1. |
We Settle Into The Night
05:06
|
|||
|
We climb out of our shells at night
Out through the viaducts, into the wild world
Simple cogs in a complex machine
Placated by a fever dream, mindless little working bees
Halfway there to the mid-life affairs
Where greying men dye their hair
Buy their mistresses new underwear
While their wives inject Botox to hide their crow’s feet
Diet until they hallucinate in their seldom seen lingerie
Can they almost see God speaking through the flame trees?
But they don’t hold on tight, they settle into the night
Grassy knolls once verdant green
Like billowing blue seas filled up with plasticine
Standing in a cornfield in your floral dress
Holly, I do confess, you’re the one that I like best
Marilyn Monroe crossed paths with JFK
While Jackie O slept alone in the White House with the kids at home
Hitler and Eva Braun never left each other’s sides
Until the double suicide, he pulled the trigger; she ate cyanide
When MLK entertained guests for the night
J Edgar Hoover listened in with the FBI
And when he returned to his wife they settled into the night
Now the Pope is getting divorced
And he’s starting to think that he’s backed the wrong horse
As I’m hoping an incantation of Hail Mary’s
Can make me some paragon of monogamy
It’s a quarter-life crisis on the Western front
I even gave up on giving up, getting sober and getting drunk
Found a job, enrolled in the working class
Watched my soul depreciated faster than a brand-new car
Now it’s New Year’s Eve on the Harbour Bridge
Lit up by fireworks, light pollution and fireworks
Holding onto Holly’s hand too tight
It’s like exploding IEDs that trigger PTSD
I don’t know what to do, I guess I get confused
But we don’t hold on tight, we settle into the night
We don’t know anything, we settle into the night
|
||||
2. |
Never Mind
04:29
|
|||
|
If I don’t want to go can I just stay home?
But nothing ventured is gained I suppose
So, I go, although everything’s the worst
From small talk to vomit in the dirt
The socially anxious and the social butterflies that fly
Toward the party and the light that blinds
Never mind if I drag behind
In the comfort of a door jamb
Or the emptying of a new can
That some drink so that they don’t feel abashed
For the temerity to dance
To flirt without fear of the crash and the burn
Some drink so they can have some fun
Tighten their grip as they loosen their tongue
Or just to have something to hold onto
As they let go of their diction and inhibition without pause
Never mind if I drag behind
In the distance of insincerity
Or the armour of a false identity
And besides, I won’t spend my time
Hiding my eyes as they gloss over
Nodding my head or shrugging my shoulders
As I’m told some story that just goes nowhere
Never mind if I drag behind
In the rat race of the living
I’m only at ease when I am sleeping
And it’s all right if I waste my time
But I knew that it was over
As the drunk returned to sober on the lawn
|
||||
3. |
||||
|
It’s so late that it’s early — but still pitch black
Everyone’s asleep — it’s the suburbs
Got to sober up, run a shower
Sick being drunk or hungover
With empty pockets — save for lint
But I’ve got debt, that makes me skinter than skint
Can’t compete with the 30-year olds
With 6-figure incomes and mortgage loans
Ready or not, time is wasting
But I wish it would hurry up
Unless someone can tell me different
Being young is getting old
Begin at the bottom and work your way up
Climb up the ladder from the lowest rung
Watch out for the snakes, if they swallow you whole
Then you can watch your career go down the toilet bowl
But there’s only one direction shit rolls
So, if you’re down in the dumps, better hold your nose
With Jack and Jill in the valley of the hill
It takes forever to rise but no time to fall
Ready or not, time is wasting
I wish it would hurry up
Unless someone can tell me different
Being young is getting old
If I hear one more diatribe
Think I’m gonna bite cyanide
The law says I’m mature as any fully-fledged adult
Comes as a bigger shock than any blue thunderbolt
When it’s time to find yourself a girl, make sure she’s the real one
But I’m still too childish for any children
The past is gone and stored on a phone
In place of acetate, in sepia tones
Stuck inside of some sweet malaise
But for me those were never the halcyon days
Ready or not, time is wasting
I wish it would hurry up
Unless someone can tell me different
Being young is getting old
|
||||
4. |
Some Things
04:08
|
|||
|
There were red flags from the start
But nothing was going to stop them falling hard
The reverend’s daughter submerged in the water
The son of liar, he was baptised by fire
Now that they’re leaving
They say what they don’t need to speak
Lines that they don’t need to speak
She fought with her figure for seven winters
He built decks ‘til the pinewood splintered
When she turned 27 she turned her back on heaven
When he turned 26 he gave up being a communist
Now that they’re older
They’re closer to what they don’t have to speak
Lines that they don’t need to speak
