His Name Is Alive

拥有Cocteau Twins、Red House Painters、Mojave 3、Pixies等大牌乐队的4AD，在人们心中向来是个神圣而奇异的辉宏宫殿形象。在近些年来兵荒马乱的唱片界，4AD的风头已经大不如前，造腕儿频率越发迟缓，但依然还是低调的推出了一些制作精良的专辑。4AD旗下的His Name Is Alive在今年1月底推出了全新专辑Detrola。
 
其实，His Name Is Alive论资力和实力都是和我一开始提到的那些乐队平起平坐的 ，只不过HNIA在国内的影响力远远不及他们。制作人Warren Defever, 主唱Karin Oliver, 鼓手Damian Lang三人早在1989年的时候便成立了His Name Is Alive，并用卡带将他们的歌曲录制下来。后来这盘卡带被Ivo Watts-Russell听到，也就是4AD的创始人之一，对他们诡异的音乐颇感兴趣，便将HNIA正式签入4AD。对His Name Is Alive音乐风格的定位，其实是件很困难的事。他们绝对算得上是那个音乐大杂烩年代的先驱，音乐中融合了Alternative Pop/ Rock、Dream-Pop、Experimental-Rock、Indie-Rock等多重风格。
 
在His Name Is Alive的第一张专辑Livonia中，Karin Oliver幽魂般的嗓音配以Loop、采样以及吉他冲击波，营造了一个有关鬼魂、复生以及梦境的臆想世界。1992年底，HNIA推出了第二张专辑Home Is in Your Head，乐队的音乐视野明显拓宽了不少。新的主唱Denise James, Karen Neal, Melissa Elliott，以及吉他手Jymn Auge的加入为HNIA的音乐注入了新鲜血液。这张23首歌的专辑，包罗了民谣叙事诗、电子、吉他风暴、抽象的实验等多重元素。在93年中，HMIA又发行了两张专辑。King of Sweet，一张集合了乐队一些未发表作品和Demo的限量版专辑；Mouth by Mouth，一张在乐队原有实验、梦幻曲风上加入更多流行元素的专辑，这成为了HNIA有史以来最为多样化也最为大众化的一张作品。此时，新鼓手Trey Many加入乐队，取代了Lang。
 
随着HNIA一张继一张专辑的推出，HNIA的核心人物Warren Defever的名声也越发响亮，越来越多的人开始认识并肯定了Defever的创新才华。他在为HNIA忙活的同时，也开始时不时的到其他一些乐队客串一把，其中包括与Pale Saint乐队前成员Ian Masters合作的专辑ESP Summer。Warren还和童年时代的伙伴成立了Time Stereo，一个专门发行出版一些小电影、彩色印刷品，以及一些只发行卡带作品的乐队专辑的工作室。
 
Defever出生长大在密西根州的小镇Livonia，这个快要睡着的小镇，没有时髦的流行文化或年轻的音乐。而从小就喜欢病态的Hard-core和怪异的Noise-pop的Defever无疑成为人们眼中的异类。“什么都没有，那要怎么办？我就喜欢的什么都搞。” Defever曾这样说。他多元化且善变的兴趣深深影响了HNIA之后专辑的风格。96年的专辑Stars on ESP充满了像the Beach Boys那种60年代中期流行音乐的复古感觉；接下来一年发行的EP Nice Day的灵感又来源于车库摇滚和60年代R&B音乐；98年的LP Fort Lake又融入了Funk, Soul, Classic- Rock元素。99年，HNIA在美国发行了Always Stay Sweet，两年后又推出了Someday My Blues Will Cover the Earth。2002年的Last Night是HNIA与4AD的散伙专辑。此时的HNIA找到了新的出口，沿着他们奇异的音乐路线越走越稳健。
 
如果说你是一个对上个世纪末的音乐还小有了解的人，如果你的音乐库里少了His Name Is Alive，那真是一件很遗憾的事。这样说并不意味着His Name Is Alive是如何经典的好，功力如何的高。HNIA的特点正是表现在这后现代文化环境中，一种杂烩式的艺术性格。最重要的是：HNIA并未忘记音乐的基本元素：旋律之调和与声韵之优美。他们于实验、大胆、反传统的架构背后更接纳了传统式的音乐品味，结合爆发出一波当代最具形象指标的音乐组合。
 
