Sylvan Esso think you should splurge on good-quality yogurt
Sylvan Esso think you should splurge on good-quality yogurt
Sylvan Esso 认为你应该在优质酸奶上多花点钱
The band’s new, organic-sounding record Ow ∞ is out now. 该乐队听感自然的新专辑《Ow ∞》现已发布。
Amelia Meath and Nick Sanborn, better known as Sylvan Esso, have been bringing their low-key electro-pop to the masses since 2014, bursting onto the scene with their self-titled debut album and the single “Hey Mami.” Over the years, they’ve put out a number of excellent records, dabbling in dustier, more fragile textures on Free Love, going dancier and glitchier on No Rules Sandy. The two are constantly pushing at the edges of their sound while retaining the core of what makes a Sylvan Esso record sound like a Sylvan Esso record. Amelia Meath 和 Nick Sanborn（更为人熟知的名字是 Sylvan Esso）自 2014 年以来一直向大众呈现他们低调的电子流行乐，凭借同名首张专辑和单曲《Hey Mami》一炮而红。多年来，他们发行了多张优秀的唱片，在《Free Love》中尝试了更具颗粒感、更脆弱的质感，在《No Rules Sandy》中则变得更具舞曲感和故障艺术风格。两人不断拓展音乐的边界，同时保留了 Sylvan Esso 唱片的核心特质。
Their new album Ow ∞, released this past Friday, represents perhaps the boldest reinvention of their sound, however. It’s unabashedly nostalgic-sounding, trading the glitchy modular drums and glossy dance production of Free Love for turn-of-the-century breakbeats and distorted guitars. At times, the songs recall bands like Soul Coughing and Blur, on tracks like “Hot Slob” and “Concrete Glen.” But don’t worry, there’s still plenty of bleeps and bloops and modern vocal production techniques to keep fans of past albums happy. 然而，上周五发布的新专辑《Ow ∞》或许代表了他们声音最彻底的重塑。它听起来毫不掩饰地怀旧，用世纪之交的碎拍（breakbeats）和失真吉他取代了《Free Love》中故障感十足的模块化鼓点和华丽的舞曲制作。在《Hot Slob》和《Concrete Glen》等曲目中，这些歌曲有时会让人想起 Soul Coughing 和 Blur 等乐队。但别担心，专辑中依然保留了大量的电子音效和现代人声处理技术，足以让过去专辑的粉丝们感到满意。
To celebrate the release of Ow ∞, Sylvan Esso agreed to answer our weekly questionnaire. 为了庆祝《Ow ∞》的发布，Sylvan Esso 同意回答我们的每周问卷。
What is your most indispensable tool? 你最不可或缺的工具是什么？
Nick Sanborn: My laptop. I have loved a series of MacBooks dating back to when I graduated from high school and cannot imagine working without one. I am absolutely one of those millennials who despises typing or doing any important work on a touchscreen. Nick Sanborn： 我的笔记本电脑。从高中毕业起我就一直钟情于 MacBook 系列，无法想象没有它该如何工作。我绝对是那种讨厌在触摸屏上打字或处理重要工作的千禧一代。
What is one thing you wish you could change about your phone? 你希望手机能做出什么改变？
NS: I wish it felt like it cared more about me than its creator. NS： 我希望它能表现得更关心我，而不是关心它的创造者。
Amelia Meath: I wish the phone was actually a food replicator. So many problems would be solved. Amelia Meath： 我希望手机实际上是一个食物复制机。那样很多问题都能迎刃而解了。
How many tabs do you have open right now? 你现在开了多少个浏览器标签页？
NS: Eight, which feels a touch low compared to my normal ADHD tab expanse. No pins besides email, though, I like a tabula rasa scene when I open a browser. NS： 八个，相比我平时那种“多动症式”的标签页数量，这算少的了。除了邮箱外没有固定标签页，我喜欢打开浏览器时那种“白板”的感觉。
What is your happy place online? 你在网络上的快乐源泉是什么？
NS: I still frequent a version of the old Monome forum, which is generally focused on programming and instrument design. The people there are excellent and interesting and so welcoming and nice. It’s the only place on the internet that feels more positive than detrimental to me. NS： 我仍然经常访问旧版 Monome 论坛的一个版本，那里主要讨论编程和乐器设计。那里的人都很优秀、有趣，而且非常热情友好。这是互联网上唯一让我觉得利大于弊的地方。
AM: Spellsofmagic.com. AM： Spellsofmagic.com。
What is your favorite gadget you’ve ever owned? 你拥有过的最喜欢的电子产品是什么？
AM: I had a T-Mobile Sidekick that I saved up for when I was in high school. It was the coolest phone I have ever owned. I kept my journal on there :D AM： 我高中时攒钱买过一部 T-Mobile Sidekick。那是我拥有过最酷的手机。我还在上面写日记 :D
What game do you have the fondest memories of? 你记忆中最美好的游戏是什么？
NS: EarthBound, which was a gorgeous, heartfelt, quirky JRPG on the Super Nintendo that came out in 94. It’s beautiful and strange and full of humanity. I still play it all the way through every few years. NS： 《地球冒险》（EarthBound），那是 94 年在超级任天堂上推出的一款华丽、真挚且古怪的日式 RPG。它既美丽又奇特，充满了人性。我至今每隔几年还会把它通关一遍。
