搬運自：網易云音樂專欄【Music Online Zine Courier】（在原文基礎上添加了英語原文與排版調整）

翻譯：豆目豆科

The last Songs: Ohia album I heard was?Ghost Tropic. That was the perfect name for its haunted post-folk, what with the sharp guitar chords, the percussion rumbling like uncontrollable spirits and Jason Molina's disconsolate wail. But each of his works as Songs: Ohia is a different beast, taking shape around the group of musicians he's currently working with. So I was a bit hesitant when I heard about the new album, which was recorded in Philadelphia with Jim Krewson and Jennie Benford of Jim and Jennie and the Pinetops, amongst other musicians. I wanted more of the?Ghost Tropic?sound-- a fractured structure just this side of collapse-- but here they were recording songs live in one take, with no overdubs, and garnering comparisons to the warmth of the Muscle Shoals Studio recordings during the 1970s.

我上張聽過的Songs: Ohia專輯還是《Ghost Tropic》。對他幽靈般的后民謠而言，這無疑是一個完美的標題，專輯里充滿了尖銳的吉他和弦、仿佛是脫離掌控的怨魂咆哮一樣轟鳴的打擊樂，以及Jason Molina悲傷的哀號。但他以Songs: Ohia發(fā)行的每一部作品都有著截然不同的野性魅力，圍繞著他目前合作的音樂人群體而形成。也因此，當我聽說這張新專輯的時候，我有一絲猶豫，它是和Jim Krewson和Jennie Benford在費城錄制的，他們是來自樂隊Jim and Jennie and the Pinetops的音樂人。當然還有其他人也參與其中，但我期待的是更多類似《Ghost Tropic》的聲音——破碎的結構，一端逐漸崩壞——但最終呈現(xiàn)的結果，與70年代的Muscle Shoals Studio錄音不同，這里都是他們現(xiàn)場錄制的歌曲，只錄了一次，完全沒有任何一次多余的嘗試。

Within one listen,?Didn't It Rain?convinced me that it was worth paying attention to its own terms. Songs: Ohia's compositions have a strange way of warping time for the listener. How else could the opening title track slip by me after nearly eight minutes? It begins in a slow progression of acoustic chords, and almost immediately Molina is singing about the eye of the storm, and those caught under its downpour. The chorus wells up with trilling guitar notes and Jennie Benford providing backing vocals, and Molina warns, "If you think you got it/ They're gonna beat it out of you/ Through work and debt." Calling a recording "intimate" can be cliché, but I swear you can practically hear the floorboards creaking. The song swells and sighs for minutes like a vintage Neil Young ballad, until right near the end when Molina asks the question in the song title.

但只聽了一遍，《Didn't It Rain》就使我相信，關注它自身的特質是值得的。Songs: Ohia的作品有一種使聽眾時間感知錯亂的奇怪魔力。否則我怎么可能會在不經意之間，就聽完了長達8分鐘的開場曲？它以緩慢的原聲和弦開始，幾乎頃刻間，Molina的歌聲就立于暴風中心，同那些被傾盆大雨所困的苦難人一道歌唱。副歌部分伴隨著顫音吉他和Jennie Benford的和聲，Molina警示道：“If you think you got it/ They're gonna beat it out of you/ Through work and debt.”冠以“平易親民”的現(xiàn)場錄音，幾乎已經是陳詞濫調般的常規(guī)操作了，但我發(fā)誓你幾乎可以聽到舞臺地板的吱吱作響，這依舊令人心動。這首歌像Neil Young的經典民謠一樣在吸氣和嘆息間熬過了好幾分鐘，直至接近尾聲時，Molina才問出了標題中的疑問。

I thought that?Didn't It Rain?might be more light of heart, like some of the Palace records Songs: Ohia is often compared to. In the previous song, Molina asks the group audibly to bring it back for another chorus, and it doesn't detract from the music at all. But it seems his tropical depression has lingered, despite titles like "Steve Albini's Blues" and "Cross the Road, Molina." The former lopes along deliberately, the pace set by banjo-like plinks and made more tense by the relative silence that pervades. Molina, Benford and Krewson join together to sing, "See its sulfury shine/ See the big city moon/ 'Tween the radio tower/ 'Tween the big diesel rigs." Reviewers often mention Molina's blue-collar background, but I'm not going to try to prove anyone's cred. Someone (probably Krewson) howls the line "see the big city moon" again, and the last-dime desperation in his twangy voice is authenticity enough.