我们试着从另一种看待音乐的角度出发，如现代偶像化包装流行音乐，弃音乐沦为附庸。相同的道理，HNIA的重点不落在音乐本身，而在潜移默化的塑造这些音乐的概念与动机。我们可在HNIA音乐里找到所有类型的音乐元素，所有与时俱进的制作技巧，包装设计整体配合的破格式意象，歌词附带出的完全飘浮无垠，以及这种音乐为己加工上市的商业行为，直接深入当代文化前沿模态，毫不妥协的突破了艺术范畴形而上的最后防线。HNIA音乐中那完全抽象化之后，再经过修饰，具体化、形象化的呈现，试图捣毁否定一切而从不可思议的根基发展出一种性格，给与古典、传统以全新的现代美之感动——就如蒙娜丽莎亘古不变的微笑容颜，只是她在看、在笑的时代不同罢了。
 
Detrola是His Name Is Alive加入Reincarnate旗下发行的首张专辑。这是他们沉寂四年后，重新的复活，Detrola向我们证明，这四年的等待是值得的。Warn Defever其实是那种很个人主义的音乐家，他会呆在某个角落，静静的思考，安静的说话，周围的围观者只是能完全理解并沉迷于其中的人。他不会用音乐去谄媚任何人，永远忠于自己。这是17年来他始终奉行的原则。当然，这种自恋式的音乐理念也正是标准的4AD气质，尽管HNIA已经离开了她。在Detrola中，HNIA一如既往的抽象、梦幻、诡异。这张专辑仿佛是把HNIA以往所有专辑的音乐拿到一起然后剁成碎片，然后再以新的顺序拼贴起来，它们听上去那么的熟悉而新鲜。当然，它继承了HNIA专辑的一贯的孤独气质：你大概只能在一个人的时候聆听他们的音乐，因为与人分享的话它就一定会变味。这是一种相当私人的美。
 
4AD的美学是不朽的。那种潮涨潮退一样自然宽广的shoegaze式阴郁，已经深入了HNIA的骨子里无法磨灭，它奠定了一种独立的基础，将对他们产生溯及既往的影响。“Introduction”以一段悲痛的噪音Loop开始，女主唱的声音极其哀怨，歌词则颇具诗意：“The darkest night I ever saw was the night I left my love…”接下来的“After I Leave U”则是一首特别时髦的synth-pop；第三曲“I Thought I Saw”又蹦回复古的灵歌和布鲁斯旋律；第5首“C*A*T*S”电子舞曲感十足，那合成器做出的猫叫既诱人又迷离；在“Your Bones”里我们又听到了HNIA最让人熟悉的低调民谣，旋律波动极小，反复摩挲着耳边的那块软骨；随后的“You Need a Heart”风格凛然一转，又变到了在96年专辑Stars on ESP中大范围使用的类似Beach Boys庸懒诙谐的调调；第9首“Get Your Curse”是整张专辑的高潮，70年代的singer/songwriter-pop风格，摇摆的钢琴、喇叭合奏，就像是婚礼中间场的小插曲；“Seven Minutes”是一首有点小闷骚小神经质口味的作品，电子Jazz Fusion律动十足，萨克斯即兴的流转，和女主音的有些沙哑的声音仿佛跳贴身舞般性感；整张专辑最后以一曲温暖的民谣布鲁斯“I'll Send My Face to Your Funeral”收场。
 
Detrola就这样结束了。比起以往HNIA的专辑，它似乎平和了一些，但依然让我们看到了他们奇异的优雅。Defever所做的一切，正是我们期盼着从一个真正的音乐家那里汲取的力量。他的音乐永远只属于他自己与众不同的世界。重要的是，他的世界疆域无边，横贯美国音乐发展的各个时代。他像个隐者，但并不唯我独尊或者性格孤僻，他善待每个路过他世界的听众。这是场私人展览，你最后独自消受。如果可以喜欢上他，便是你无比的幸运。His Name Is Alive的乐迷们会从这张Detrola开始时常幸运，因为大概再不用等四年才等来这样的好音乐。
 
Named after history class notes on Abraham Lincoln, the Livonia, MI-based sonic manipulators His Name Is Alive formed when multi-instrumentalist/producer Warren Defever (also of shockabilly group Elvis Hitler) was still in high school. Defever, former schoolmate Karin Oliver (vocals), and drummer Damian Lang released self-produced cassettes of their music, one of which made its way to Ivo Watts-Russell, founder of the pioneering art label 4AD. Intrigued with His Name Is Alives blend of spectral vocals, poetic lyrics, and textural guitars, Watts signed the band.
 
