美国国家公共电台 NPR--Announcing the winner of the 2023 Tiny Desk Contest

Announcing the winner of the 2023 Tiny Desk Contest

Transcript¹

NPR Music received nearly 6,000 entries to this year's Tiny Desk Contest, the annual search for the next great undiscovered artist to play a Tiny Desk concert. But one Springville, Utah, band rose to the top as its entry surprised the judges, moved them to tears and filled them with hope.

Today, we're thrilled to announce Little Moon is the winner of the 2023 Tiny Desk Contest.

This is Little Moon's fourth year entering the Contest, a real testament² to never giving up. Little Moon's entries have impressed Contest judges since 2020, but this year, the band leveled up — and the judges noticed. Albina Cabrera of NPR Member station KEXP shared the band's winning entry, "Wonder Eye," as one of her favorites on Top Shelf last month, noting its powerful message and applauding singer Emma Hardyman's exceptional voice and the togetherness of the entire band. A few weeks later, when all the judges came together to decide on a winner, the decision to crown Little Moon was unanimous. "Emma's deceptively strong voice, and the band's ability to take the music to places completely unexpected, catapulted 'Wonder Eye' to the top of the heap of wonderful entries," said Tiny Desk series producer Bobby Carter. Singer-songwriter Sharon Van Etten said Hardyman's vocal³ range was "out of this world." Series creator Bob Boilen shared: "The song is a dynamic and explosive tune⁴ with a deeply emotional story."

Emma Hardyman told us the song was written under heavy circumstances: Her mother-in-law was in hospice care, while she and her husband, bassist Nathan Hardyman, were in the process of leaving the Mormon church. "Mormonism believes in life after death, resurrection and eternal families," she said. "There is beauty and comfort in our former beliefs of certainty, light and life; we honor and respect such teachings. But we also find deep beauty in uncertainty⁵, darkness, chaos⁶ and death. Perhaps it's all one and the same."

She added: "Perhaps this song was written because we realized we have been mourning various deaths our whole lives. ... Perhaps it took a major, physical death of a loved one to see that death is happening all the time — that we are always grieving something, that accepting the mysterious, shadowy nature of death can deepen one's sense of humanity and soften⁷ the ways we see ourselves and each other." You can hear more from Hardyman this afternoon, when she'll do her first NPR interview as the Contest winner on All Things Considered.

Soon, Little Moon — Emma and Nathan Hardyman, plus keys player Bly Wallentine, harpist Bridget Jackson, drummer Chris Shemwell and electric guitarist Grace Johnson — will play a Tiny Desk concert at NPR's Washington, D.C., headquarters. And in June, the band will headline the annual Tiny Desk Contest On The Road tour, playing alongside local Contest entrants (soon to be announced) across the country. You can get tickets for the tour at NPRPresents.org.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 testament   

n.遗嘱；证明

参考例句：

• This is his last will and testament.这是他的遗愿和遗嘱。
• It is a testament to the power of political mythology.这说明，编造政治神话可以产生多大的威力。

3 vocal   

adj.直言不讳的；嗓音的；n.[pl.]声乐节目

参考例句：

• The tongue is a vocal organ.舌头是一个发音器官。
• Public opinion at last became vocal.终于舆论哗然。

4 tune   

n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整

参考例句：

• He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
• The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。

5 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。

6 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

7 soften   

v.(使)变柔软；(使)变柔和

参考例句：

• Plastics will soften when exposed to heat.塑料适当加热就可以软化。
• This special cream will help to soften up our skin.这种特殊的护肤霜有助于使皮肤变得柔软。