Fleet Foxes的完美和声（原载于2010年左右某期《滚石》杂志）
When FleetFoxes singer Robin Pecknold was in high school inSeattle, he was overweight, bad at sports andway too intoThe Lord
of the Rings. "It was a pretty isolating time," he says."I was never invited to anyone's party. I felt invisible." If thatwasn't bad enough, he suffered allergies so debilitating he was often unable togo to school. "Once, I sneezed 23 times in a row," he says. "Icould barely leave my house. My face would turn red and I'd, like, die."
当Fleet Foxes的主唱Robin Pecknold在西雅图读高中时，他体重超标，不擅体育而且太过痴迷于《指环王》。“那可真是一段与人隔绝的时光。”他说，“我从没被任何人邀请去参加party。我感觉别人像看不见我一样。”这还不要紧，他患有过敏症，那使他虚弱得经常去不了学校。“有一次，我一连打了23个喷嚏。”他说，“我根本没法离开家。我的脸会变红而且，会像要死了一样。”
But he did have a best friend, the supremely shySkyler Skjelset. And together, they had music. Before thefirst bell and during lunch breaks, Robin and Skye hung out with the computergeeks in the science lab. "It had the best stereo system in the wholeschool," says Skjelset. "We'd sit around and blast Neil Young and BobDylan — and the teacher would always squeeze in some ELO and Yes."
但是他确实拥有一位至交好友，极其害羞的Skyler Skjelset。他们还在一起享受音乐。每到第一次钟声前和午餐休息时，Robin和skye与那些电脑迷一起泡在科学实验室里。“它有全校最好的立体声系统。”Skjelset说，“我们总是坐在那里，很大声地播放尼尔·扬和鲍勃·迪伦的音乐——而老师每次只是挤出“你好”、“是的”之类的话。”
Now 22, Pecknold and Skjelset front one of the mostbuzzed-about young bands inAmerica.Since releasing the pastoral, folky EPSun Giantin February, and their debutalbum in June, Fleet Foxes have scored a gig onThe Late Show With David Lettermanandan opening stint with Wilco — during which the Foxes shared the stage for anightly encore of "I Shall Be Released." "It was amazing,"Pecknold recalls. "Just last Christmas I was harmonizing 'I Shall BeReleased' with my family."
现在，22岁的Pecknold和Skjelset领导着美国最当红的年轻乐队之一。自从二月发行田园民谣味道的单曲《Sun Giant》，六月发行他们的首张专辑以来，Fleet Foxes曾在The Late Show With David Letterman中演出过一次；他们还出席Wilco演出季的开场，每晚参与在Encore环节的《I Shall Be Released》演出。“真令人惊奇。”Pecknold回忆，“就在去年圣诞，我也和家人一起合唱《I Shall Be Released》呢。”
On a warm afternoon in September, Pecknold sits at anoutdoor table at a coffee shop in the Capitol Hill district of Seattle. He'swearing his favorite tattered blue-plaid flannel over a stained white T-shirtand a pendant around his neck engraved with his girlfriend's name, Olivia. Hishair is long and greasy, curling around his chin; beneath a scraggly beard hehas a long face, high cheekbones and dark skin.
九月一个天气暖和的下午，在西雅图Capitol hill区的一家咖啡店,Pecknold坐在一张露天桌旁。他穿着一件褪色的白T恤，外面套着他最爱穿的破烂的蓝格子法兰绒衬衫；脖子上戴着项链，项链垂饰上刻着他女友的名字，Olivia。他的头发很长而且油滑，在他的下巴两旁卷曲着。在一把凌乱的胡须之下，他有着一副长脸庞，高颧骨，和深色的皮肤。
Despite his success, he's still a loner. He says he's neverbeen to a party and he hates bars, due to overwhelming social anxiety. "Idon't really hang out with anyone," Pecknold says. "I'll hang outwith my band, because I love them, but I don't have any friends aside fromthat."
