回到十年前，你會做出怎樣的改變？在時間穿越、平行世界已變成劇情逆轉 101 招的西元 2024 年。

, Manic Sheep 透過「新專輯」《Rewind2014》，非虛構、純寫實的和十年前的自己對質
。《 Rewind 2014》收錄的九首歌，原始檔在 Manic Sheep 前吉他手謝閎宥的硬碟裡存放了整整十年     ,夾雜在他離團前，與主唱 Chris (羅玉婷)、鼓手小白 (吳柏廷) 那一整年將彼此推往極限的創作記錄中 。十年後，原班人馬將過去錄製的音軌重新處理，將現下與過往的自己重疊。

2012 年同名專輯《Manic Sheep》發行後，Chris /謝閎宥這對寫歌組合在台灣獨立音樂圈開始眾所皆知。那還是個六度分隔理論降到兩度也能成立的小社群：你身旁的陌生人通常是你朋友的團員，或是你團員的朋友。沒多久，他們從大港到香港 Clockenflap、從美國南到北 (SXSW/NXNE)， 一路上了 Fuji Rock Rookie A-Go-Go。短短兩年巡迴了美國和日本，狀似遙遙領先同期樂團，但在他們心中種下的不是希望，而是對音樂完成度以及藝術性的焦慮。

無論是近在咫尺觀看紐約的 DIIV，或是當年初識的東京 DYGL，站得越近，需要追趕的距離也看得越清晰。為了建構一個能挑戰世界的世界，2014 年他們往返練團室及錄音室，渴於實現腦中的聲音。為了找到可以駛往新世界的引擎，期間他們嘗試和多名鼓手合作，最後找到了在澳洲準備回台的小白，一個在墨爾本就已經想好要如何詮釋 Mainc Sheep 的年輕鼓手。

《Rewind 2014》大多數的歌在 YouTube 都能找到現場 bootleg，十年前的台北 City 還不是 Pop，後龐客、瞪鞋和泡菜搖滾是 Livehouse 的主餐，誰都在比誰的破音在 Reverb 中醃得更入味，而不是誰的歌詞比誰的慘。專輯前半拉起了台北瞪鞋馬拉松的終點線，讓大家可以去探索其他音樂類別。開場的〈Dream〉在著名的吉他 riff 前，新增了一段謝閎宥最近才愛上的經典 Amen Break，讓音樂史的時序變得更加混亂。〈Juliet〉邀請了 2024 的橙草克拉克獻聲，仍是少男的聲線如同《烏鴉》Legacy 專輯首唱會才剛結束。〈Mushroom〉在 Joy Division - Disorder 的節奏上，鋪著 Chris 代表性的甜美聲線及蓬鬆吉他破音。以無害的表象覆蓋於黑暗深邃的情緒上，是 Manic Sheep 歷來音樂層次的來源，如同歌名蘑菇，實則唱著蕈狀雲般籠罩著的絕望，相較爾後十年吶喊著「我絕望」的搖滾樂，更有深層的力道。

從第六首〈Kimchi〉 開始，整張專輯的畫風丕變，以韓國泡菜之名行德國泡菜搖滾之實。專輯後半四首歌可視為同一首歌， 一首貫穿泡菜搖滾、後龐克，乃至工業搖滾的野心之作。從 Neu!、Joy Division 直至 DIIV 都化為發酵後的養分，散發衝撞世界的挑釁氣息。第八首〈Impending〉 的節奏是〈Kimchi〉加速版，低調致敬《Neu! 2》利用盤帶加速減速，騙掉半張專輯的絕學。十年前，小白無情機械式的Motorik 鼓擊，奠定了〈Reset〉及〈Invisible Discord〉 的工業氛圍，此次混音重製加入夢東洪御合成器，時而如厚重卻快速移動的濃霧，時而如高速下扭曲的異色光線，讓聲音的影像感更強烈。〈Invisible Discord〉邀請如今已成老友的 DYGL 主唱秋山信樹獻唱，如同催眠暗示的磁性嗓音，搭配 Chris 疏離卻堅定、冷熱同體的吟唱，彷若歌詞中彼此互搏鬥爭的左腦右腦，將團名 Manic 的部分大大地噴漆在音牆上。

絕大多數創作時嘔心瀝血，最後讓團員鬧翻的好專輯，不是名留青史，就是樂團走入歷史，而這兩者奇妙的都沒有發生在 Manic Sheep 身上，才能在不引起時間悖論的狀況下，回到過去完成未盡的新世界   。談起最後的成品，當初的三人組都認為隔了這十年，他們才成長到能將這些歌，以符合腦中想像的聲音呈現的地步。宇宙以其奧妙的運作方式，讓《Rewind 2014》用該有的原貌被聆聽，即便那意味著團員離團、意味著時隔一旬的延遲。Rewind 是倒帶的動作，是過去音樂還用磁帶播放時，物理性地回溯時間的方式。我們不會知道，在平行的 2014 年，這張專輯成功發行的世界，會跟我們身處的現實有多少差異。可是至少在我們的時間線，可以看到 2024 年的 Manic Sheep 手動將時間倒帶，回溯到那個想往新世界駛去的，最酷的噪音台北。

If you could go back ten years, what changes would you make? In the year 2024, when time traveland parallel worlds have become standard plot devices, Manic Sheep revisits the past with their new album Rewind 2014, confronting their younger selves in a non-fictional narrative. The raw recording files of the nine tracks on Rewind 2014 had been stored on former guitarist Hung Yu's hard drive for a decade, capturing the intense year before his departure from the band - when he, vocalist Chris Lo, and drummer White Wu pushed each other to their creative limits. A decade later, the original trio has reworked these old tracks, merging their past selves with the present.

