【搬运】【译】Pitchfork评Years & Years专辑 2018年专辑《Palo Santo》

搬运自：微信公众号【评论搬一堆】（在原文基础上添加了英语原文与排版调整）

翻译：Nina Wang

校正：Ryan-Chopin

The British trio moves beyond the tropical-house Top 40 of their debut on a theatrical, diverse sophomore album that finds frontman Olly Alexander blurring the boundaries between sacred and profane.

英国三人乐队Yeas & Years的新专极具tropical-house风格（译者注：一种慵懒悠闲的舞曲风），一经发行便入榜前40名。乐队主唱Olly Alexander的创作游走在宗教和世俗之间，多样的风格与戏剧化效果更使得第二张专辑超越前作。

Images of spirituality and religion permeate the work of Years & Years. The title of the British trio's 2015 debut album was Communion. Those themes become even more prominent in tracks with names like “Sanctify,” “Hallelujah,” “Karma,” and “Preacher” on the sometimes bombastic, sometimes sensual follow-up, Palo Santo. (“Palo santo,” or “holy wood,” is an incense used in indigenous Inca culture to cast away evil spirits.) In most Western theologies, dancing is the devil’s work, and the thrill of shaking your blasphemous hips while invoking the Lord predates Madonna by centuries. But you can see why Years & Years, in particular, connect music with religious transcendence. For an artist like the trio’s principal songwriter, the energetic Olly Alexander, who’s gone from mild-mannered frontman to fledging queer icon in just a few years, pop isn’t a frivolous pastime—it’s a sacred experience.

宗教和灵性贯穿Years & Years的音乐。2015年的首张大碟就以《Communion（圣餐）》为名，在2018年词藻华丽、性爱交织的大作《Palo Santo》中，“Sanctify（净化）”“Hallelujah（哈利路亚）”“Karma（羯磨）”“Preacher（传教士）”等单曲更是彰显了神圣的宗教主题。（“Palo santo”，即圣木，是印加土著民驱逐邪灵时用的一种熏香。）在西方神话中，舞蹈是邪恶的象征，麦当娜的性感电臀要放在几千年前就是对神的亵渎。而Years & Years却热衷于在音乐中添加宗教超越的元素，因为在乐队的主要作曲人Olly Alexander眼中，流行乐不是轻浮的消遣，而是神圣的体验。精力旺盛的他仅花了短短几年就从默默无闻的乐队队长摇身一变成为小有名气的同性恋偶像。

Alexander’s lyrics have always dealt with the murky, complicated side of desire, a fascination that gives physical heft to Palo Santo’s spiritual imagery. “Sanctify,” the record’s lead single and opener, finds him mid-hookup with a man who professes to be heterosexual. “You don’t have to be straight with me/I see what’s underneath your mask,” Alexander chides, in an apt double entendre, as he asks the guy to “sanctify my body with pain.” The contrast between the quiet verses and wide-open pop chorus mimics the lovers’ conflicting emotions of shame and ecstasy. Alexander ladles on the drama with Timberlakian trills, his voice smooth and precise against icy synths. A welcome reinvention for Years & Years, the track departs from the tropical-house Top 40 they’re known for, moving toward a more theatrical and intense sound.

Alexander的抒情曲饱含错综复杂的阴暗欲望，十分抓人眼球，这给《Palo Santo》增添了不少宗教色彩。在本次新专的主打歌“Sanctify”中，Alexander坦白他在和一个自称异性恋的男人搞暧昧。他责备对方：“You don’t have to be straight with me/I see what’s underneath your mask（你无须对我坦诚相待／我早看破了你的伪装）”，还要求对方“sanctify my body with pain（用肉体之苦净化我的身心）”，一语双关，妙趣横生。独唱的幽静和合唱的开阔形成鲜明对比，像极了这对沐浴爱河的小情人害羞而狂热的矛盾心理。搭配上贾老板（贾斯汀·汀布莱克）式颤音，Alexander柔软清晰的歌声游走在冰冷的合成音之上。从入榜Top 40的tropical-house风格前作到曲风夸张风格鲜明的新专，Years & Years全新蜕变，华丽归来。

