寫一封信給冰島的友團 Mammút

前一陣子練團遇到了瓶頸，心情糟透了。為了跳出這個框架，我和團員們卯起來聽了一大堆之前比較不會做為參考的音樂，有些是被遺忘的曾經一時很愛的樂團，有些是一直很感興趣卻沒有去找來聽的，還有一些是單純在網路上衝浪衝到的新世界。總之為了放下之前的包袱，大家都很努力去尋找新靈感。

有一晚，狗喵(鼓手)從msn上興沖沖地丟了我一句

噢噢　黑玲給我聽了一個很酷的冰島團耶

我一開始還以為是 Sigur Rós ，沒想到是一個我沒聽過的團叫 Mammút 。馬上在他們的 MySpace 上試聽了幾首歌，真的是很令人熱血沸騰的另類搖滾樂呀！

太可惡了
iTune Store可以買可是不好意思他不服務台灣地區= =

阿阿阿 Google上也沒什麼好結果

冰島啊冰島ＸＤ

真的很"冷"門

我正在寫信去問

喔喔喔 有熱血!

就這樣過了一個月後，沒想到狗喵真的獲得了 Mammút 的專輯。更酷的是，這張專輯還是 Mammút 的吉他手 Arnar Pétursson 請唱片公司寄給狗喵的。神，太神了。

我媽說："欸　你怎麼會有冰島的包裹啊"

而且據他的描述，那個包裹一點也不像官方品，平易近人的程度就像是親手打包寫地址寄給你的。原來冰島一點也不冷，十分有人情味呢。

所以，為了要表達謝意，狗喵現在在收集朋友們聽完 Mammút 的心得，回覆給 Arnar 。為了要節省狗喵翻譯成英文的時間，我直接就用英文寫了我的感想。話說這還是我近日來第一次用英文寫那麼長一段文字，不知道生疏了還是不善於用英文描述音樂，我覺得我寫的滿糟的 ><"

Mammút, to me, is a “love at first sight” thing. Their music has the glamor that will make anyone stop in front of a stereo to listen more. Although I'm not that familiar with Icelandic music (with only Björk and Sigur Rós filling up the picture), Mammút defines the third part of my impression to the mysterious northern country. If Björk is the vivid and playful elf and Sigur Rós be the heavenly and graceful one, I will say Mammút is the unrestrained and forceful member among them.

Although there’s not a single word I can understand, Katrína Mogensen (vocals) sings so emotional that crosses the barriers of language. She has a voice that can be as gentle but so as aggressive that demonstrates both the feminine strength and weakness. The music part is also so impressive that cannot be ignored. One characteristics of their music is using lively rhythm for a rather dark melody or chords, thus creating a vibe neither a western or eastern world be familiar with. It’s much alike to what I felt when I listened to The Sugarcubes for the first time. Being a guitar player myself, it’s quite exciting to hear different sounds for rock music, a thing that sometimes I’ve already thought so typical. I like the song Svefnsýkt in particular. The chorus part of the song has a special swinging feeling makes me want to rock my body every time I listen to it. In general, the album Karkari sounds mature but powerful, they kept the rawness of an indie rock band but the neatness of any major label artist/musician would have.

Most important of all, Mammút reminded me that music has the power to shorten distances between two people as far as half a planet – both spiritually and physically. Music exists to spread our most inner souls to other soul-alikes in this world. That’s much more important than any technology, law, or business rule. I truly hope that someday people can freely share music without having to consider for what’s least to have been.

To Mammút,
Your music really have the potential. I hope someday I can hear them in live, and hopefully by that time we have our own music to share with you.

mayonaise/allenhigh2000
Bambi’s guitarist
Taiwan

為了懶得閱讀以上內容的朋友，大致上的內容就是說：我一聽到他們的音樂就很喜歡他們。我對冰島的認識很淺，音樂只聽過 Björk 和 Sigur Rós ，他們讓我對這個地方有了更多的認識。雖然都聽不懂主唱在唱什麼，但是他的聲音富有表情，可以跨越語言的限制。音樂的部份，我很喜歡他們用很活潑的節奏去搭配深沉的旋律和合弦，不像是我們平常在東西方流行音樂裡會接觸到的。有機會的話，很想看一次他們的現場表演，更希望到時候我們團也有創作可以跟他們分享。

其實整件事情最讓我感到興奮的是，它告訴我音樂還是擁有跨越國界和語言的力量的。儘管現在有那麼多的技術和通路解決了很多實體距離的限制，但是最重要的還是讓兩個心靈相似的人可以找到對方，產生出精采的共鳴。任何人都再不因為自己的喜好太獨特而孤獨，反而可以因為找到同好而建立自信。我相信這才是社群網路存在的最大意義，而非技術成就或商業利益。

最後和大家分享整張專輯我最喜歡的歌 ─ Svefnsýkt ，據說是一首向大法師致敬的歌曲。(這一點影片應該說明地非常清楚)

如果對她們的音樂有興趣，可以在此留言，我會再與他們在台灣的聯絡人陳狗喵協調進貨事宜。 XD