Noah's Ark

　　CocoRosie:奇幻的童话避世乐园 　　来自法国的Indie乐队CocoRosie，甚是有趣。这一双人女子组合由Casady姐妹花组成，Sierra负责吉他、长笛等音乐主旋律部分，Bianca则潜心研究节奏打击及采样合成声效部分。乐队的Debut唱片《La Maison De Mon Rêve》在巴黎录制完成，04年初夏由著名Indie厂牌Touch and Go发行。奇异而不失童稚的风格别树一帜。而《Noah's Ark》作为乐队第二张大碟，在相距一年之后的05年适时的发行。 　　作为首张唱片确立下来的风格的延伸，《Noah's Ark》呈现出来的依旧是民谣般优美的旋律及整体音乐情境上童话般的奇幻色彩。有别于其他Indie Electronica类型音乐作品，《Noah's Ark》整体更加倾向于ISAN般基于旋律上的简约表现能力。着重表现了重复的吉他和弦和简练的钢琴段落，而电子节拍方面则被有意识地弱化，在个别歌曲中甚至完全放弃了打击节拍，仅以人声及器乐的旋律贯穿整个作品。与典型的Trip-hop音乐相异其趣的是，CocoRosie舍弃了传统Downbeat音乐的重型电子节拍，而发展出了更加贴近于IDM般的细碎电子节拍的拼贴，辅以大量自然环境声效采样的间杂，让人仿似置身于诡异悠扬的旋律下遗世独立的童话世界。尖顶的木屋，沸腾的水壶，童年的玩具钢琴叮咚作响；猫咪咽呜的声音和远处牲畜的嘶鸣；雨后的下午，虫鸣蛙叫，阴暗的屋内隐隐的私语。时空交错般的避世感。从首曲K-hole开始，除去贯穿始终的钢琴伴奏间以缓慢节拍及少量合成器音色辅助之外，几乎没有其他多余的器乐音色融入。这样的简洁乐风，也可以借由South 2nd中的一把Acoustic吉他带起，甚至是标题曲Noah's Ark中同样简练的节拍及重复的合成器音色体现。 　　同样有意思的是唱片中的人声演绎。在诸如K-hole、Bear Hides And Buffalo中，女声的表现充满可爱的童稚，闷响般的呓语，呢喃拖沓。但远不是类似于冰岛电子乐队Mum的女声般的甜美和天真，而是在高音部分发展出更贴近于Moloko般乖戾诡异的演绎方式。在Beautiful Boyz中，与Antony颤抖的男声一同演绎的女声，在高音部分气声的表现上，又与Bjork惊人的相似。甚至是在Honey Or Tar中，这把女声又迅速地褪去乖戾的外衣融入了灵乐的演唱风格之中，表现出了如Erykah Badu般的抑扬婉转。而在诸如South 2nd和Noah's Ark这样融合了Jazz基调的曲目里，另一位成员的女声演绎，表现出的更多的是深受Billie Holiday等爵士女伶影响的演唱风格。 　　正如Indie是音乐人对于音乐创作的态度一样，换个角度来看，它同样也是听音乐的人对于音乐的取舍态度。《Noah's Ark》或许并不切合你对Indie音乐的喜好口味。但CocoRosie独特的音乐风格的意义在于，它让我们意识到，简约的旋律架构同样也能承载起饱满而丰富的音乐表现能力。《Noah's Ark》构筑起的，是一个荒凉空旷而又错落有致的童话奇境，看似恬静却又暗流四伏。CocoRosie两女妖的挪亚方舟，与圣经福音书无甚相关，实则是另一方奇幻童话般的避世乐园。 After hearing Noah's Ark, any concerns about CocoRosie becoming too tasteful or straightforward after the widespread critical acclaim for their debut album, La Maison de Mon Reve, can be put to rest. If anything, the album errs in the opposite direction: alternately rambling and hypnotic, it's much more somber and insular (despite the presence of such kindred spirits as Devendra Banhart and Antony of Antony & the Johnsons) than the duo's subversively angelic-sounding debut. La Maison de Mon Reve certainly had a dark undercurrent that added considerable sting to its sweetness, but it's much more prominent on Noah's Ark; sad, eerie lyrics like "K-Hole"'s "All of the aborted babies will turn into little Bambies" are paired with equally spooky, mournful music instead of the deceptively light tones of the group's first album. There's a lot of power in the album's darkness, particularly on the apocalyptic campfire singalong "Armageddon." However, Noah's Ark occasionally feels too mannered and unfocused, and overly reliant on the sound effects and toy instruments that made their first album so surreally charming: in particular, interludes like "Milk" and "Bear Hides and Buffalo" sound like noise collages missing the key pieces that would hold them together. That said, the album still has many moments of transporting beauty, especially on the songs that feel less cloistered. On "Beautiful Boyz," Antony's gorgeous croon adds a touch of cabaret to the song's tale of star-crossed jailhouse love, and Banhart's Spanish-language mysticism on "Brazilian Sun" advances CocoRosie's dreamy exoticism, giving it a more organic feel than it had on La Maison de Mon Reve. Indeed, the more natural moments on Noah's Ark are often the best: the title track, "South 2nd," and "The Sea Is Calm" all put the focus on the Casady sisters' delicate singing and playing. A disappointment mostly in comparison to the seemingly out-of-nowhere brilliance of La Maison de Mon Reve, Noah's Ark might fail to charm those not already bewitched by that album, but it won't break the spell for devoted fans.