尽管取得了成功，他却仍旧喜欢孤独。他说，他从来不参加party并讨厌酒吧，因为对社交怀有无法克服的焦虑感。“我不喜欢和别人一起出去玩。”Pecknold说，“我会和我的队友们一起出去，因为我爱他们，但是除了他们，我便没有任何朋友。”
"White Winter Hymnal,"from the band's debut album,Fleet Foxes, epitomizes their sound: openand melodic arrangements, chiming four-part harmonies (lots of"oohing" and "ahhing") and primarily acousticinstrumentation. "It's basically pop music," says Pecknold."It's not rock, not a lot of jamming out. It's focused." Pecknold'slyrics, though, stray farther from basic pop tropes. Pecknold wrote "WhiteWinter Hymnal" about friends who ditched him when he was in middle school."The songs are written from personal experience," he says."There are no love songs."
出自乐队首张专辑《Fleet Foxes》的《White Winter Hymnal》集中体现了他们的声音特色：音乐编排开阔、优美，四部构成的和声如同钟声一般（许多的“呜”和“啊”声），乐器基本上是纯朴的原声。“它基本算是流行音乐。”Pecknold说，“它不是摇滚，没有很多的Jamming out。它是有焦点的。”然而，Pecknold的歌词远离一般流行歌曲的框框。Pecknold的《White Winter Hymnal》写的是他读中学时把他丢弃的伙伴们。“这些歌写的都是个人的体验。”他说，“没有一首情歌。”
Though he has no formaltraining, Pecknold has a natural grasp of music theory, and many of his tunesare dense with ambitious countermelodies. In a live setting, the Foxes' soundseems to exceed the sum of its five parts — including Skjelset on guitar,drummer J Tillman and multi-instrumentalists Casey Wescott and Christian Wargo."I wanted to use the voice as a way of embellishing the arrangements ofthe songs, like someone might use strings," says Pecknold. "Now wehave four people singing and five people playing instruments, and Skye playinga bass pedal while he plays the guitar. That's 10 things happening all atonce."
虽然没有经过正规的训练，Pecknold却对乐理有着天赋的掌握力，而且他写的许多曲子由繁复的复调旋律密集地构成。在现场演出的情况下，Fleet Foxes的声响似乎超出了它五部分的相加；五部分包括吉他手Skjeset，鼓手J Tillman和弹奏多种乐器的Casey Wescott 与Christian Wargo。“我想使用人声作为对歌曲编排加以润色的手段，好比某个音乐家会使用弦乐。”Pecknold说，“现在我们有四个人演唱，五个人演奏乐器，而Skye在弹吉他的同时还负责大鼓的踏板。也就是说，一共有10件事情一起发生。”
In the liner notes toFleet
Foxes, Pecknold writes, "Family is the only important thing in thisworld." With his brother, Sean, and sister, Aja (named after the SteelyDan album), Pecknold grew up in the wealthySeattlesuburb ofKirkland,near the home of Microsoft. With his father playing acoustic guitar and his momplaying piano, the kids grew up like the Partridge Family, harmonizing on tunesby CSN, Buffalo Springfield and others. Aja, who also writes about music forSeattle Weekly, is now the Fleet Foxes' manager,and Sean directs the group's videos.
在《Fleet Foxes》的内页中，Pecknold写道，“家庭是这个世界上唯一重要的东西。”和哥哥Sean及姐姐Aja（名字取自Steely Dan的专辑）一起，Pecknold在西雅图的富裕郊区Kirkland长大，那里邻近微软的总部。像《Patridge Family》（一部情景喜剧）一样，孩子们是在父亲的吉他和母亲的钢琴伴奏下，合唱着CSN(Crosby, Stills & Nash),Buffalo Springfield和其他人的曲子长大的。为《西雅图周报》撰写关于音乐文章的Aja现在是Fleet Foxes的经纪人，而Sean导演乐队的影片。
In middle school, Pecknold'sgrowing pains and loneliness were exacerbated when Sean and Aja — five andseven years older, respectively — took off for college. But the key to hissalvation arrived around the same time, when his parents bought him a Martinacoustic guitar for Christmas.