The zygote splits and the embryo hits
But no one really knows what it means to exist
In their mid-30s, surely can’t be called early
Unfettered, unwed and undecided
It’s damaged but it’s not broken
They’re choking on words they don’t need to speak
Lines that they don’t need to speak
Every time or anytime
|
||||
5. |
Half Bad
04:12
|
|||
6. |
Anything
03:28
|
|||
|
I’m predisposed to decompose
Deflate, negate, feel naked in my clothes
Let’s undress our duress
But she’s inclined to imply or define
Why killing time makes us feel alive
Puts sunglasses on your eyes
There’s a solar eclipse, come look outside
I would do anything for you
I would do anything it’s true
Holy cow, I’m over the moon
I’ll be the dish; you can be the spoon
Let’s abscond and fake our deaths
Leave tonight on a domestic flight
Pack our backs in time for the red eye
30, 000 feet high
Falling fast but it’s a slow rise
I would do anything for you
I would say anything it’s true
I would do anything for you
I would say anything that I had to
|
||||
7. |
The Bitter End
03:51
|
|||
|
I’m coming up; she’s leaving
From the balustrades, they’re heaving
Down on the faded rugs and linoleum floors
That they once adored
I spent eternity in your bedroom
Now you cast me out, that’s your purview
Out with the fallen stars in drab, dive bars
Where they try to drown their scars
It’s all or none
I never want to be there when the bells are wrung
Never want to finish what we had begun
I’m clinging ‘til the bitter end
Your mother warned, “don’t waste your time
There’s only lint in his pockets, he’s hardly worth a dime
And a good time won’t ever pay the bills
Honey, please tell me you’re still on the pill”
Or it’s shotgun wedding in a pregnant hurry
Devoid of guests but full of regrets
Surrounded by strangers out on the courthouse steps
Where relief is an early death
It’s all or none
I never want to be there when the bells are wrung
Never want to finish what we had begun
Clinging ‘til the bitter end
But you hang around
Because it’s hard to detach from a joint account
A high-interest mortgage on a low-ceiling house
But I don’t ever want to be
Because I could only let you down
Like gravity under the apple tree
Polytetrafluorethylene
Nothing sticks to me, I get off scot-free
But you could of married silently
To some profiteer of propriety
Who never stirs in his sleep
It’s all or none
I never want to be there when the bells are wrung
Never want to finish what we had begun
I’m clinging ‘til the bitter end
But you hang around
Because it’s hard to detach from a joint account
And a high-interest mortgage on a low-ceiling house
But I don’t ever want to be – what you want me to be
|
||||
8. |
Time To Leave
03:46
|
|||
|
Let’s go to the bar
We can fit in one car
Show some fortitude in the valley
But the bouncer looks us over
He can tell we aren’t sober
Shakes his head as we offer our IDs
Is that our cue to leave?
She texts, “hey, if you like
You could come around tonight
Give me a hand with all this wine”
I said, “that would be fine
All I got on my hands is time”
Then she glances at her wrist, pulls up her sleeve
Is that my cue to leave?
Tonight, the band plays
On a dimly lit stage
Looking half-drunk and half-pissed
The crowd starts to disperse
We’re dying out here
Someone call a hearse
They’re throwing rotten tomatoes, broken bottles at our feet
Is that our cue to leave?
Is that my cue to leave?
|
||||
9. |
Sideways
03:18
|
|||
|
I don’t know where to go
Could go out or just stay home
I’d tell you, you look pretty tonight
But it just makes you roll your eyes
So, I don’t know what to say
The moon’s on fire, shining bright
But it’s the darkness I like
Of flowers drowning in a vase
You only glance at me sideways
So, I didn’t know where to look
If things get rough
Our bodies start to rust
As our minds turn to dust
That would be okay
And if the sun sets
I just won’t regret
All the time we spent in that place
Where I wished that nothing would change
Will we still be here in a year?
That’s opaque but this much is clear
Tomorrow’s always on its way
But I don’t care what it has to say
So, I don’t mind
No, really, I wouldn’t lie
Honestly, I don’t mind what it brings
|
||||
10. |
Sadly Ever After
03:21
|
|||
|
Once upon a time we dreamed of living sad
I was out of my mind then; you were feeling half bad
We could set our sights on a year-end vacation
Financial security – within our grasp but out of reach
I don’t know how, I don’t know why, I don’t know nothing at all
I can’t say where, I can’t say when, I can’t say nothing but
Sadly, ever after, let’s be sadly ever after, let’s be –
Sadly, ever after, I’d be happy to be
But a fairy tale ending is always misleading
I don’t know why, I don’t know how, I don’t much at all
I can’t say where, I can’t say when, I can’t say nothing but
Sadly, ever after, let’s be sadly, ever after, let’s be
Now all I want to do is complain
But I don’t want to do it again without you
|
||||
11. |
An August Night
04:24
|
|||
|
An August night
Left the driveway — the engine froze
Is that smell from your perfume or your hair?
