The Battle of Land and Sea

自Portland的The Battle Of Land And Sea，一电一木的结他对弹，偶尔添上五弦琴点缀，简约又美丽的Pure-Pop曲式，亦同时拥有甜美可人的女声，就如唱片封面设计那般简朴怡人。 The Battle Of Land And Sea幕后主脑是Sarah O'Shura，自少已学习各种不同乐器，直到19岁时，决定成为自弹自唱的唱作人。而2006年开始，她以The Battle Of Land And Sea为名，忙于日常正职之余，这成为了她的副业，每逢周末便留在家中与四轨录音机为伴，此外还有她的拍档 Joshua Canny。 2007年初The Battle Of Land And Sea曾发表自资DIY六曲EP，至于今次由Notenuf厂牌推出的同名专集，虽然内里八首作品中有六首是来自那张EP，但并非搬字过纸，而是经过重新Mixing。我没听过他们先前的旧作，不过从同名专集中，那清幽木结他勾线和淡然歌声，依然是以简单取胜，没有任何多余花巧的编排，反朴归真未必是必胜之道，挪威女声Susanna的简约风只换来呵欠连连，幸好The Battle Of Land And Sea却能做到最是美丽的轻盈感觉，当中Sarah的歌声经过Reverb效果过滤后，更显脱俗优雅，不是Heavenly Voice那种不吃人间烟花的高高在上，而是真正接近人心的和谐之音。 by Mark Deming The Battle of Land & Sea is a musical showcase for the songs and vocals of Sarah O'Shura, who can evoke a startling emotional power despite the gentleness of her instrument and the sparseness of her recordings. O'Shura was born and raised in a small Northern California town and studied piano and clarinet as a child, but she didn't dip her toes into popular music until she was a teenager. When O'Shura was 19, she moved to Los Angeles and began singing and playing guitar with a band called Rhodeislandmusic. After seven years of playing with Rhodeislandmusic, O'Shura became interested in writing and singing her own songs, and over the course of a weekend in 2006 she recorded a handful of her own tunes, with one her bandmates, Joshua Canny, sitting in on electric guitar. Wanting a name for her project, she chose the Battle of Land and Sea, a moniker she dreamed up when a former boyfriend was trying to come up with a new name for his own band. O'Shura and Canny self-released an EP of their material to immediate critical acclaim, and when the group was selected as a MySpace featured artist, they quickly developed a devoted international fan following. The Battle of Land and Sea signed with the Austin-based independent label Notenuf Records, and their self-titled full-length debut was released in January 2008.