A CLOUD'S FEAR OF KITES : A KITE'S FEAR OF HEIGHTS cdep

:: Shortest Day of the Year
:: The Greatest of Ease
:: Thin Air
:: A Ghost on the East Coast
:: Invitation Only
:: The Wind and Son
:: The Memory Deserts
:: Wax

Shortest Day of the Year. you dance so well for a girl about to fall asleep. and i keep hoping you'll stay along for another song, one more spin around the floor. this could go all night, and that would be all right. i let go of my party balloon, and i partly think i let go to soon. because it wasn't even mine for a day, and it takes so soon to fly away.

The Greatest of Ease. safety net, i won't forget you're there. air is so unreliable - you can't count on anyone anymore. safety net, you won't forget i'm here? it's clear i've been holding on too hard, but it's so far to the ground. i won't look down. i won't look down. i won't look down. i trust you so far. so good. so far, so good. safety net, you won't forget i'm here? fear is so predictable, distinctive as instinct goes. it's not so much that i don't have faith in what's in store, but it's like the falling man who counts his fate floor by floor. he says: so far, so good. so far, so good. so far, i trust you.

Thin Air. stranded on mountaintops, we dream of a world without wind to let us in, where the air's not so thin, and you don't spin away so easily each spring. tristan, i get dizzy at these heights. tristan, when will you leave me behind?

A Ghost on the East Coast. lost my patience outside a train station somewhere south of massachusetts, along with all the uses for my hands. back on track twenty-nine, and i'm on the wrong side of the shoreline. and you're nowhere in sight, just the sodium glare from the platform lights. miles away and without a home. breathless and relentless, and no trace of anyone.

Invitation Only. you're always welcome, you're always welcome. well, come on in. how long has it been? so, hello, how are you? my, you're looking fine. it's been such a long time since you walked out without a sign. it's always easier to be leaving than to be the one left behind, but i did not mind - you're always welcome. well, come on in. it's so good to see you again.

The Memory Deserts. fourteen years ago, you left to wander the arizona sky. and i was nothing but a glimmer in your eye. no memories to weigh you down, but i'll still be around. i'll still be around. you can sleep all day while i'm awake, because when the sun comes down, i'll still be around.

The Wind and Son. for the boy who's left behind: you are the air. you are the heir, and you've inherited the sky. it's slowly filling up my eyes. i can't hold on if i try. the sighs of size, oh. the size of sighs. i'll lend you a hand you my heart in my mouth has run out of things to say, of secrets to give away. for the boy who's left behind, this comes to you by air mail. whispered in your ear.

Wax. icarus, i'm so sick of this. why would you leave, just when i need you most? get your head out of the clouds. when will you make me proud? icarus, please don't start. has all the love been burnt out your heart? remember who you are. remember where you are. it's not so easy to be a star.

 

 

split 7" with Jeromes Dream

:: Cast/Away

Cast/Away. the first thing you saw when you washed up onto the shore were the words "i don't love you anymore" scrawled into the sand. and as the sun and the din from the street beat you sore, you had a sudden ache for the ocean floor. every night you dream of the same underwater scene, where you nearly made your peace, but then the silence suddenly ceased. and placed by an unseen hand, you were brought back to the tumult of land. the sound of the hull against the waves is not around to lull you to sleep nowadays. you just lie awake, listening to the gulls in the bay. breathe in salt air as you stare at the ceiling, trying to recapture the feeling of being married to the sea, but your vision gets so watery. every night you dream of the same underwater scene, but safe beneath your sheets, you'll never find your way back to that peace.

 

split cdep/7" with Ted Leo

:: Ohm's Law
:: Ninety-Nine, One Hundred

Ohm's Law. brush your lips against the window pane, your eyes fixed on the horizon, waiting for the sun to rise. this is all a mirage. this is all false happiness, but i won't resist.

Ninety-Nine, One Hundred. i'll come back for you soon. before the new year, before the new moon, i'll be in your room again. don't you cry for me, nothing will go wrong. when this is all over, we can move on, and i won't be gone long at all. i would ease your fears if i knew what to say. dream of a place where no one goes away: that's where we'll stay. that's where will go tomorrow. i'll come back for you soon. before the new year, before the new moon seals our doom.

NIGHT FALLS split cdep with The Wind-Up Bird

:: All I Can Recall Is the Haunting

All I Can Recall Is the Haunting. i could not see the horizon — the seas had swallowed up the skies. the wind died down, and the world turned silent. the fog rolled back before my eyes. diffuse blue light swelled all around us, like water at once both clear and deep. i called to you over and over, but you would not come out from sleep. voices rose up in a chorus, in a song of longing and what could be. i closed my eyes, but i could see you. o light, please stay with me.