Blonde peroxide, please tell me it’s the carbon monoxide
Rising up as you ask me, do I think of other girls?
What am I gonna say now?
Steer clear of the truth
At 5:30 you come around early just to sit in my backyard
With half an empty wineglass after you skipped the graduation
Of your pricey education but you don’t care
For leaves of ivy, towers of ivory or the alumni of the erudite
That don’t mean a thing
Please understand I just mean to calm you down when you’re upset
But these futile attempts only seem to wear me out and dig me in
But the halogen lights don’t shine that bright in the dark, in the gloom
As something heavy looms
I’m wondering if I can make light
So, I won’t have to make right
After a trip to London you return with a firm job offer
Then you asked me if I’d go, I said “I don’t know”
But I know that where the heart goes, the body follows
It could be a Visa and a paid vacation or loneliness and a trial separation
What am I gonna say now?
Guess I’ll try the truth
|
||||
12. |
Only Pain
05:19
|
|||
|
I’ve been wondering what went wrong
Why all these boys and girls look gone
Evict the occupants, shred the documents, the runaway bride
Could see the fear rising out of the bridegroom’s eyes when she said
Please don’t go down the drain — every time it rains
Should you choose to remain — it will be okay
But I’ve been feeling overrun, I’ve been trying to give up
Please don’t go down the drain — it’s only pain
I’ve been trying to switch gears
I’ve been pissing away the years
In a job with no consistency
It’s going to the automated industry
Got no structural integrity
So, I’m waiting for the foundations to collapse on me and say
Please don’t go down the drain — every time it rains
Should you choose to remain — it will be okay
But I’ve been feeling overrun, I’ve been trying to give up
Please don’t go down the drain — it’s only pain
I’ve been dreaming of Sylvia Plath
In a warm, Epsom salt and lavender bath
Head of carbon monoxide
Oven-assisted suicide
It’s popularised and glorified
But no one makes it out of this life alive to say
Please don’t go the Hemingway — every time it rains
But should you choose to remain — it will be okay
I’ve been feeling overrun, I’ve been trying to give up
Please don’t go down the drain — it’s only pain
|
||||
13. |
Those Days Are Gone
04:32
|
|||
|
I’ve been burning the candle at both ends
Now I’m worn out from late nights, far from sober
Early mornings, hungover
Well it might be fun, but it can’t last that long
Until all those days are gone
I’ve been travelling on highways and aeroplanes
Far flung or near by
Where home is where your hat is
Your bed is where you make it
It starts out right then it ends up wrong
And then all those days are gone
Never wished for a lover to split my heart asunder
I will be an island
Because you can’t get hurt if you don’t fight
Loneliness suits me just right
And that’s fine when you’re young but it gets old before long
And then all those days are gone
Pulled the roots out of my family tree
Never used to care much about my ancestry
Now I’m chasing my bloodline
Because it gets lonesome at Christmas time,
Birthdays and New Year’s nights
Life’s a party, sometimes it just drags on
And then all those days are gone
|
||||
Cedarsmoke Brisbane, Australia
Cedarsmoke is the indie-folk-rock project of Brisbane-based singer-songwriter, Jon Cloumassis. With a lyric-centred approach to songwriting, Cedarsmoke create literary and narrative-driven songs.
If you like Cedarsmoke, you may also like:
Nothing's Real, So Nothing's Wrong
by Kevin Devine
Kevin Devine looks to moments of rupture and anxiety with an unflinching eye on his latest LP of gracious, big-hearted indie rock.
go to album
The Woman You Want
by Eliza Shaddad
Haddad returns with cinematic soundscapes that include introspective folk, post-grunge, and indie-pop influences.
go to album
Pete Yorn Live At The Troubadour
by Pete Yorn
A sprawling, 25-song set from Pete Yorn complete with covers of Springsteen and The Smiths capture him at his unguarded best.
go to album
featured on Bandcamp Radio Apr 5, 2016
go to album
Awash in homespun sonics and simple, effective melodies, the debut record by Melbourne's Grand Pine is a folk pop lover's delight.
go to album
Old Mountain
by Good Good Blood
Ghostly indie rock from Good Good Blood, with skeletal guitars and distant, echo-shrouded vocals.
go to album
Punchy pop-rock from Perth that balances gritty guitar work with wry hooks.
go to album
