Pitchfork乐评翻译

Jessica Pratt spins fantasy worlds bound to bewitch, dreamscapes that spiral towards the surreal, psychedelic spirituals that nourish. Her music’s intimacy feels so organically abstract, it is as if the songs are distilled directly from her subconscious. But as her third record, Quiet Signs, reveals, any perceived effortlessness is an illusion. While Pratt’s toolbox remains minimal—her trusty fingerpicked guitar and elastic voice alongside a sprinkling of keys and woodwinds—she weaves these means more intricately than ever, with a firm and confident hand.

Jessica Pratt将幻想世界和迷醉的梦境相结合，朝着超现实迷幻的精神源泉盘旋而去。她音乐中的亲切感给人深入骨髓的抽象感，像是直接从她的潜意识里萃取出来的一样。但Quiet Signs作为她的第三张专辑，向我们表明了那种信手拈来的感觉不过是表象。尽管Pratt使用的器材还是很极简——她信赖的指弹吉他和一把灵活的嗓子，配上闪烁的键盘和木管乐器——但她坚定且淡然地加入了更丰富细致的肌理。

After her last album, 2015’s On Your Own Love Again, transformed the meditative starkness of her 2012 self-titled debut into a lonely, ornate reverie, Pratt decided to record in a proper studio for the first time. She has said the experience initially induced anxiety, as she worried that a more polished sound would come at the expense of her otherworldly haze. But instead, Quiet Signs’ crystalline production allows even the subtlest of Pratt’s musical choices to radiate.

自上一张专辑，也即2015年的On Your Own Love Again将2012年同名专辑中那份荒芜的冥想转化为孤独华美的幻梦之后，Pratt决定首次尝试在正规的录音室录制作品。她表示最开始这样的经历令她焦虑，她担心精心的打磨反而会破坏她那份恍如隔世般的朦胧。但好在事实并非如此，Quiet Signs里水晶般的制作反而让Pratt音乐上的纤毫之处都大放光彩。

This depth is immediately evident on “Opening Night,” a contemplative piano instrumental played by her musical and romantic partner Matthew McDermott. Pratt named the track after indie auteur John Cassavetes’ 1977 film about an aging actress who struggles to find a truthful performance. And that same ruminative mood is felt in the song’s echoing notes, which sound as if they were played to an empty, gigantic theater. The meandering of “Opening Night” reveals an essential principle of Pratt’s work, that of trusting intuition, of letting a melody wander until it finds a natural resting place.

开篇曲Opening Night就说明了这一点。若有所思的钢琴出自她的音乐合作伙伴兼爱侣Matthew McDermott之手。这首歌的名字Pratt取自独立导演John Cassavetes 1977年的电影，该电影讲述的是一名年迈的女演员仍在努力找寻真实的表演状态。这首歌带着回响的音符也烘托了这份冥思的感觉，仿佛是对着一座巨大空旷的剧院表演。Opening Night信步由缰的旋律走向体现了Pratt作品的一个重要特质，那就是她总是那么跟随直觉，放任旋律任意游走，然后听凭它们自然而然地落脚。

The nine songs here follow their own innate paths, often beginning with a simple acoustic arrangement before blossoming into vivid daydreams. On “Fare Thee Well,” Pratt’s gentle strumming and a piping organ give way to a whimsical flute solo—like a bird just freed from captivity, the sprightly woodwind soars higher and higher until it dissolves into the distance. Meanwhile, Pratt’s voice winds its own course, her varied intonations imbuing each song with its own character. Memories of “stolen city sighs” on “Here My Love” swell with the lingering euphoria of infatuation. On “Silent Song” she harmonizes tenderly with herself, imparting the idea that she is never truly alone. When she sings of existential restlessness on “As the World Turns,” her vowels are so round you can trace their full orbit.

