曾經(jīng)如何流入她“紅潤(rùn)臉頰”，然后她情緒變得低落。她唱道：“現(xiàn)在這股血流從我的指節(jié)開(kāi)始一點(diǎn)點(diǎn)讓我淪陷（歌詞源于網(wǎng)易云）”，嗓音單調(diào)。但很快，她緩和并復(fù)雜化令人擔(dān)心的映像（“也許這只是場(chǎng)夢(mèng)”），但情緒又向她襲來(lái)。《color theory》直指社會(huì)失范，而這種失范體現(xiàn)在20歲出頭的年輕人感到沮喪，這說(shuō)明青春靚麗的年輕人第一次感到暗淡，還擔(dān)心接下來(lái)的人生可能依舊如此。

As a lyricist, Allison keeps her footing in this more internal landscape. She has a skill for following winding syntax to a sharp point: “I am fake it till you make it in a can/And you have a calmness that I could never understand,” she sings on “Royal Screw Up,” a song that also includes the frank admission, “I am the problem for me/Now and always.” You can trace her admiration of?Taylor Swift?in how she follows a standard-issue pop-song metaphor until it yields a moment of truth: “I try to break your walls but all I ever end up breaking is your bones/And the bruises show/Standing in the living room talking as you’re staring at your phone/It’s a cold I’ve known,” she sings on “Nightswimming.” The paired couplets are neat as a folded napkin, and the alienation—who?hasn’t?felt dismissed by a brandished smartphone?—is palpable.

作為一名作詞人，Allison一直涉足內(nèi)心世界。她不拘泥句法，技術(shù)爐火純青。她在“Royal Screw Up”中唱道：“我會(huì)偽裝直到一切成真/而你總是有著一種我無(wú)法理解的平靜（歌詞源于網(wǎng)易云）”。這首歌也包含著自我坦白：“我就是個(gè)麻煩/一直如此”。你能發(fā)現(xiàn)她仰慕Taylor Swift，因?yàn)樗\(yùn)用了標(biāo)準(zhǔn)的流行樂(lè)隱喻，讓人感覺(jué)到片刻的真實(shí)。她在“Night swimming（夜泳）”中唱道：“想要擊下你的心墻/但卻破碎了你的骨頭/傷口浮現(xiàn)/我站在客廳/對(duì)你說(shuō)著話(huà)，你卻盯著手機(jī)/我知道我們?cè)诶鋺?zhàn)”。這些對(duì)句工整如折好的餐巾，表達(dá)的疏離感顯而易見(jiàn)。有誰(shuí)不會(huì)因?qū)Ψ侥檬謾C(jī)威脅而感到被拋棄呢？

If there is anything missing from?color theory, it’s a sense of intensity and surprise. Many of the songs chug along around the same midtempo, with a similar first-drum-lesson beat. Her choices are intentional; Allison has cited “bops” from her childhood like Natalie Imbruglia’s “Torn,” Sheryl Crow’s “If It Makes You Happy” and Avril Lavigne’s “Complicated” as inspiration, and she has borrowed some of these songs’ chunky simplicity for her arrangements. The varied strum patterns that gave?Clean’s songs their sinuous, lived-in feel have given way mostly to chugging down-stroked power chords, and the palette is bright, clean, and uncluttered. But she doesn’t tap into these anthems’ urge to shout from the rafters, even if what you’re shouting is that you’re desperate, rock-bottom, about to give up: The songs on?color theory?sometimes feels like a series of 8-point-font text messages projected onto highway billboards.

如果說(shuō)《color theory》缺點(diǎn)什么，那應(yīng)該是緊張感和新鮮感。大多數(shù)歌曲都是中速節(jié)奏，鼓的節(jié)奏也相似，好像初學(xué)者一樣。但Allison有意為之，她從幼年時(shí)代一些歌手采用的“博普爵士樂(lè)”中得到啟發(fā)，比如Natalie Imbruglia的“Torn（糾結(jié)）”，Sheryl Crow的“If It Makes You Happy（假如它使你快樂(lè)）”以及Avril Lavigne的“Complicated（超復(fù)雜）”，并且借鑒其中一部分歌曲簡(jiǎn)潔的特點(diǎn)為自己所用。不同的撥弦方法賦予《Clean》中歌曲靈動(dòng)之感，熟悉的感覺(jué)已然消失，取而代之的是向下?lián)軇?dòng)的強(qiáng)力和弦。但這聲音卻明亮干凈且簡(jiǎn)潔有力。她沒(méi)有把這些贊歌含有的欲望聲嘶力竭地表達(dá)出來(lái)，盡管你要表達(dá)自己很絕望，碰到低谷，想要放棄。《color theory》中的歌曲有時(shí)候就像高速公路廣告牌上用8號(hào)字體寫(xiě)成的一連串訊息。

On the penultimate song “stain,” she casts off most of the instruments and leans into the microphone again, just her fingers gripping a pick and a backing of tense silence. The music instantly becomes corporeal, urgent—she has yet to locate this power within the glossy peaks of new sound she has churned up. “Now I’m always stained, like the sheets in my parents’ house/Yeah I’m always stained/And it’s never coming out,” she sings, and as the song cuts out—neatly, at exactly three minutes, one of the album’s shortest—your nerves jangle with the humming of the strings, your gut churns in simpatico with Allison’s.

專(zhuān)輯倒數(shù)第二首歌“stain（污點(diǎn)）” 中，Allison只用了很少的樂(lè)器，再次使用麥克風(fēng)錄音，僅用撥片彈奏，伴奏給人緊張的寂靜之感。音樂(lè)突然變得有形，給人緊迫感，她還未將這一力量運(yùn)用在她攪動(dòng)的新聲中。她唱道：“現(xiàn)在我的心上有一灘污漬,如同我父母家里的床墊/是的，我被污染了/而我卻再也無(wú)法逃離（歌詞源于網(wǎng)易云）”。正如這首歌恰好3分鐘，是專(zhuān)輯中時(shí)長(zhǎng)最短的一首，琴弦的嗡嗡聲令你神經(jīng)緊張，正如Allison一樣。

Correction: An earlier version of this review mistakenly referenced New Pornographers and Barenaked Ladies as being signed to Loma Vista. They have since been removed.

更正:這篇樂(lè)評(píng)的早期版本錯(cuò)誤地將?New Pornographers和d Barenaked Ladies?引用為?Loma Vista的簽名。它們已被移除。