我想《Didn't It Rain》還是會更輕快一些，就像一些常被拿來同Songs: Ohia比較的Palace廠牌發(fā)行的唱片一樣。在先前的音樂中，Molina會用高亢地吶喊將一首歌引向另一首的高潮部分中，這絲毫不會影響音樂地呈現(xiàn)。不過，盡管有“Steve Albini's Blues”和“Cross the Road, Molina”，但他內心的熱帶低壓氣流似乎依舊揮之不去。前者慢悠悠地推進，鼓點是班卓琴似的叮咚聲，彌漫在整首歌中的寂靜使其氛圍愈加緊張。隨后Molina, Benford和Krewson三人一齊唱道：“See its sulfury shine/ See the big city moon/ 'Tween the radio tower/ 'Tween the big diesel rigs.”評論家經常提到Molina的藍領工人背景，但我不打算挖掘任何人的過去來驗證其可信與否。之后其中一人（可能是Krewson）再次呼喊著“See the big city moon”，他那尖利的聲音中透露出的最后一絲絕望已足以證明這一切是多么的真實。

There's a shared imagery that becomes evident, especially on "Ring the Bell" and "Cross the Road, Molina," two songs in the middle of the album that flow together as a conceptual piece. It's here that Molina might seem too far gone in gloom, as he begs, "Show us how bad we're outnumbered," but the compositions never reach the Gormenghastly nature of "apocalyptic folk" groups like Death in June. There's a bleak beauty in the arc of the amped electric strings, and when the Chicago moon "swings like a blade," Molina may even be painting himself as the?Andalusian dog. You can trace the lyrical themes: light, darkness, the moon, fire, Chicago. Those themes are evoked again on "Two Blue Lights," a brief blues piece about the light from a bus and the moon, about hell and your hometown. Is it the scraping sounds of the frets that make it so earthy and uplifting?

專輯有著明顯的共享意象，尤其體現(xiàn)在專輯中部的“Ring the Bell”和“Cross the Road, Molina”這兩首歌，它們作為一個整體概念一起流動。這里，Molina似乎消沉過了頭，他乞求道：“Show us how bad we're outnumbered”，他的作曲從未有過像如今這樣類似Death in June的“末日民謠”樂隊那種宗教頌歌式的狂熱。在放大的電弦弧光中閃爍著一種凄涼的美，當芝加哥的月亮“像彎刀一樣撼動”時，Molina甚至會把自己描繪成安達魯狗。譯者注釋：《一條安達魯狗》（法語：Un Chien Andalou），是一部法國16分鐘的無聲超現(xiàn)實主義短片。你可以捕捉到其中的抒情線索：光芒、黑暗、月亮、火焰、芝加哥。這些主題在“Two Blue Lights”中被再次喚起，這是一首簡短的憂郁歌曲，講述的是夜間來自公共汽車和月亮的光，那關于地獄和你的家鄉(xiāng)的往事。你會不禁疑惑：是惱人的刮擦聲讓它變得如此樸實而又令人振奮嗎?

I'll throw my cards down now: "Blue Factory Flame" is a classic. Drum-kit percussion enters for the first time, setting a steady 4/4 frame as Molina asks, "When I die, put my bones in an empty street/ Bring a Coleman lantern and a radio/ A Cleveland game and a fishing pole." The black-hearted procession continues as he describes ghostly iron ore ships coming home, and climaxes in the refrain "paralyzed by emptiness." It's as apt a summary of depression's effects as I've heard, and the electric guitar emits a stark, weathered sort of sadness.

我攤牌：“Blue Factory Flame”會是一首傳世經典。當Molina質問道：“When I die, put my bones in an empty street/ Bring a Coleman lantern and a radio/ A Cleveland game and a fishing pole.”時，鼓組第一次進場，將整首歌設定在一個穩(wěn)定的四四拍框架之中。他講述著幽靈般的鐵礦船返航、黑心商隊繼續(xù)前行，最后在“paralyzed by emptiness”中直逼頂峰。這是我所聽到對抑郁癥所帶來影響的最恰當的總結，電吉他中散發(fā)出一種生硬竣蕭、飽經風霜的悲傷。

Musically, "Blue Chicago Moon" evokes more of that aged Rust Belt atmosphere, but Molina admits that you're not helpless when you're hunted by the blues, and he calls out over and over for you to "try to beat it, try to beat it." From the first song, it seems that?Didn't It Rain?is intended as a bulwark against sorrow, and that commitment appears again on this last track. The compositions here are elemental, filled with flame as well as steel and stone, and they tie Molina's native Ohio together with his current home, Chicago. In the process of recording another incredible album, he's discovered that light is most visible when it's flickering alone in the dark.

在音樂上，“Blue Chicago Moon”喚起的那種陳舊銹帶氛圍愈加濃郁，但Molina會向你保證，當你被陰郁追殺時，你并非無依無靠，他會一次又一次地呼喚你“try to beat it, try to beat it.”從第一首歌開始，似乎《Didn't It Rain》就試圖作為對抗悲傷的堡壘，這一承諾在這最后一首歌中再次出現(xiàn)。專輯中的元素，充斥著烈焰、鋼鐵和巖石，它們將Molina的故鄉(xiāng)俄亥俄州同他如今的居所芝加哥聯(lián)系在一起。在錄制這又一張令人難以置信的專輯的過程中，Molina發(fā)覺，唯當光在黑暗中獨自閃爍時，它才能迎來它最耀眼的時刻。