Eric Allen

Eric Allen （艾力克 阿兰）的同名唱片Eric Allen是他的首张专辑，表达他对于故乡美国的深情怀念，内容包含回忆、失去和希望。所有歌曲均用原声乐器录制，未使用鼓、电吉他或电贝司。这些歌曲是Eric 于2018年和2019年创作，形式有布鲁斯、民谣、叛道乡村等。歌曲表现出人在旅途 (All on Death Row, Holy Rollin’), 希冀 (Night Falls Again)和盼望 (She Waits)等情感。大多歌曲，包括Rattlesnake Mama 和 Stillhouse Blues等，深受创作者的家乡--美国南部文化的影响。

这张唱片首先要献给创作者的父亲Yancey,他是一位音乐人和工人，歌曲40 Years 就是对他的回忆。其次献给毁于2018年加利福尼亚大火的Eric 妹妹位于Malibu的房子，它是Really Miss的灵感来源。最后，这张唱片也献给艺术家的第二故乡--纽约（In Me ）。

Eric Allen’s self-titled, debut LP, Eric Allen, is a slice of Americana borne of memories, loss, and hope. All the tracks were recorded as entirely acoustic, without drums, electric guitar, or electric bass. These songs were written by Eric during 2018 and 2019, and draw from blues, folk, and outlaw country. The LP includes songs about life on the road (All on Death Row, Holy Rollin’), hope (Night Falls Again), and longing (She Waits). Many tracks, including Rattlesnake Mama and Stillhouse Blues, are influenced by the songwriter’s southern ancestral roots.

This LP is dedicated in three respects: First and foremost to the memory of the artist’s father, Yancey, a musician and factory worker about whom the song 40 Years was written; second to Eric’s sister’s home that burned in the 2018 Malibu fires (which inspired Really Miss); and third to the artist’s adopted home of New York City (which inspired In Me).

Track 1 - Night Falls Again

2018年马里布大火烧毁了我姐姐的家，同年我的父亲去世，自此，我需要寻找一种让我重新可见乐观和希望的方式，于是就有了《Night Falls Again》。这首歌里，有我从童年家乡和姐姐被烧毁的家中回想起的画面和声音。尽管这些画面和声音曾经被，并且仍然已被错过，但我终于意识到了一些微妙的事，它们将帮助人们在面对失去和悲剧之后，重新燃起对生活的憧憬。

Following the Malibu fires of 2018, which destroyed my sister’s home, and my father’s death that same year, I needed to find a form of renewed optimism and hope. Night Falls Again is the result of this need. This song reflects upon sights and sounds I recalled from my childhood hometown and my sister’s home. Although these sights and sounds were, and still are, greatly missed, in Night Falls Again, I ultimately realize subtle things that can help restore a person’s positive outlook on life following loss and tragedy.

Track 2 - She Waits

《She Waits》是一首关于忠诚，渴望和爱的不可思议的力量的歌曲。方大曾是失踪于抗日战争时期的一名战地摄影师和通讯员。我看见了这个年轻人对他的国家和人民饱含的怜悯心，以及他的摄影作品中捕捉到的动人的情感。在他失踪后，方大曾的母亲和妹妹一直坚持着等待他的归来，即使在有生命危险的时候，也仍然守护着他的摄影作品，终其一生。

Fang Dazeng was a Chinese war photographer and correspondent who went missing during the Chinese War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression. I found this young man’s compassion for his country and it’s people, as well as his ability to capture feeling in photographs, very moving. Just as powerful was the commitment and loyalty of his mother and younger sister, who each awaited his return, in vain, and safeguarded his photographs despite danger, for the rest of their lives. She Waits is a song about incredible strength in loyalty, longing, and love.

Track 3 - Rattlesnake Mama

有时，你的生活也需要“Rattlesnake Mama”来增添一些情趣。这首单曲让我想起生命中美丽的“响尾蛇”般的女人。这首歌中的女人尽情生活而不在意世俗的眼光。她性感，善良又坚强，当出现所谓的“问题”时，也可以像蛇一样快速出击解决问题。在这首歌的故事里，这个天真的男人喜欢待在她身边，为了她不再见其他女人，但他仍然感觉无法永远拥有她。

Sometimes, you need a rattlesnake mama to stir things up a bit, add some spice to your life. The beautiful ‘rattlesnakes’ of my life come alive in this tune. The woman in this song does not follow societal rules and likes to have a good time. She is sexy, good-hearted, and strong-willed, but has so-called ‘issues’ and can strike as quick as a snake. The man, from whose perspective Rattlesnake Mama is written, loves being with her and has naively stopped seeing other women, but yet does sense that he will not be able to keep her.

