【搬运译】Pitchfork评Ohia 2002年专辑Didn't It Rain

搬运自：网易云音乐专栏【Music Online Zine Courier】（在原文基础上添加了英语原文与排版调整）

翻译：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.

我上张听过的Songs: Ohia专辑还是《Ghost Tropic》。对他幽灵般的后民谣而言，这无疑是一个完美的标题，专辑里充满了尖锐的吉他和弦、仿佛是脱离掌控的怨魂咆哮一样轰鸣的打击乐，以及Jason Molina悲伤的哀号。但他以Songs: Ohia发行的每一部作品都有着截然不同的野性魅力，围绕着他目前合作的音乐人群体而形成。也因此，当我听说这张新专辑的时候，我有一丝犹豫，它是和Jim Krewson和Jennie Benford在费城录制的，他们是来自乐队Jim and Jennie and the Pinetops的音乐人。当然还有其他人也参与其中，但我期待的是更多类似《Ghost Tropic》的声音——破碎的结构，一端逐渐崩坏——但最终呈现的结果，与70年代的Muscle Shoals Studio录音不同，这里都是他们现场录制的歌曲，只录了一次，完全没有任何一次多余的尝试。

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.

但只听了一遍，《Didn't It Rain》就使我相信，关注它自身的特质是值得的。Songs: Ohia的作品有一种使听众时间感知错乱的奇怪魔力。否则我怎么可能会在不经意之间，就听完了长达8分钟的开场曲？它以缓慢的原声和弦开始，几乎顷刻间，Molina的歌声就立于暴风中心，同那些被倾盆大雨所困的苦难人一道歌唱。副歌部分伴随着颤音吉他和Jennie Benford的和声，Molina警示道：“If you think you got it/ They're gonna beat it out of you/ Through work and debt.”冠以“平易亲民”的现场录音，几乎已经是陈词滥调般的常规操作了，但我发誓你几乎可以听到舞台地板的吱吱作响，这依旧令人心动。这首歌像Neil Young的经典民谣一样在吸气和叹息间熬过了好几分钟，直至接近尾声时，Molina才问出了标题中的疑问。

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》还是会更轻快一些，就像一些常被拿来同Songs: Ohia比较的Palace厂牌发行的唱片一样。在先前的音乐中，Molina会用高亢地呐喊将一首歌引向另一首的高潮部分中，这丝毫不会影响音乐地呈现。不过，尽管有“Steve Albini's Blues”和“Cross the Road, Molina”，但他内心的热带低压气流似乎依旧挥之不去。前者慢悠悠地推进，鼓点是班卓琴似的叮咚声，弥漫在整首歌中的寂静使其氛围愈加紧张。随后Molina, Benford和Krewson三人一齐唱道：“See its sulfury shine/ See the big city moon/ 'Tween the radio tower/ 'Tween the big diesel rigs.”评论家经常提到Molina的蓝领工人背景，但我不打算挖掘任何人的过去来验证其可信与否。之后其中一人（可能是Krewson）再次呼喊着“See the big city moon”，他那尖利的声音中透露出的最后一丝绝望已足以证明这一切是多么的真实。

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?

专辑有着明显的共享意象，尤其体现在专辑中部的“Ring the Bell”和“Cross the Road, Molina”这两首歌，它们作为一个整体概念一起流动。这里，Molina似乎消沉过了头，他乞求道：“Show us how bad we're outnumbered”，他的作曲从未有过像如今这样类似Death in June的“末日民谣”乐队那种宗教颂歌式的狂热。在放大的电弦弧光中闪烁着一种凄凉的美，当芝加哥的月亮“像弯刀一样撼动”时，Molina甚至会把自己描绘成安达鲁狗。译者注释：《一条安达鲁狗》（法语：Un Chien Andalou），是一部法国16分钟的无声超现实主义短片。你可以捕捉到其中的抒情线索：光芒、黑暗、月亮、火焰、芝加哥。这些主题在“Two Blue Lights”中被再次唤起，这是一首简短的忧郁歌曲，讲述的是夜间来自公共汽车和月亮的光，那关于地狱和你的家乡的往事。你会不禁疑惑：是恼人的刮擦声让它变得如此朴实而又令人振奋吗?

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.

我摊牌：“Blue Factory Flame”会是一首传世经典。当Molina质问道：“When I die, put my bones in an empty street/ Bring a Coleman lantern and a radio/ A Cleveland game and a fishing pole.”时，鼓组第一次进场，将整首歌设定在一个稳定的四四拍框架之中。他讲述着幽灵般的铁矿船返航、黑心商队继续前行，最后在“paralyzed by emptiness”中直逼顶峰。这是我所听到对抑郁症所带来影响的最恰当的总结，电吉他中散发出一种生硬竣萧、饱经风霜的悲伤。

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.

在音乐上，“Blue Chicago Moon”唤起的那种陈旧锈带氛围愈加浓郁，但Molina会向你保证，当你被阴郁追杀时，你并非无依无靠，他会一次又一次地呼唤你“try to beat it, try to beat it.”从第一首歌开始，似乎《Didn't It Rain》就试图作为对抗悲伤的堡垒，这一承诺在这最后一首歌中再次出现。专辑中的元素，充斥着烈焰、钢铁和岩石，它们将Molina的故乡俄亥俄州同他如今的居所芝加哥联系在一起。在录制这又一张令人难以置信的专辑的过程中，Molina发觉，唯当光在黑暗中独自闪烁时，它才能迎来它最耀眼的时刻。