虫虫危机

美式本格Indie Rock传人Kurt Vile薯叔，到底是用了甚么魔法让2015葛莱美最佳新进艺人提名的澳洲姐接Courtney Barnett还有Dirtry Three、Warpaint、Mick Harvey一同曼妙高歌？
或许一切都是某种契合的缘分，近两三年，屡屡掳获各方媒体乐评一致赞扬，视年终榜如自家客厅来去自如的澳籍独立民谣摇滚歌手Courtney Barnett和来自美国费城Kurt Vile出乎外界意料地在2017年3月间传出两人已开始默默共同进行谱写制作一张合作专辑。 不过事情可能都要回溯到2015年当Kurt Vile撰写首支单曲〈Over Everything〉时便已经开始幻想Barnett会合他一起唱这首歌，果然十几个月过后，Vile的计划成真，两人携手在录音间前后花了八天的时间完成整张专辑录音，除了单曲请来曾为King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard执导过的Danny Cohen负责拍摄外，两人不仅在影像中相互扮演对方的演唱角色外，两人还各翻唱对方或其友人的老歌，此外Barnett的一首〈Outta the Woodwork〉还请来澳洲后摇名团Dirty Three两名大老吉他手Mick Turner和鼓手Jim White、摇滚浪子Mick Harvey和Warpaint乐团的Stella Mozgawa等友人特别客串，等同当今澳洲独立音乐场景精锐尽出，使得这张专辑在预售前便已造成各方注目。
事实上，这对有着共同喜好、习性的歌手有着很多共同之处，Vile擅长以写实主义手法唱出美式乡村民谣的歌曲，Barnett则在他2016年的首张专辑《Sometimes I Sit and Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit》展现了她描绘日常生活的荒谬诙谐著称，同时两人均是当今独立摇滚界最好的说故事者，冷面笑匠及真挚的歌手。此番两人临时共组的可爱副计划，纵使整张专辑有一半的歌曲算是重新诠释的翻唱歌曲，但恰如一篇乐评说的好，在每首听似悠缓曲调背后所散发的，永远是他们两人笔下所勾勒出的荒谬与现实，再佐以一种诗意的的迷人魅力共冶于一炉。（Ricardo）
KURT VILE: We ran into each other on the road in various continents and talked about the recordings. I guess it wasn’t till i had another tour booked for the following summer in Australia that we thought we should record as much as we can, no major goal to make it a full length but it came together that way because the vibe was so strong. I love working with Courtney, the collaboration was laid back with less pressure.
COURTNEY BARNETT: Now we nished the album, we dreamt up an amazing band which we’ve called THE SEA LICE (inspired by a Stella Mozgawa beach-side-story) and me n Kurt will be standing there out front with our guitars singing songs together. Songs from this album we did, a handful of our own songs from previous albums, maybe some old folk songs n what not. Harmonies and guitarmonies galore. Very collaborative.
Lotta Sea Lice is the result of 8 days in the studio spread over almost 15 months when Courtney and Kurt’s respective touring schedules allowed for them to be in the same place at the same time.