在中学，当Sean和Aja——分别比他年长五岁和七岁——离家去上大学时，Pecknold日渐增长的痛苦和寂寞加剧了。但他的救命宝物也在这时降临——父母给他买了一把马丁牌的原声吉他作为圣诞礼物。
Pecknold dropped out of schoolin the 10th grade to spend more time with his ax. "By that point, everyperson at the school was loaded," he recalls. "Teenage girls with noperspective were doing coke. It was so infuriating." (Surprisingly, givenhis shaggy look, Pecknold doesn't use drugs. "I don't need to pay $20 fora sleeping aid," he says about weed.) He earned his remaining high schoolcredits at community college, picking up cash through a job at a grocery storewhile immersing himself in classic-rock and folk albums. "Dylan," hesays, "was the gateway to everything. He was so young when he madeFreewheelin',and Brian Wilson was 23 when he didPet Sounds, which is just insane. Ifigured I should start young."
10年级时，Pecknold为把更多时间用在吉他上而辍学了。“当时，学校里所有的人都承受着负担。”他回忆，“那些看不到前途的十几岁女孩在吸食古柯。这真让人愤懑。”（鉴于他头发蓬乱的外表，Pecknold没有吸毒，使人诧异。“我不需要为了帮助睡眠而花上20元。”他说的是大麻烟。）他在社区学院修完了其余的高中学分，在一家杂货店打工挣钱同时潜心钻研经典的摇滚和民谣专辑。“迪伦”，他说，“是通往一切的大门。他还那么年轻就创作了《Freewheeling’》，而Brian Wilson做出超常的《Pet Sounds》时才23岁。我想我应该从年少时就开始行动。”
At 18, Pecknold moved to his ownplace and got a job as a line cook at Bimbo's Bitchin' Burrito Kitchen, wherehe got a valuable musical education. "I had spent so much time listeningto music alone, learning about music from the Sixties and Seventies, so I feltlike I knew everything," he says. "I was like any cocky kid."But the burrito joint employed a bunch of establishedSeattlemusicians, including guys who hadplayed with Modest Mouse and Tiny Vipers. "They'd play me songs that I'dnever even heard before, songs that were just amazing," Pecknold says."I was humbled. I definitely couldn't just put on a post-SmileBeachBoys compilation and wow anybody. I had to dig deeper."
18岁时，Pecknold搬往属于自己的住处并在Bimbo’s Bitchin’Burrito Kitchen得到了一个流水线厨师的工作。在那里他受到了一番音乐教育，受益匪浅。“我曾用了这么多时间来听音乐以及学习六七十年代的音乐，这使我自以为无所不晓。”他说，“我就像一个轻狂的小子。”然而，Burrito联合公司雇用了一帮有资望的西雅图乐手，其中一些人曾经与Modest Mouse 及Tiny
Vipers一起演出过。“他们给我弹的歌曲，不但我尚未听闻而且惊人地精彩。”Pecknold说，“我只能服了。我肯定不可能仅仅秀上一串Beach Boys《Smile》之后的精选曲目就想让别人叫绝。我必须进一步钻研。”
AcclaimedSeattleproducer Phil Ek (he's worked withBuilt to Spill and Modest Mouse) first heard Pecknold's music around that time."I met him about four and a half years ago, and he'd be in the corner ofthe room playing Sixties-style pop songs, like the Zombies," says Ek."It was not as folky as the stuff he writes now, but it was obvious thathe had talent coming out of his ass."
有“西雅图制作人”之美称的Phil Ek（他曾经和Build to Spill及Modest Mouse合作）大概是那个时候第一次听到了Pecknold的音乐。“我大约四年半前认识他，他总是呆在房间的一角，弹着六十年代风格，像The Zombies那样的Pop歌曲。”Ek说，“它们不像他现在写的东西这么民谣化，但显而易见，他的才气正在往外冒。”
In 2006, Pecknold and Skjelsetcreated their first demo thatborethe nameFleet Foxes. "You know how you see those needlepoints in every antiquestore of fox hunters riding the horse with the dog?" Pecknold asks."I thought that a fox hunter might say, 'Fleet foxes today!' or somethinglike that. I liked that it was alliterative, but I regret that it was ananimal. Animal names are all over the place."