这九首歌都循着一种内生的路径展开，开始时常常只是简单的原声演奏，慢慢盛放，成为鲜活的白日幻梦。在Fare Thee Well这首歌里，Pratt温柔的信手弹奏和管风琴都让位于那段即兴的长笛独奏——像是一只刚刚重获自由的鸟儿，这段轻快笛声越升越高，渐渐消散在远处。与此同时，Pratt则兀自唱着，她多变的语调给每首歌涂上了不同的色彩，赋予了它们不一样的特点。Here My Love中关于“失窃的城市叹息”的记忆随着迷恋带来的那份绵绵不绝的兴奋不断膨胀。Silent Song中她柔声给自己和声，让你觉得她从来不是一个人。当她在As the World Turns中唱到存在即运动这一主题时，她嘴中吐出的元音如此圆润，我们仿佛也跟着这道轨道完整地绕行了一圈。

Within these acrobatics, insight into Pratt’s poetic musings remains elusive. She warps the typically direct, observational role of a singer-songwriter into something altogether more mystifying. She wraps her words in tightly woven melodies and gauzy reverb, often rendering them incomprehensible. Pratt’s obscuration sometimes sound like a means of emotional protection, as if she is draping her vulnerabilities behind a veil. Motifs that do emerge from Pratt’s cosmos swirl around notions of uncertainty, loss, disenchantment, and, on the bright side, budding romance. When a lyrical impression emerges, it floats to the surface just enough to announce its presence, but rarely offers clarity. Pratt’s method of abstraction is especially affecting because it embodies the ambiguities of the everyday: how words are not always enough.

剥开这些技巧，我们仍然无法窥探到Pratt那些诗意灵感的内核。她将传统意义上唱作人直接通过观察进行创作的那套变得更为神秘。她将词作包裹在自己紧密交织的旋律和朦胧的混响中，让它们变得晦涩隐秘，这种隐晦有时听起来像是一种情绪上的自我保护，仿佛把自己的脆弱置于面纱之后。Pratt从自己生活中生发出来的主题多数围绕着不确定性、失去、幻灭展开，当然也有一些积极的主题，比如萌芽中的浪漫情感。当歌词的意象出现时，它就浮在表面，刚好能够让人注意到它的存在，却又很少做确切的深入阐明。Pratt这种抽象化的表达方式很能触动人的心弦，因为她把握住了日常生活的那种不确定性，那种言语总是不足以传达具体感受的感觉。

The clearest moments on Quiet Signs are the centerpieces “Poly Blue” and “This Time Around.” “Poly Blue” is all Laurel Canyon sunshine, as Pratt observes a lover’s mystique. “He’s the undiscovered night,” she murmurs, as flutes flutter around her chords. “This Time Around,” on the other hand, captures a moment of hopelessness, of a profound uncertainty that faith might fail. As the song opens with spare strums, she keeps these fears close to the chest, but they soon begin to spill out. Suddenly, her voice deepens for a startlingly straightforward confession: “It makes me want to cry.” It’s a rare moment of perceptible pain, one that lingers on after the song has ended.

Quiet Signs最明亮的部分是中间的Poly Blue和This Time Around。Poly Blue中当Pratt唱着她发现了爱人的神秘之处时，满满的都是Laurel Canyon那种明媚的感觉。“他是未得探索的黑夜”，她这样喃喃唱道，长笛的声音围着她的和弦翩翩震颤。This Time Around则捕捉到了那种无望的瞬间，一种深深的不确定，觉得信仰可能会崩塌。这首歌开始时是有一搭没一搭的弹奏，她将这份恐惧深埋在心中，但很快就难以自抑，表露出来。她突然嗓音一沉，出人意料地直抒胸臆道：“这让我想哭。”这是她很少见地直观表达自己的痛苦，这种痛苦在歌曲结束后还久久不能平复。

From there, Quiet Signs begins to fold into itself like a daylily facing the moonlight. While “Silent Song” exudes sentimentality, “Crossing” is private to the point of impenetrability, its curlicuing shape suggesting the mysteries of introspection. Both tracks largely do away with ornate embellishments, allowing Pratt’s meticulous plucking to shine. It’s as if she could needle away on her guitar for the rest of eternity, slowly unraveling the biggest questions, one by one.

这之后，Quiet Signs开始像是一朵月光下萱草一样向内卷曲。Silent Song向外散发出多愁善感的气质，Crossing则私密到无法探知，它曼妙卷曲的姿态传达出内省的神秘情愫。这两首曲子很大程度上都去除了华丽的装点，让Pratt小心翼翼的弹拨得以显出光华。就好像她可以一辈子伴着吉他，这样轻拢慢捻，将所有的问题徐徐道来，一个接着一个。

（仅供参考，如有侵权可联系删除。原文地址：https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/jessica-pratt-quiet-signs/）

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