Track 4 - Really Miss

如果幸运的话，每个人都会经历失去和错过。因为真正的忧郁，真正的爱，真正的思念是在感受过真正的快乐之后比较出来的。《Really Miss》是关于我和我的姐姐虽然相距遥远，但仍感觉彼此陪伴，或是一起深夜谈话的感觉。《Really Miss》里有一种普遍的孤独感，而这种孤独感或许伴随年月消长，或许时而因酒精而被幸福地掩盖。

Loss and missing is something everyone will experience, if they are lucky. To be really blue, to really love, to really miss requires feelings of joy as comparison points. Really Miss is about my and my sister’s feeling of being together though far away, or just talking late into the night when together. Really Miss is also borne of the general feeling of aloneness that can accompany aging or be masked by the blissful fog of alcohol.

Track 5 - Stillhouse Blues

少年时，我经常到祖母居住的肯塔基州东部贫困山区去。那里是干燥的，但是街道上的空气因蒸馏酿酒而变得潮湿。 《Stillhouse Blues》是我回忆在那个山丘里偷偷卖酒的人的故事，那里的人们不信任他们的政府警官。如果一位走私酿酒人被告知警察将来销毁他酿的酒的话，他必然无比惊慌，尽管他没有伤害任何人，他也知道这位警察会同时让他毙命。

As an adolescent, I often visited poor, mountainous areas in eastern Kentucky, where my grandmother lived. The counties were dry, but the hollers were wet with moonshine stills. Stillhouse Blues draws on my memories of the culture of distrust in those hills toward the authorities. In Stillhouse, a harmless old moonshiner starts to panic when a friend warns him that the police are coming to destroy his moonshine still. He believes they would rather shoot him than leave him alone.

Track 6 - 40 Years

父亲2018年去世后，我写了这首歌，讲述了他离开家乡肯塔基州在印第安纳州工作后的生活。 《 40 Years》通过他的故事描绘了美国中西部工厂工人和周末音乐家的生活。这些人一生都在努力争取退休金，并等待那一天的到来。但是，从另外一个意义上讲，这首歌想说，当你真的退休，家人也离开之后，你感到的可能是孤独和失望。

In the days following my father’s passing in 2018, I wrote this song about his life after leaving his home state of Kentucky to seek work in Indiana. 40 Years depicts the life of factory workers and weekend musicians in the American midwest through his story. These are people who work toward a pension their entire lives waiting for their day to come. However, in a darker sense, 40 Years is a reminder about the loneliness and disappointment the elderly can be left with once they retire and their family has gone away.

Track 7 - Hello My Soul

这个世界上有许多种“灵魂”，从芝加哥南部街道上衣着鲜艳的老板，到曼哈顿以14街区为界限分成的精致靓丽的上城区和脏乱摇滚街道的下城区...我发现自己的灵魂在纽约第14街闲逛，从Back Fence, Bitter End, Village Vanguard, Roxy, 到Rebel Rebel, Umanov Guitars, Mamoun’s, Fish Bar...《Hello My Soul》是为在不断挣扎中寻找自己灵魂的我自己的一首颂歌。这张LP是我找到其中一个灵魂。

There are many different kinds of ‘soul’ in this world, from the colorfully dressed Johnnies in the shadows of Chicago’s southside to the supposed uptown polished / downtown gritty musical divide of Manhattan (a bygone time?). I found my own soul hanging-out below 14th Street in New York - Back Fence, Bitter End, Village Vanguard, Roxy, Rebel Rebel, Umanov Guitars, Mamoun’s, Fish Bar, and on. Hello My Soul is an ode to my long struggle in finding myself, my soul. This LP is one result of finding it.

Track 8 - All on Death Row


赏金猎人是一个与保释保证人合作的人，他们通过保释金抓住罪犯，然后逃走以逃避惩罚。《All on Death Row》写的是我年轻时的一个密友，他追求奖金以换取宽大处理。 《All on Death Row》是这种“远离家乡”的漫游生活方式会面对的一些身体和精神上困难的一张快照。这种生活方式最终让我的朋友结束了他的生命。

A bounty hunter is someone who works with a bail bondsman to catch criminals who post bail and then run-away (bolt) to avoid punishment. I wrote All on Death Row loosely about a close friend of mine from youth who later pursued bounties in exchange for leniency. All on Death Row is a snapshot of the physical and mental hardships involved in this ‘long way from home’, roaming lifestyle. A lifestyle that eventually contributed to my friend taking his own life.

