VASHTI BUNYAN, "Lookaftering"
去年Kate Bush睽違樂壇12年後的回歸之作"Aerial"似乎喚醒了閱聽人蒙蔽已久的懷舊之心,各界讚譽不斷,將一張實在不怎樣的專輯(以布希女士的標準來說)捧上了年度最佳之列。
與此同時,英倫樂壇另外一顆繞行軌道更遠的彗星再現天際 -- 這次可是35年後再見 -- 那便是Vashti Bunyan生涯第二張專輯"Lookaftering",這位姊妹上次推出作品已經是1970年的"Just Another Diamond Day"了。呃,假如當時你已經出世,請接受敝人致上的最高敬意。
據說,最令人驚詫的是35年光陰一如昨日,Vashti Bunyan的歌聲絲毫未變,彷彿從35年前的最後一首歌接著唱了下來,只不過這些年她選擇不讓人聽見她的聲音。
我也很久沒碰到這麼feminine/feminist的藝術作品了。Vashti Bunyan幽幽唱著:
didn't want to be the one
the one who's left behind
while the other one goes out to life
and comes back home to find
me sitting pretty happily
surrounded by a house
with cups in all their saucers
and not a bit of dust
days going by in clouds of flour and white washing
life getting lost in a world without end
I wanted to be the one
with road dust on my boots
and a single silver ear-ring
and a suitcase full of notes
and a band of wayward children
with their fathers left behind
all in their castles in their air
and houses in their land
lives getting lost in mending gaps in their fencing
all I ever wanted was a road without end
這總是讓我想到守在旖色佳等候良人歸來20載的Penelope。除了那匹夜夜織成的布,各位看倌可曾聽過她親口述說的故事?(好啦,我當然知道Margaret Atwood後來寫了"herstory"*。)
PS. 說到這,私竊以為Cocco當年唱的"強く儚い者たち"則是Circe的心聲。原來這些年Odysseus的女人們,身影一直沒離開過。
PPS. 附上Pitchfork的專訪http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/interviews/b/bunyan_vashti-05/
*MARGARET ATWOOD, "The Penelopiad - The Myth of Penelope and Odysseus "