 

THE HUM OF THE ELECTRIC AIR! cd/lp

:: Flicker
:: I Think This Is My Exit
:: The House We Will Make
:: Don't Panic
:: Out of Sight, Out of Mind
:: The Landmine
:: Lonesome Moon
:: Gravity
:: We Are Also What We've Lost
:: Away, Into the Light

Flicker. found a moth sleeping in the folds of your dress. burnt out because he turned out such a mess. he'd caught sight of a light that called his name. caught her eyes, and then he cauterized from the flame. say my dear, is this familiar? i apologize, but i must avert my eyes from the light.

I Think This Is My Exit. no one else is on the street tonight, and you've never seen the city look so bright. you could go so far in your car and never stop, but you just keep on circling the block. home is not so far away. you've just forgotten the way. the roads all look the same to your weary eyes. the site where a car crash accidentally lies. you've got so much faith in your teardrop heart, as the seams of your seatbelt fall silently apart. you've just forgotten the way home.

The House We Will Make. in the house we will make someday, we'll sleep in on sunday. the sheets and the sun's rays will close all around, wash over like ocean sounds. we'll stay in the bedroom until slanting sunlight tells us it's afternoon. won't it be sweet? we'll want for naught. all that we'll need will be all we've got. and we'll never speak of days when we'd desperately seek shelter from terrible storms, trying just to keep safe and warm.

Don't Panic. skating on a smooth obsidian sea, black sky reflects under your feet. miles away, the lights of your city life still burn, where the tick of clocks and the click of locks are anxious for your return. the cold air drowns out every sound except your breathing - your breath rising up from the ground. you could glide forever with your hands behind your back, but unseen, the ice beneath you begins to crack. are you out there? who is watching over me? I am floating. here's to hoping. here's hoping.

Out of Sight, Out of Mind. i thought i heard your voice amid the noise out on the street. i imagined it at best, but the knot in my chest still skipped a beat. i cannot concentrate or think at all of late for the thought of you, though it's been so long since the day i found you were gone when i came to. last night, i saw your face. but something was wrong that i could not quite place. suddenly i began to realize: the eyes i did not recognize. i woke up with a start and a pounding heart, gasping for air. i thought you were a ghost, or a dream at most, but you're everywhere. was that you just then, calling me again?

The Landmine. spoke too soon when they said they knew you oh so well by now. but in your defense, you always sensed the break just around the bend. but you can't forget the silhouette that watched you from the window. with one last doubt, you turned - only to see the lights go out. suddenly you said with a start: "this is the part where i depart. please don't pin your hopes on me. my skin's too thin for your instability." when you came to, you found all that you'd wished for had come true. alone and unknown, with the latent leaden weight lifted from you. but an ache in your chest was dragging down the rest like gravity. they say the x-ray found a landmine where your heart should be.

Lonesome Moon. sun, you've run astray. what did we do to drive you away? does some new fear plague that i can't allay? have you grown weary of shining all day? it's grown so dark in this place, since you've been longing for the shade on your face. as if your own light could be displaced. now, do you run from what it illuminates? i know you grow tired of this weight, how your fate is a burden you'd hope to escape. but i remember how bright you once shined. i remember how high you used to climb: you were always too far for me to hold. would you let me grow old in this cold? what other world are you trying to find? are you going to leave me behind? please, don't leave me behind.

Gravity. you lost the language right out of your mouth. an instinct to scream, but no sound would come out. a swan with a note caught in her throat. burnt out the wick. bit down to the quick. you were caught in the drag and carried a long ways, and couldn't get out. you keep having this dream, but can't recall how it goes. there's movement in shadows speaking with voices you know you know. how did it go? how does it go? it should be light out, but you can't see a thing. and you can't shake the feeling you're falling.

We Are Also What We've Lost. you can't outrun this storm. you turned and locked your door, as rivers overran the streets, and water pooled round your feet. you can't outrun this storm. the seas rose above their shores. you watched as your windows burst, and soon, everything was immersed.

Away, Into the Light. below the street, you heard a sigh of air brakes as a long good-bye. oh how i wish i could join you in the sky. to get out and up, away, into the light. but i'm ever further moving down, in tunnels far below the ground. careening past, so fast i'm spun around. but someday, at last i will be found in the air. you will be waiting. in the air, this weight will just fall away. i walked with swollen, calloused feet through corridors of gray concrete. high overhead, past all the glass and steel, my eyes are cast for wind i cannot feel, in the air. you will be waiting in the air. this way, we'll just fall away.

