【搬运】【译】叉婊Pitchfork评Floating Points 2019年专辑《Crush》
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：Lynn Liu
校对：Joonly EC
排版：Peter D
After a run of dates playing “obtuse, strange” music as a warm-up act for the xx, Sam Shepherd translates that experimental energy to an album of mischievous, melodic, stripped-down electronic music.
Sam Shepherd为The XX巡演的暖场演奏了一系列“迟缓、奇怪”的音乐，在这之后，Sam Shepherd把这种实验性的能量注入到一张活泼、动听且简约的电子音乐专辑之中。
Sam Shepherd is a meticulous fellow. Whether he’s tracking down a rare piece of vinyl for his voluminous record collection, wiring up an arcane modular synthesizer, or putting together the latest iteration of his audiovisual live show, there’s an attention to detail at work that’s practically unrivaled in electronic music. (Shepherd also managed to complete a PhD in neuroscience a few years back, so he’s clearly no slouch in his other endeavors, either.) The London producer exudes a nerdy yet winning enthusiasm, and each step in his decade-long career has felt carefully considered. Even his impeccable 2015 debut album, Elaenia, which surprised many people by skirting the dancefloor almost entirely, turned out to be a natural evolution of his sound and craft.
Sam Shepherd非常严谨——他无论是为自己庞大的唱片收藏寻找一张罕见的黑胶唱片，还是为神秘的化合成器布线，或是为自己的现场表演制作最新版本的音乐，他对细节的把控在电子音乐领域几乎是无与伦比的。(Shepherd在前几年还取得了神经科学博士学位，所以他在其他方面自然也不赖。)这位伦敦的制作人散发着一股书呆子气息，可他却能赢得观众的热情，在他长达十年的音乐生涯中，每一步都是经过深思熟虑的。即便是他2015年完美的首张专辑《Elaenia》(它几乎完全避开了舞曲风格，让很多人感到意外)，也被证明是他声音和技艺的自然演变。
Knowing this, it’s genuinely surprising that he created the latest Floating Points full-length, Crush, in only five weeks. The album was born in the aftermath of a 2017 tour opening for the xx. After touring Elaenia for a couple of years with a full live ensemble, Shepherd suddenly found himself alone onstage—in 20,000-capacity venues, no less—improvising with just a Roland drum machine and a Buchla synth. While he initially planned to keep things mellow, he quickly threw that plan out the window, choosing instead to embrace a more “chaotic” vibe and warm the crowd up with what he describes as “some of the most obtuse, strange, difficult music of my life.” It was a risky choice, but the shows left Shepherd feeling invigorated, and he was determined to continue these focused machine experiments once he returned to the studio.
了解这些后，他在短短五周内就创作出Floating Points最新专辑《Crush》，这着实令人惊讶。这张专辑诞生于2017年为The XX巡演做开场之后。Shepherd带着一个完整的现场乐队为《Elaenia》巡演了几年之后，突然发现自己成了舞台上的一个独行客——在能容纳2万人的场地里，他只用一台罗兰鼓和一台Buchla合成器在即兴表演。虽然他最初打算让音乐变得柔和，但他很快就放弃了这个想法，而是选择了一种更“混沌”的音乐氛围，就像他说的那样，他将用“一生中最迟缓、最奇怪、最复杂的音乐”来打动听众。这个选择虽然有些冒险，但这些表演让Shepherd感到精力充沛，他决心回到演播室后继续这些重点的音乐实验。
Knowing that, you might expect Crush to be an intense, frenzied effort, but in Shepherd’s case, economy doesn’t preclude elegance. While certain elements—a distorted rhythm here, a shuddering synth there—can be traced back to those rough-and-tumble live shows with the xx, the LP as a whole is strikingly melodic and often beautiful, even in its most frantic moments. Take “Bias,” one of the LP’s strongest offerings: The track opens with subdued, almost pensive synth tendrils and brooding baritone, which intermingle and creep slowly skyward before a vibrant breakbeat sneaks in and eventually erupts, yanking the entire production onto the dancefloor.