Track 9 - Bartender’s Guitar

《Bartender’s Guitar》是我表达的自己远离家乡的感觉，以及多年来的变化。这些变化让我离当初的自己已经那么远了，而我的家人却大多留在了同一地方，没有任何改变。忙碌的日常生活或许会让你看不到如此遥远的地方，但是，希望这首歌能把你短暂地带回去，回想起一些亲近又遥远的记忆。

With Bartender’s Guitar, I want to convey my feeling of being far, far from home and my realization that I have changed so much over the years that I can never really return. I understand that others, who I still feel a strong kinship with, have, by-and-large, stayed in the same place and not changed. When going about your daily busy life, you may lose sight of such a far off place and time. But, if that drink does the trick (i.e. plays the way you want), you may remember it better.

Track 10 - Ugly Dog

大概所有类型的绰号我都有过，其中包括ugly dog（我的最爱;-)）。不过Ugly Dog在这首歌里指的是暴食症，它像其他成瘾一样，在不知觉中渐渐破坏人与人的关系。而遗憾的是，这种疾病一直在大众面前被忽视。在《Ugly Dog》中，我试图通过叙述我和我患有暴食症的爱人的经历，来让更多的人了解和关注到这件事。单曲中用到了两个视角，在第一节和最后一节中都是从我的视角出发，中间部分则是她的视角。

I suppose I have been called just about every name in the book, including ugly dog - it’s my favorite (wink). But, the true ugly dog of this song is Bulimia Nervosa, an eating disorder that, like other addictions, can sabotage and destroy relationships. Sadly, this serious disorder has traditionally been overlooked. In Ugly Dog, I try to bring it more to light by recounting my experience with someone I loved who suffered from bulimia; from my perspective in the first and last verses, and from hers in the middle verse.


Track 11 - Road Travels On

“Road Travels On”是我写的第一首歌，我很喜欢。它让我想起芝加哥歌曲“25 Or 6 to 4”，它和Road travels on同样是关于晚间创作的困难。这也是这些年我所经历的。这首歌也反映了我的一个信念：只要坚持下去，我在音乐中找寻的灵感自然会出现。这就好像人在旅途，峰回路转。那时我每天听Townes Van Zandt的歌，对我写Road Travels On 有很大影响。有段时间，Townes每年骑着他的马Amigo穿越科罗拉多的山脉，从阿斯彭到克雷斯特德比特。你可以从我这首歌的歌词中发现，有些是我想象他骑马旅行的景象。

Road Travels On was the first song I wrote that I liked. It reminds me of the Chicago song “25 Or 6 To 4,” which, like Road Travels On, is about late night difficulties in songwriting: Difficulties I experienced for many years. It also reflects my belief that the feeling I sought in my music would happen if I kept trying, i.e., traveling on that road. At the time, I was listening to Townes Van Zandt alot, and that really impacted the imagery in Road Travels On. Townes would ride his horse, Amigo, through the mountains from Aspen to Crested Butte, Colorado each year. There are lines in this song that draw directly from the imagery of those rides.

Track 12 - Holy Rollin’

这是一首关于在路上的歌曲，《Holy Rollin’》讲述了乐队在美国南部巡演的路上碰到的一些与音乐无关的挑战，这些故事往往不为人所知。其中有性骚扰，也有场地老板和金钱上的困扰。没有什么是圣洁的，但乐队仍然有所坚持。《Holy Rollin’ 》 表达的是热爱与乐队一起，在旅途中经历跌宕起伏。

A song about being on the road, Holy Rollin’ offers a glimpse of the non-musical challenges a touring, but largely unknown, band faces while traveling (rollin’) through the southern US. From troubles with women, venue bosses, and money, the rollin’ is not very holy, but still the band persists. Holy Rollin’ is about the love of playing music with the band through all the ups and downs of life touring on the road.

Track 13 - In Me

行走在纽约曼哈顿中城能给人持续不断的环绕声般的声响体验。2012年我离开了那里，但所有的声音都一直留在我的脑海中。船鸣是我的周日宿醉后的闹钟，清晨垃圾车和公共汽车从我的一天结束时开始了，漫无目的来往街头的传教士，以及街道和地铁上的音乐...《In Me 》是那些在我心中徘徊的声音，以及对我来说纽约灵魂的声音。由此，那些曾走在拐角处的传教士，以这样的方式拯救了我的灵魂。

Midtown Manhattan in New York City is a constant surround-sound experience. But, amidst all the noise are sounds that have stayed in my mind since moving away in 2012. Boat horns that served as my Sunday alarm clock after being out all night drinking, garbage trucks and buses that began their day as my day was ending, street preachers who came and went without rhyme or reason, and music in the streets and subways. In Me is about the sounds that have lingered in me, and the sounds that are the soul of New York for me. Thus, the preachers on the corners, in their own way, help save my soul.