Palo Santo puts its best foot forward with “Sanctify,” and a handful of subsequent songs make for some of the most enjoyable music Years & Years have released thus far. Although it uses a somewhat predictable dancefloor-as-site-of-divine-communion metaphor, “Hallelujah” is so relentlessly upbeat that its sounds blast through the mundanity of its lyrics, reigning in the atmosphere of Ibiza beach-rave revelry just before it slides into gaudiness. With an intro lifted almost note-for-note from Lauryn Hill’s “Everything is Everything,” “Karma” differentiates itself from typical Discover Weekly pap by taking inspiration from ’90s R&B girl groups instead of the sub-EDM vocoder pop many of Years & Years’ contemporaries peddle. At his best, Alexander exudes the youthful confidence of a kid perfecting his moonwalk in the bedroom mirror.

除了“Sanctify”这张名片，《Palo Santo》的不少歌曲悦耳程度都超越了Years & Years的历作。“Hallelujah”中的舞池看上去像是沿袭了上张专辑《Communion》中的圣餐意象，但不同的是，这首歌毫不含糊地表达了积极向上的乐观态度，平淡的歌词之上激情的火花在燃烧，尤其是曲风骤变前的部分让人感觉像在伊比沙岛的沙滩庆典上狂欢。“Karma”中Years & Years抛下EDM，跳出乐队的风格定位，回归90年代女性组合青睐的R&B。歌曲开头音节几乎是逐个迸出，灵感源于Lauryn Hill的“Everything is Everything（万物自有规律）”，凭这一点“Karma”就从每周推荐的歌单中脱颖而出。此处Alexander散发出的年轻自信，就像一个小男孩在卧室的镜子前苦练太空漫步时双眼流露出的自豪。

Unfortunately, while the front half of Palo Santo is packed with catchy tunes and genuine surprises, the album struggles to sustain its sense of wonder—or even structure. Communion was a scientifically balanced record, each of its songs similar enough to the others in tone and atmosphere to sustain a consistent mood. But “Hypnotised,” a ballad with lyrics like, “Just one look at you/My heart has been hypnotised,” meanders so aimlessly that the record never recovers. Even attempts to reintroduce dancefloor fodder feel strangely out of place in its wake. “If You’re Over Me,” a peculiar choice for a second single, uses a sing-song synth line to trace a picture of redemption in the midst of a failed relationship. The songs that follow blur together like the by-the-numbers pop Years & Years so eloquently challenge on tracks like “Karma.”

遗憾的是，尽管《Palo Santo》在前半部分给我们带来了悦耳动听的音乐和切切实实的惊喜，但仍逃脱不了陷入混沌的命运——甚至连专辑结构都令人费解。《Communion》整体较为平衡，所有歌的音调和气氛都极为相似，从而使专辑的风格得以保持一致。但抒情曲“Hypnotised（催眠）”的一句“Just one look at you/My heart has been hypnotised（只看了你一眼／我的心就被催眠）”就让《Palo Santo》乱了阵脚，从此一发不可收拾，即便在接下来的歌曲中Years & Years想回到舞池的主题，每一次尝试都显得不合时宜。“If You’re Over Me”用人声合成来讲述在失恋的沉痛中寻求救赎的故事，这种操作实在让人难以理解。接下来的歌曲像是“Karma”等Years & Years激情尝试的系统流行乐，杂在一起令人眼花缭乱。

Palo Santo is a promising sophomore album because it evolves past the sound of the band’s debut. But at its low points, the record lacks the bite to drive home the razor’s-edge duality of sacred and profane that Alexander seems to thrive on. Eventually, themes of salvation, damnation, and enraptured revelation become mired in electropop clichés that are beneath the band’s talent. At their best, Years & Years are capable of godlike sublimity. To take up permanent residence in the heavens, all they need to do is exorcise a few colorless spirits.

作为乐队的第二张专辑，《Palo Santo》的水平远超乐队的处女作，可见乐队前途无量。但可惜的是，Alexander坚持的神圣与亵渎在这张专辑未能结合得恰到好处。最终，救赎、下地狱、上帝的神圣启示这些主题沦落为电子流行乐的陈词滥调，掩盖了乐队的天赋。若拿出最好的状态，Years & Years能交出神一般的作品。但要想常驻天堂，还有一项必不可少的条件，那就是丰富多彩的心境。