知道了这一点，你可能会认为《Crush》是一张紧张、狂乱的专辑，但对Shepherd来说，简约并不妨碍优雅。虽然某些元素——扭曲的节奏，颤动的合成器，这些可以追溯到The XX混乱的现场表演，但整体上，专辑的旋律出奇的优美，即使在最疯狂的时刻也是如此。以这张专辑最有力的作品之一 “Bias”为例:这首歌的开头非常柔和、近乎忧郁的合成器音色以及低沉的号声，它们混合在一起，缓慢地向上延伸，直到充满活力的碎拍悄然而至，最终爆发，把整首歌拉进舞池。
Crush is not hurting for club-ready material. “Last Bloom” is another dancefloor cut with a cinematic streak, with a swinging, slightly off-kilter drum pattern nodding to UK garage as the song’s jaunty melodies bubble along. You could be forgiven for mistaking it for the work of Four Tet or Caribou, two of Shepherd’s closest friends. There’s also no missing “LesAlpx,” the album’s soaring, proggy first single. The track has a lot in common with 2014’s “Nuits Sonores,” arguably Floating Points’ most forceful tune to date, although “LesAlpx” actually goes much harder, veering into proper techno territory as Shepherd layers an array of crunchy modular melodies and technicolor synth blooms atop its sturdily galloping rhythm.
《Crush》与俱乐部已经有的音乐并不冲突。“Last Bloom”是另一首带有电影风格的舞曲，伴着摇摆、略不平衡的鼓声，它向英国车库舞曲致敬。你可能会把它误认为是Four 或TetCaribou的作品，他们两位是Shepherd的好友，所以这样的误认是可以理解的。专辑中也没有漏掉“LesAlpx”，这是专辑中激烈的首支单曲。这首歌与2014年的“Nuits Sonores”有很多相似之处，可以说这是Floating Points迄今为止最有力的曲调，不过 “LesAlpx”实际上行进得要艰难得多，它进入到科技舞曲后，Shepherd把一组嘎吱作响的模块旋律划分出层次，在其强劲的节奏上释放出缤纷的合成器音色。
Shepherd has spoken often about his early clubbing experiences and their profound impact on his musical outlook, and Crush shows just how much his work carries on the legacy of London’s fertile club scene during the latter half of the 2000s. Those years saw early dubstep dancing alongside underground house, techno, garage, and a variety of leftfield rhythms, most notably in venues like Plastic People, which played host to all-night sessions from artists like Four Tet and Theo Parrish, along with groundbreaking dubstep nights like FWD>>. Experimentation and cross-pollination were paramount, and although this genre-melding moment was ultimately fleeting, it revitalized the UK scene and introduced a new generation of young producers, including Shepherd, whose initial flurry of releases began in 2009.
Shepherd经常谈到他早期的泡吧经历，以及这些经历对他的音乐观产生的深远影响。《Crush》向我们展示了他的作品是如何继承了00年代末伦敦丰厚的俱乐部文化遗产的。那些年见证了早期的达布舞曲与地下音乐、电子音乐、车库舞曲，leftfield各种各样的旋律一起跳舞，最引人注目的是像Plastic People这样的俱乐部，他们主办了Four Tet和Theo Parrish等艺术家的通宵演出，以及像FWD>>这样开创性的达布舞曲之夜。实验和交流是至关重要的，尽管这一类型融合的时刻最终是短暂的，但它重振了英国的舞台，并引入了新一代的年轻制片人，包括了Shepherd，他的最早的歌曲发行始于2009年。
While Crush isn’t an explicit homage to Plastic People (which sadly closed in early 2015), the album does embody the club’s open-minded, music-first spirit. Although the scene that birthed him has long since devolved, Shepherd—a jazz-loving, vinyl-hunting, ensemble-building, classically trained outsider who only occasionally makes what could be described as proper dance music—has nevertheless become a prominent torchbearer for the ideals of that crucial era in UK electronic music. Crush is something of a return to Floating Points’ more dancefloor-oriented material from the first half of this decade, particularly in comparison to Elaenia and 2017’s jammy, rock-influenced Reflections - Mojave Desert, but the LP is also a sonically diverse effort with extended forays into modular synthesis, baroque new age, hyperactive IDM, and more.
虽然《Crush》并不有明确地向Plastic People致敬(很遗憾，Plastic People在2015年初就关闭了)，但这张专辑确实体现了该俱乐部思想开放、音乐至上的精神。尽管那个孕育了他的场景已经被遗忘很久了，但Shepherd—— 这个爵士乐迷、黑胶唱片买手、剧院迷、受过古典训练的局外人，只会偶尔创作出一些可以被描述为舞蹈音乐的歌曲，他仍然成为英国电子音乐关键时期理想的杰出的火种手。与Floating Points《Elaenia》以及17年推出的舒适、带摇滚风格的《Reflections - Mojave Desert》相比，《Crush》这张专辑，反而回归到了10年代前期的舞曲风格，但这张专辑也是多元化努力的结果，它扩展了模块化的合成器，巴洛克式的新世纪音乐，极度活跃的智能舞曲等等。
The quieter passages are some of the album’s best. The stunning “Falaise” opens the record with a simmering cauldron of trembling synths and strings, the sense of drama building as the music gradually swells into an orchestral crescendo. More delicate is “Sea-Watch,” a gentle sketch that sounds like a melancholy lullaby constructed with a lightly buzzing modular set-up. “Requiem for CS70 and Strings” is another symphonic gem, its combination of classical sensibilities and Buchla-generated new-age wanderlust recalling the magic of Suzanne Ciani’s first solo albums.