2006年，Pecknold和Skjelset初次使用Fleet Foxes这个名字，录制了他们的第一张样片。“每家古玩店都有这种针绣：带着猎犬、骑着马的猎狐人，你看到它们会有什么想法吗？”Pecknold问，“我想一个猎狐人会说，‘今天有一队狐狸呢！’或诸如此类的话。我很喜欢它押了头韵，但我遗憾它是一种动物。用动物作为名字的（乐队）到处都有。”
In early 2007, on a shoestringbudget, the Foxes began recording an album in earnest. When they had cash,they'd book studio time with Ek, but mainly they'd lay down parts in theirapartments or in the basement of Pecknold's parents' place.
2007年初，他们以极低的预算开始真正地录制一张专辑。每当有钱的时候，他们就和Ek预订录音时间，但是主要部分还是他们在自己家里和父母家的地下室录好的。
On January 18th, 2008, aheadline onSeattle Weekly's Website declared, "It's Official:Fleet Foxes Sign With Sub Pop" — Aja, of course, wrote the piece and brokethe news. While Pecknold was thrilled to be onSeattle's most famous label, he was concernedthat the basement-bedroom-studio recording ofFleet Foxesdidn'tadequately represent them. "What I wanted to happen, and I told this toSub Pop, was for the record to tank so we could get started on the next onesooner," he says. "I wanted it to fail."
2008年1月18日，《西雅图周报》网站上的一条标题宣布：“正式消息：FleetFoxes与Sub Pop签约”——当然，这条新闻是由Aja撰写并曝光的。Pecknold在因加盟西雅图最知名的厂牌而激动的同时也在担心《Fleet Foxes》地下室-卧室-录音室的录制技术不足以表现他们。“我希望这张唱片能被搁置下来，这样我们可以尽早开始下一张，我把这个主意跟Sub Pop说了。”他说，“我希望它泡汤。”
It didn't. And now, on atwo-week break from the road, Pecknold is hanging out on his parents' patiowith his bandmates, plucking slices of pizza off the table. "I want towrite a book calledPizza and Me," says Skjelset, a cheese-slicepurist who is on a global quest for the perfect pie. (So far, the winner is Una Pizza NapoletanainNew York.) Drummer Tillman — a respectedsinger-songwriter in his own right, and the opening act on the Foxes' currentEuropean tour — mentions his ability to perfectly draw the Teenage Mutant NinjaTurtles. Soon, everyone is geeking out about music: Levon Helm's MidnightRamble; Rodriguez's long-lost albumCold Fact; the Walkmen's new single"In the New Year"; folk singer Karen Dalton; and Past Lives, aSeattleband that justsigned to Suicide Squeeze Records.
它没有泡汤。现在是乐队从路上下来的两周休息时间。Pecknold和队友们一起正在父母的露台上扒披萨饼吃。“我想写一本叫《披萨和我》的书。”Skjelset说。他是一个正在搜寻世界上最美味披萨的“奶酪块纯正主义者”（目前，纽约的“Una Pizza Napoletana”（餐馆——注）是这个领域的佼佼者。）鼓手Tillman，在自己的位置上和乐队这次欧洲巡演开场中是一位受人尊敬的演唱者-作曲者。他提到自己能出色地画出“忍者神龟” 。不一会儿，大家都在谈论音乐话题：Levon
Helm的Midnight Ramble；Rodriguez长期不为人所知的专辑Cold Fact；Walkmen的新单曲“In the New Year”；民谣歌手Karen Dalton；和Past Lives，一支刚刚和Suicide Squeeze唱片签约的西雅图乐队。