The group recorded its first release for the label, Livonia, in Defevers home studio. The album features Olivers shivery vocals along with tape loops, samples, and guitar blasts, for a noise-damaged, ethereal collection of songs about ghosts, reincarnation, and dreams. By 1992s Home Is in Your Head, the bands lineup and scope expanded. New singers Denise James, Karen Neal, Melissa Elliott, and guitarist Jymn Auge added depth and breadth to the bands original lineup. An epic 23 songs long, Home Is in Your Head ranges from folky ballads to electrifying guitar maelstroms and tape collages. That year also saw the release of The Dirt Eaters EP, named for Defevers other, more rock-oriented group, of which Elliot was also a member. In 1993, His Name Is Alive released two albums: King of Sweet, a limited-edition release that mixed tape effects, samples, demos, and unreleased songs, and Mouth by Mouth, which added more pop structure into the groups inherently experimental and dreamy sound, resulting in its most accessible and diverse album to that date. A new drummer, Trey Many, took over Langs duties.
 
As Defevers reputation as an innovative producer spread, he lent his skills to bands like Grenadine, a side project of Tsunamis Jenny Toomey and Unrests Mark Robinson, other 4AD acts like Liquorice (which featured Toomey, Dan Littleton from Ida, and His Name Is Alives Many) and Tarnation, and other Detroit-area bands like Godzuki and Outrageous Cherry. Defever also worked on other projects, including the folky ESP Summer (with former Pale Saint Ian Masters) and the electronic Robot World and Control Panel, and founded the Time Stereo art collective with a childhood friend, artist/musician Davin Brainard. Some of Time Stereos projects included films, coloring books, and cassette-only releases from bands like Princess Dragon Mom, the Crash, Godzuki, New Grape, and Noise Camp.
 
Defevers diverse interests influenced His Name Is Alives next release, 1996s Stars on ESP. Very little of the groups original ethereal sound remained, augmented instead with touches of dub, folk, gospel, and early- to mid-60s pop like the Beach Boys Pet Sounds. At the time of the albums release, Defever claimed that he was so fascinated by the groups Good Vibrations that he listened to it for months at a time. The following years Nice Day EP reached to garage rock and 60s R&B for its inspiration, and featured some of the gospel singers from Stars on ESP, including Lovetta Pippen, whose singing also gave His Name Is Alives 1998 LP, Fort Lake, an earthy sensuality. Fort Lake also marked the first time the band worked with another producer, recording engineer Steve King. King, another Livonia native, had also worked with Funkadelic and Aretha Franklin, and his touch meshes nicely with the funk, soul, and classic rock allusions His Name Is Alive makes on the album. In preparation for recording Fort Lake — named after a waterlogged Civil War fort in Michigan — the group played monthly shows at the Gold Dollar, a tiny Detroit club. At this time, Pippen, bassist Chad Gilchrist, and additional drummer Scott Goldstein debuted as part of the new lineup.
 
In 1999, His Name Is Alive released a U.S. compilation of tracks from their first five albums called Always Stay Sweet; at the time, those albums were only available as British imports. Like the rest of the bands work, the compilation highlights their mercurial, unique nature. Someday My Blues Will Cover the Earth appeared two years later. Released in 2002, the darkly soulful Last Night ended up being the groups final album for 4AD, but His Name Is Alive found other outlets for their music, and were actually busier than ever. Time Stereo released several CDs, such as 2004s ten-disc Cloud Box set, Leaf Club, Brown Rice, and The Detroit River, as well as many MP3-only works, including the Summer Bird and Something_Nothing EPs and a remastered version of King of Sweet. UFO Catcher was released in 2005 on CD by the German label En/Of and on vinyl by Time Stereo, while Ypsilanti Records issued the full-length Summer Bird that spring. That year, Defever also set up the Silver Mountain imprint, which was distributed by Sony BMG.
 
Late in 2005, His Name Is Alive released the Raindrops Rainbow EP via iTunes as a teaser for Detrola, their debut for Reincarnate, also the home of fellow former 4AD artist Lisa Germano and Sing-Sing, the project of former Lush member Emma Anderson. The album featured new vocalist Andrea Francesca Morici, aka Andy FM. In late summer 2007, His Name Is Alive released Xmmer, which expanded on Detrolas sound with African and Asian influences. That fall, Sweet Earth Flower: A Tribute to Marion Brown — which augmented excerpts from a 2004 tribute concert to the legendary saxophonist with studio tracks — arrived.