Tuesday 26 February 2013

After one month

A month of detachment from utter independent living.
A month of adjusting my lifestyle against my family's which once I was used to. 
A month of realisation that the old folks are really getting old, and taking the turn to play my role. 
A month of pretending that I have been engaging with the world by soaking myself in the CNN news, everyday. 
A month of slacking.
A month of almost complete isolation. Nah, not that serious though. I am fine in a rut. 
A month of missing, lots.

So it has indeed been a month, since I flew out from Brissy, flew home. 
So I think it's time to move on.

But first.

Thursday 21 February 2013

别问我

很多人看见我时,都问候:

"还要回去吗?"
"那里好不?"
"为什么不留在那里?"
"开始做工了没?" 
"现在等通知?"
"有女朋友没?"

都是在老妈子档口帮忙时客人多嘴的舌,还有新年时亲戚团等待被满足的好奇心。

有关生活在布里斯本或是回来以后生活的所有问题,我都不想被问起。过去的回忆,它们属于不经意被勾起的过程,因为我越回想,我越不知道我为什么在这里,我到底在这里做着什么,将会做些什么。So don't ask me. 

Wednesday 6 February 2013

My Head is an Animal - Of Monsters and Men



在背包旅行的日子里,常常听当地的radio频道来娱乐自己,其中一首热播的歌特别吸引了我。那时我并不知道歌名,可是我记下了chorus,上网查出歌名为Little Talks,歌手是个来自Iceland的乐团Of Monsters and Men。于是,我听了整张专辑My Head is an Animal,发现他们indie pop音乐的独特且有趣之处。

专辑里的Dirty Paws,可以诠释为关于大自然里的战争故事,也可以诠释为大自然比喻人性的一面,乍听之下真的和Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros的Home很像似。King and Lionheart述说Merlin和King Arthur的关系,所以听起来有点魔幻的感觉。Your Bones让我想起了许多中文经典歌曲的曲风: 那种有着很澎湃的气势,特别是因为利用了鼓声和喇叭声加上男主唱Raggi的声线的合效,这好像不怎么在西洋歌里听过。Slow and Steady,Love Love Love和Sloom听了都均能把情绪吸入,而Mountain Sound实实在在的充满了indie folk的味道。

一开始听Little Talks,我误以为是由Sarah Blasko和某位男歌手合唱的新歌。原来,真正的女主唱Nanna的声线和她很相似。多亏了喇叭和手风琴在chorus的合奏、齐声唱出的"hey!"、简单易记的chorus旋律和段落,让这首歌凸显了好玩的地方。虽然mv也一样好玩,可是和歌的意义不搭。


Raggi和Nanna不一样风格的声线成了专辑里许多首男女合唱的歌曲里重要的元素。Raggi较顺柔、薄、有穿透力的声音和Nanna较沙哑,浓厚,有感染力的声音都互补了。只不过Nanna惯用的唱法,字与字或者是syllable与syllable之间霎那停顿的唱法,听多了会觉得很厌倦,特别是唱live的时候。