第一次注意到Caroline Weeks的契機是這張專輯封面上的小貼紙,上面有Bat For Lashes的字樣,她曾待過Bat For Lashes的合作團隊,也是Bat For Lashes最好聽的一張專輯-首張專輯Fur and Gold時期(2006-2008),當時的Bat For Lashes隨著Radiohead的In Rainbow Tour巡迴,所以我是透過很多關鍵字來延伸聆聽,從Radiohead認識當時巡迴團Bat For Lashes,再來認識了Caroline Weeks。
Caroline Weeks這位英國的文藝少女,沒有能在這一片關鍵字當中竄起。離開與Bat For Lashes的合作後,在2009年發行了首張個人專輯-Songs for Edna,是以美國詩人Edna St. Vincent Millay的詩作譜曲。收錄九首歌曲幾乎都只有在吉他的伴奏下,緩慢沉穩的進行,她的歌聲安靜又溫柔,如果夠做作你可以去找來那些詩集搭配著翻閱,比如說在第二首歌What lips my lips have kissed,借用Caroline Weeks來體會那種深夜寂靜裡突然被喚醒的感傷,自己在來來去去當中只能佇立在原地等待,對自己身體累積結成的記憶,好像隨時採拾都只能嘗出酸處啃出痛處:
What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why,
I have forgotten, and what arms have lain
Under my head till morning, but the rain
Is full of ghosts tonight, that tap and sigh
Upon the glass and listen for reply,
And my heart there stirs a quiet pain
For unremembered lads that not again
Will turn to me at midnight with a cry.
Thus in the winter stands the lonely tree,
Nor knows what birds have vanished one by one,
Yet knows its boughs more silent than before:
I cannot say what loves have come and gone,
I only know that summer sang in me
A little while, that in me sings no more.
Caroline Weeks同時也是一位視覺藝術家,雖然目前仍尚未看見她有代表性的影像作品,不過她讓我想起電影導演Miranda July(早期她也有發行唱片),同樣是位讓自己身體力行去展現美的事物的藝術家,不過Miranda July稍微貼近現代的生活體驗,而Caroline Weeks則是不斷地從古典當中挖掘美,這些點閱率很低的MV是怎麼回事啊!