 

A NAME WRIT IN WATER cd/lp

:: What You Gave Away
:: Under Thunder and Gale
:: Drowsy Haze
:: Fever Dream
:: Buried Below
:: Witness
:: Those Distant Lights
:: Lucky
:: Forests Burned
:: Untied

What You Gave Away. the pacific northwest coast holds a place i'd longed to see. an unmarked stretch of beach, tied to your memory. i made my way there, breathed that air and walked on those dunes. i sank my feet in the sand, holding your daughter's hand. there's a debt, sir, unanswered, i can't repay: what you gave away. they say the fire goes out on a star long before we know of the light that shines down on us below. i went to that beach, footprints trailing behind, to be washed out by the tide or for someone to find.

Under Thunder and Gale. please let the rain in. open all the windows wide. let the wind blow that furious thing inside to spring forth some life. i feel it pulsing: a buried network of roots that will break the floor with fresh green shoots to climb up over me and through the roof. please let the sails down, let the canvas fall slack and loose. throw the oars overboard, for they're no use. we'll let the tides take us where they choose. we'll just keep drifting, hoping the waves don't pull us down. and if by chance we find that we've been run aground, we'll start a new life for ourselves where we've been found.

Drowsy Haze. you raced on up ahead as your silhouette blocked out the sun. i gave chase, though drowsy haze of those summer days was deep in my lungs.

Fever Dream. dry brush waits for a spark, to be transformed into flames bright and true that would burn all night through. to be reborn is all that it wants, but as days stretch, the thought starts to haunt that no spark will fly. were you left here for dust, rust, and wind, not knowing just what kind of trouble you're in? while something still stirs and yearns, you can still feel the burn. you've lost how days brought you here, to stand stranded again. speaking in tongues, with no breath in your lungs, and calling out. but the names all get caught, just as you once knew but now forgot what you've been looking for. was it to or from someone that all this time you've been on the run? or once again, has your memory been wrong, and you've been alone all along?

Buried Below. packed everything you had into the car. rolled the whole thing into the lake. now there's nothing left to tie you to this place except a heavy, sinking ache. the water's surface settled down again, with one more secret buried below. that's one more life you've lived and left behind, but it gets no easier to let go. but running is the one thing that you've always known just how to do, because the trouble up ahead might not be as bad as what's waiting here for you. but you're so tired. you've grown so tired.

Witness. streetlights spark to life as we pass by, caught in panes of warehouse windows and reflected in your eyes. lying on your lawn on our sides. we'll stay outside. all our friends are all alright and all around. the grass and dust and summer dusk is just settling down. there's nowhere that we would rather be. as day wanes, our shadows stretch below. it's perfect where we are, as the sun hangs red and low. when night falls, there's an electricity in the air on your bare arms that sings of what could be. the city glimmers underneath the fading light. what joy to be a witness, to be alive and with this night. we breathe in the ghosts of loves, waiting above to be once again dreamt of.

Those Distant Lights. if you say yes, we could leave, we could go. we'd be gone. we could get there in time to see the dawn. come on. i don't need to sleep. i'll keep driving all night long. i know there's something to see. i hear it calling to me every night now, with an anxious sound that makes my blood pound. as we drive down, what were names on a map will gather all around, waiting to be found. if you say yes, we could leave, we could go. we won't know what awaits us in those distant lights unless you say yes, so say yes, because now our only fear should be what happens if we just stay here. so pick the road that we'll take. I've got this deep steady ache running through me. I want to breathe the air outside of this town. as we drive down, what were names on a map will gather all around, waiting to be found.

Lucky. parked in your car, you're safe, you're saved. and though your hands shake and your lungs ache and the belt chafes, somehow you're still safe. four feet up, the road just stops at a forty-foot drop, where your high beams catch the last seam before the air sinks over the black brink. you must have dozed. you came so close with your eyes closed. but somehow, you're alive now, and wide awake. your foot's still on the brake.

Forests Burned. the thin slip of moon through the shade was lost on sleeping eyes seeing smoke rise up through the birch and pine, where a sinking red sun found us, as all around us the fires surround us

Untied. there's nothing to hold us down. we'll cut the strings. we'll kiss the ground goodbye. we'll catch up a western breeze that eddies us up past the trees to sky. let the line slip free. the ballast is your memory. let it drop to the ground. we'll always be around. mother to her baby said we're never lost. we're never dead. we fly. our thoughts get spun like silken threads, cast down below like sighs. i told you baby, once; i said, we never die, we simply get untied.