专辑中安静的曲目反而是最好的。眩晕的“Falaise”的开端就像一口文火慢炖的锅，锅中的合成音色和弦乐都在翻滚着，随着音乐逐渐膨胀转变为管弦乐的渐强音，戏剧感也随之产生。更精致的一首歌是“Sea-Watch”，这像是一幅温和的素描，听起来就像一首忧郁的摇篮曲，由一个微微嗡嗡作响的模块组成。“Requiem for CS70 and Strings”是另一首交响乐的精华，它将古典情感和Buchla创造的新时代漫游癖融合在一起，让人回想起Suzanne Ciani第一张个人专辑的魔力。
Crush has its more experimental flourishes too, and it’s in these moments that you can best imagine Floating Points holed up in his studio, tinkering with his machines. The closing couplet of “Apoptose Pt. 1” and “Apoptose Pt. 2” is built atop a foundation of burbling Buchla rhythms, although Shepherd infuses both tracks with a twitchy energy that channels the percussive ping-pong of 1990s IDM. He takes things even further on “Anasickmodular,” where ethereal melodies and a sturdy garage beat are suddenly swept aside as the track disintegrates into a flurry of whirring synths and gnarled drum sounds. The element of chaos is something new for Floating Points, and while disorder may seem antithetical to his generally thoughtful approach, Crush offers proof that Shepherd has quickly learned to harness its noise and power. In a live setting, this material might have the potential to blossom into something unruly, but on the LP it comes across as more mischievous than deranged.
《Crush》也有着更多实验性的花样，在这些歌曲中，你可以想象Floating Points在他工作室里的样子，在摆弄他的机器。“Apoptose Pt. 1”和“Apoptose Pt. 2”的结尾处是在Buchla节奏的基础上创作的，尽管Shepherd给这两首歌注入了一种焦虑，就像上世纪90年代IDM乐队会加入的那种乒乓作响的音效一样。他在“Anasickmodular”中加入了更多的元素，轻灵的旋律和强劲的车库节拍突然被抛到一边，音轨分解成一连串旋转的合成成音色和粗糙的鼓声。对于Floating Points来说，这些混乱的元素是一个全新的概念，虽然混乱似乎与Shepherd一贯深思熟虑背道而驰，但《Crush》证明了Shepherd很快就学会利用噪音和力量。在现场表演中，这些素材可能会变成某种难以驾驭的东西，但在专辑中，它给人的感觉更像是某种恶作剧，而不是精神错乱。
Perhaps a little bit of mischief is exactly what Shepherd needed. An album like Elaenia may have impressively distilled Shepherd’s influences into a single, long-form statement, but it also took him five years to finish and largely sidelined his dancefloor impulses. Crush, on the other hand, provides a more complete picture of his artistic outlook, bringing his club sensibilities back into the mix while also feeling like the most relaxed and confident Floating Points effort to date. Shepherd will likely always be someone who dotes on the details, but this time around, he was smart enough to realize that the five weeks he’d spent on Crush were enough. He’d done all he needed to do, and more importantly, he was happy with the result. Sometimes, the most important decision is knowing when to stop.
也许Shepherd需要的正是一点点恶作剧。像《Elaenia》这样的专辑可能已经将Shepherd影响浓缩成一份单独、长期的声明，但这也花了他五年的时间去完成这张专辑，并在很大程度上减少了他创作舞曲的冲动。另一方面，《Crush》则更全面地展现了他的艺术视野，将他俱乐部敏感加入到这种混搭中，同时也让人感觉到了Floating Points迄今为止最放松、最自信的努力。Shepherd可能是一个非常注重细节的人，但这一次，他聪明地意识到自己在《Crush》上花五周时间就已经足够了。他已经做了他需要做的，更重要的是，他对这个结果很满意。有时候，最重要的决定就是知道何时停止。