AM: The first Zelda I played was Skyward Sword on the Wii. We lived in a house with a whole bunch of other people, and we would all hang and play together. It was a joy and became my gateway into playing games as an adult. There have been so many others that I have fallen in love with since then — Hollow Knight, Blue Prince, Hades — but Skyward Sword was my first love. So much lore. AM： 我玩的第一款《塞尔达传说》是 Wii 上的《天空之剑》。当时我们和一群人住在一起，大家经常聚在一起玩。那段时光非常快乐，也成了我成年后开始玩游戏的契机。后来我爱上了很多其他游戏——比如《空洞骑士》、《Blue Prince》、《哈迪斯》——但《天空之剑》是我的初恋。背景故事太丰富了。
Which tech trend do you wish would go away? 你希望哪种科技趋势消失？
AM: The encouragement of apathy. AM： 对冷漠的助长。
What is one thing you wish you had created? 你希望自己创造过什么东西？
NS: I rarely wish I had made something that I already like, since I feel like me making it would have ruined it being what it is in the first place. But I have been dreaming about a really specific thing — an AM/FM radio with an analog tuner that I could control remotely with a computer or sequencer — for literal years. There are many things out there that are close but not quite this, so much so that it’s kinda maddening. I even tried to get a synth tech I work with regularly to help me prototype one, but it never came to fruition. Finally, last year, a small company in Italy started making one, and like four friends sent me the link in a week, that was how endlessly chatty I had been about wanting one. Of course I ordered one, and it’s good, but I still think it could be better lol. NS： 我很少希望自己去创造那些我已经喜欢的东西，因为我觉得如果由我来做，反而会破坏它原本的样子。但我多年来一直梦想着一个非常具体的东西——一台带有模拟调谐器的 AM/FM 收音机，我可以用电脑或音序器远程控制它。市面上有很多类似的产品，但都不完全符合要求，这让人有点抓狂。我甚至尝试找一位经常合作的合成器技术人员帮我制作原型，但一直没能实现。直到去年，意大利一家小公司开始生产这种产品，一周内有四个朋友把链接发给我，可见我平时有多唠叨想要这东西。我当然订购了一台，它确实不错，但我还是觉得它可以做得更好，哈哈。
AM: I wish I had the well. What an incredible claim to fame. “I figured out how to store and save water from the table.” I feel like I could stop trying after that. AM： 我希望我发明了水井。那是多么了不起的成就啊。“我发现了如何储存和保存桌子上的水。”我觉得在那之后我就不需要再努力了。
What do you do when you need to focus? 当你需要专注时会做什么？
AM: I go outside and sit. Usually, I have to be writing, so I can take my notebook out. I try to leave my phone inside, but I usually forget! AM： 我会去外面坐着。通常我需要写作，所以我可以带上笔记本。我尽量把手机留在屋里，但我通常会忘掉！
What do you do when you’re feeling stuck? 当你感到卡壳时会做什么？
NS: I usually find myself stuck when I want something to be good and it just isn’t yet, but I can’t let it go. In that situation, I just have to step away and do something totally different and without consequence, like pulling out an instrument I haven’t used in a while and making something unrelated as spontaneously as I can. I find removing expectations and shifting gears to be really helpful for my headspace when I can’t find a way through whatever has me in a loop. NS： 我通常在想要把某件事做好但还没达到预期，又无法放下时感到卡壳。在这种情况下，我必须走开，去做一些完全不同且没有后果的事情，比如拿出很久没用的乐器，尽可能随性地创作一些无关的东西。我发现，当我陷入循环无法自拔时，消除期望并转换思路对调整心态非常有帮助。
When was the last time you went somewhere without your phone? 你上次没带手机出门是什么时候？
NS: About a month ago, I put my phone through both the washer and dryer, destroying it completely and giving me about a week of pure phoneless existence. It was heaven. Highly recommend. NS： 大约一个月前，我把手机扔进洗衣机和烘干机里，彻底报废了，这让我度过了大约一周完全没有手机的生活。简直是天堂。强烈推荐。
What’s the last piece of physical media you bought? 你最近购买的实体媒介是什么？
AM: I just bought Sheila Heti’s Pure Colour at a bookstand in Brooklyn. It is a beautiful and incredibly surreal read. AM： 我刚在布鲁克林的一个书摊上买了 Sheila Heti 的《Pure Colour》。这是一本美丽且极其超现实的读物。
What do you think is worth splurging on? 你认为什么东西值得多花点钱？
NS: Yogurt. It’s not even that much of a splurge, but I just think good yogurt is utterly transcendent. Deeply underrated. NS： 酸奶。这甚至算不上什么大额消费，但我认为好的酸奶绝对是超凡脱俗的。它被严重低估了。