After their 2012 self-titled debut album Manic Sheep was released, Chris and Hung Yu became well-known in Taiwan's indie music scene as a songwriting duo. It was still a small community, where the "six degrees of separation" theory could be reduced to two: the stranger next to you was often your bandmate's friend or your friend’s bandmate. Before long, they were performing at festivals from Taiwan's Megaport to Hong Kong's Clockenflap, and touring across the U.S. (SXSW/NXNE) and Japan, even landing a slot on Fuji Rock Rookie A-Go-Go. In just two years, they seemed to be far ahead of other bands from the same scene at the time. Yet instead of feeling hopeful, this rapid rise planted seeds of anxiety about artistic integrity and musical perfection.

Whether watching DIIV up close in New York or meeting Tokyo’s DYGL for the first time, the closer they got to the groups they looked up to, the clearer the gap to catch up became. In 2014, they devoted themselves to rehearsals and recording sessions, eager to realize the sounds they envisioned in their heads. After experimenting with several drummers, they eventually found White, a young drummer who had already figured out how he wanted to interpret Manic Sheep's sound before coming back to Taiwan from Melbourne.

Many of the songs from Rewind 2014 can be found as live bootlegs on YouTube. Back then, Taipei's underground music scene wasn’t dominated by softer-sounding genres, such as City Pop. Post-punk, Shoegaze, and Krautrock were the main attractions at live houses. The focus was more on whose distorted instruments sounded more aggressive in reverberant drone than on whose Mandopop lyrics were more self-loathing.

The first half of the album sets the finish line for Taipei's shoegaze marathon, kindly inviting peers to explore other musical genres. Before the iconic guitar riff of the opening track "Dream" , they inserted four bars of the classic Amen Break, which Hung Yu, forty years after its debut, has only recently come to love. This addition further scrambles the timeline of music history. "Juliet" features a guest appearance by Orangegrass's Clock Chung, also newly recorded in 2024, whose youthful voice sounds just as it did a decade ago when they were on their way to becoming the legendary Taiwanese
power trio.

"Mushroom" is layered with Chris's sweet vocals and Hung Yu’s fuzzy guitar distortion over the rhythm of Joy Division's "Disorder" . The contrast between an innocent facade and deep, dark emotions has long been a hallmark of Manic Sheep's sound. This is embodied in the song "Mushroom, " which symbolizes an overwhelming sense of despair, calling to mind a towering mushroom cloud. The layers of meaning offer more subtlety and impact than the blunt declarations of
hopelessness in contemporary Taiwanese indie rock.

Starting from the sixth track, "Kimchi" the album takes a dramatic turn, delivering a Krautrock-inspired soundscape. The final four tracks can be seen as one continuous piece, a bold exploration of Post-Punk, Krautrock, and No Wave. Drawing influences from Neu!, Joy Division, and DIIV, the songs ferment into a rebellious clash against the world.

The eighth track, "Impending, " is a sped-up version of "Kimchi, " subtly paying homage to Neu! 2, where tape speed manipulation was used to fill half an album. A decade ago, White’s relentlessly mechanical motorik drumming established the industrial vibe of "Reset" and "Invisible Discord.

" In 2024, Mong Tong’s Hom Yu elevated the track by adding synthesizer pads and chirps, contributing an even more cinematic feel. "Invisible Discord" features
vocals from DYGL's frontman Nobuki Akiyama, whose hypnotic voice complements Chris's detached yet determined delivery, as if representing the battle between the left and right brain in the lyrics - and spraying the "Manic" part of the band's name across the wall of sound. Many great albums created through painstaking effort end up tearing bands apart, leaving them either immortalized in history or fading into obscurity. Remarkably, Manic Sheep evaded both of these fates,
allowing them to return to the past and finish building the sounds in their minds. Reflecting on the final product, the trio agrees that they’ve only now matured enough to present these songs in the way they always intended. The universe, in its mysterious ways, has allowed Rewind 2014 to be heard as it
was meant to be, even if it meant the departure of a band member and a decade-long delay.

"Rewind" is the act of physically winding back the tape, a way to reverse time to when music was still played on cassettes. We’ll never know how different the world would be if this album had been successfully released in a parallel 2014. But at least in our timeline, we get to see Manic Sheep in 2024 purposefully rewinding time, taking us back to the coolest, noisiest version of Taipei, and daring to turn