Subject features Chadburn reading a long, punctuation-less text of his own composition, against an electronic backdrop of drones and reverberating pulses; The Object is even more minimalistic, comprising a drone chorus made up of overdubs of Chadburn singing on different vowel sounds and through subtly changing harmonies. On both tracks Chadburn’s voice is the central focus. Idiosyncrasies or imperfections are kept in: the drones of The Object gain a wavering quality as each overdubbed voice comes to the end of its breath; the unbroken monologue of The Subject is infused with the anxious orality of Chadburn trying to keep pace with his text. (Although the fact that we never hear him stumble or pause throughout its 20 minutes suggests that some editing has taken place.) Chadburn notes that the album ‘reflects [his] concept of music as a form of self-portraiture’, and in this there is a continuity with his work as Simon Bookish. There is also a shared quality of sound, in which Chadburn’s almost oppressively close-mic’d voice is presented in front of an electronic backing that is somehow both several steps away yet also complementary to it. This is less apparent on The Object, in which the voice is the only sound; but on The Subject Chadburn finds an uncanny harmonic resonance between his warm, baritone speech and the metallic, grinding vibrations and hums that underpin it. This dichotomy of human and machine underpinned a lot of the Simon Bookish project, and it is an obvious theme to Red and Blue. Perhaps it is a sign of the times, but in The Subject/The Object this theme seems to take on a particularly dystopian quality. While the monologue of The Subject appears at first to wander without form or direction, certain key words and phrases can be heard to return in varying contexts (furthermore, the whole text appears to repeat itself from around the midway point of the piece). Some of these returning words are modern and/or scientific, referring to data, isotopes, nylon, classification. Others, mixed equally within the same stream of consciousness, are ancient: obelisk, bronze, offering, hessian. The simultaneity of ancient and modern, or the vision of a future that has been remade as though ancient, calls to mind (or to my mind at least) the peculiarly English dystopian fiction of Alan Garner or Russell Hoban. This impression is enhanced by a third category of phrases that caught my ear, referring to the aftermath of some terrible event: sunken, destroyed, the sorry state of things, the town where we sheltered for the night, the dogs by the encampment. But this is only one way of parsing a text that in fact carefully unravels every thread of meaning as soon as they emerge. Many others might be found and supported. More enigmatic is The Object. The first clue for interpretation is the theatrical intake of breath with which it begins (there may be another in how it ends). Like the hinge between two panels of a diptych the breath joins The Subject and The Object and marks the division between them. It is both subject and object: the body of the singer and the material of the composition. It opens the chest cavity for the extended vocalisation that follows; it releases the pressure on the throat and sternum accumulated by the breathlessness of what came before. While the subject of Chadburn himself remains a key element of this work, the clarity of its design clearly connects it to his more objective notated music. For those who have followed the separate wings of Chadburn’s musical personality over the years, it is an intriguing coming together.

中文翻译：

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詹妮弗·沃尔什 - 詹妮弗·沃尔什，早期音乐晚期选集。1：古代到文艺复兴时期。乐队夏令营。

对象的特点是查德本在无人机和回响脉冲的电子背景下阅读他自己的作品中没有标点符号的长文本；The Object 更加简约，它由一个由 Chadburn 的配音组成的无人驾驶合唱团组成，他们用不同的元音和巧妙地改变和声演唱。在两首歌曲中，Chadburn 的声音都是焦点。特质或不完美被保留下来：当每个配音的声音快要结束时，The Object 的嗡嗡声会变得摇摆不定；The Subject 不间断的独白注入了 Chadburn 试图跟上他的文字的焦虑的口语。（尽管我们在 20 分钟内从未听到他跌跌撞撞或停顿的事实表明已经进行了一些编辑。) Chadburn 指出，这张专辑“反映了[他的]音乐作为一种自画像形式的概念”，并且在这方面与他作为 Simon Bookish 的作品存在连续性。还有一个共同的声音质量，其中 Chadburn 几乎令人压抑的近距离麦克风声音呈现在电子背景前，该背景不知何故既相隔几步又与之互补。这在对象上不太明显，其中声音是唯一的声音；但在 The Subject Chadburn 发现他温暖、男中音的演讲与支撑它的金属、磨砺的振动和嗡嗡声之间有一种不可思议的和谐共鸣。人和机器的这种二分法支撑了 Simon Bookish 的很多项目，这也是红色和蓝色的一个明显主题。或许是时代的印记，但在 The Subject / The Object 中，这个主题似乎呈现出一种特别反乌托邦的特质。虽然 The Subject 的独白起初似乎没有形式或方向，但可以听到某些关键词和短语在不同的上下文中返回（此外，整个文本似乎从作品的中间点开始重复）。这些返回的一些词是现代和/或科学的，指的是数据、同位素、尼龙、分类。其他的，同样混合在同一意识流中，是古老的：方尖碑、青铜、祭品、粗麻布。古代与现代的同时发生，或者像古代一样被重新塑造的未来愿景，让人想起（或至少在我的脑海中）艾伦·加纳或罗素·霍班独特的英国反乌托邦小说。我听到的第三类短语加强了这种印象，它们指的是一些可怕事件的后果：沉没、毁坏、事情的糟糕状态、我们过夜的城镇、营地旁的狗。但这只是解析文本的一种方式，事实上，一旦它们出现，就会仔细地解开每一条含义。可能会发现并支持许多其他人。更神秘的是对象。解释的第一个线索是它开始时的戏剧性呼吸（它如何结束可能还有另一个）。就像双联画两幅画之间的铰链一样，呼吸将主体和客体连接起来，并标志着它们之间的分界线。它既是主体又是客体：歌手的身体和作曲的材料。它为随后的扩展发声打开胸腔；它可以释放之前因呼吸困难而积聚在喉咙和胸骨上的压力。虽然查德本本人的主题仍然是这部作品的一个关键元素，但其清晰的设计清晰地将其与他更客观的乐谱联系起来。对于那些多年来追随查德本音乐个性的独立翅膀的人来说，这是一次有趣的聚会。