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wharfertunes-blog · 8 years ago

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‘The Road Dissolved The View’

(All lyrics written by Kyle Wall)

—

“Drunk Behind The Wheel”

The state's on fire, every town's burned out. It feels like electricity's gone white. The needle's come down and the whispers whisked us back To the shores of Ireland, in the state you left us.

We've come a long way but this flight is wrong, It's holding us back from digging all night long, On a street where hound dogs lead the way. They couldn't break us so we're breaking out. There's a world out there that's built on our doubt, Is there still a goblin in our bed?

At the limits of the earth, I am a snake; I’m born, I sleep, I’m risen every day, And the years are long in Dublin after all, So I dissolve in the riverbed at any hint of fall.

I’m the one who dwells in the water I’m a scorpion, a careless daughter, With the fishes fast asleep in bitter lakes. My mummified eyes got nothing on you, And it’s high time they took a clue To drown out and let me sink into you.

When my eyes touch the water there, you'll know About the horrors rapping at my door. And if I ever try to talk to you again, The winds'll grey, the light'll climb and I'll kindly let it in.

What if I said our pain was free To float out back and swim through all the trees? Would you try to send my love away? I shed my soul in a bucket of tears And erase the goodwill guarding me this year, Awake, ashamed, and drunk behind the wheel.

“To Alabama”

A knife inside a stomach's the way to lose Aluminum or steel in the meaning of the news. In all the movies, the madness slips over you. It's a horrible feeling to know it slipped away, It's a horrible feeling of violent decay. So let's take a trip to Alabama today.

You'll let 'em bite you in candelabra blue, When you're crawling to your old house, seeking something new. In all the mirrors, you'll imagine all the shadows breaking loose in the street And terrorizing tourists trying to get away. It's a terrible feeling in this city today. So let's take a trip to Alabama babe.

“Melt Down”

In New York, a cryptic killing of time strewn in blue. Calliope's along the water as the Hudson splits in two.

Haven't you had a vision of a white wolf coming to you, With the snowflakes in the garden rising through the vines?

The sun, it escapes, and it's never gonna see you melt down again. A winter left out is a window into misery. At the moment I drift away, I fly into a violent rage, And I think about falling backwards in time.

Aren't there clues in the attic by the tattered maps and violin? The sound of flames emerging brightly as we do ourselves in.

Now I try to fly but my wings shatter, and the airwaves put me to sleep. In the old days, my spirits added to a sense of mystery.

Couldn’t you have made me better than the man I meant to be? Shoot me down along the mountains if I beg for sympathy.

Are you there with our daughters, is there time for wine to flow? Is our land beyond repair, is it time I came alive?

“Old Soul”

Ms. Gold, I was told of your raining gaze and winning streak, A wife and a weather vane while your old boys all went insane. They roar, you're a fraud, but the skies won't condemn or frighten you at all The lord lets us testify, I can feel her coming 'round tonight Oh, that great old soul on high.

The meteors towering before the southern set sets on its own. Shaking off ashes and eight light years of traveling. They roar, you're a fraud, but the skies won't condemn or frighten you at all The lord lets us testify, I can feel her coming 'round tonight Oh, that great old soul on high.

“Lumière”

On the rooftops I've been rattling To the state I'll be reborn in, And if I could be traveling the fields, I'd die to fly to Idaho. But I'll be back one day, I'll be back one day. I'll always want to thank you For bleeding out my roots. And when I'm draining out the old days, These songs will be the proof. I can't get high along the bridge Unless I'm feeling drastic, There's good news along the bay, The tornado's running late. But t'll drift here one day, it'll drift here one day. I know I'll want to find you And ask to share your roof. I'll be dreaming of the old days, And the songs we could've bloomed.

“I’ll Ride The Smoke”

Living at our old address, Where the roosters ain't woken up yet, If you'd only see me now, How you wouldn't believe.

If I'd only seen the killers coming 'round the bend, I'd build a stable of hate and excuses. Burning down the Christmas tree Ain't it what used to be.

You know we got history, Why did you ever want me? Now that I got company, You're somebody's blind ghost.

The rain washed out the highways again And another world might take us, So let's drift away tonight, I'll ride the smoke.

“Deep Blue”

I took a chance on a day off and emptied my pockets, Found an old dream of the life imagined, Deep blue enough for you. Call it inevitable, or call me a fool, But the love that I have for that moment Will lead me through blizzards and gloom, A chance to return to the dry side of town, And orchestrate our golden hours.

Old West Virginia was stuck in a song about time. The time of year shaping a pattern, See-through enough for you. Now I’m still miserable, but calls make it through, And the good men in town know to leave it Alone when the records burn into Ashes unburdened by ambient sounds. They only last a golden hour.

I dreamed I met an angel on a Greyhound We gazed upon the cold Atlantic, Deep blue enough for two. We crawled through a lifetime of imminent doom Now we're out in the sand and it's perfect. But these pipe dreams never come true. So I return to the thought that I've drowned And keep living through each golden hour.

“The Road Dissolved The View”

As kaleidoscopes scream sunken tunes, The firemen and the angels shadow the room. But the art never knew what the bees and gods do, That the rapture's already here.

In dreams of the water, we're in hell, And the red clouds rolling in know us too well. Colors cut through an ocean of blues, And the trumpets escape the sun.

As we ghosted through the desert, we both knew, And the distance between our darknesses grew. I thought the sunrise'd hide the highway, but the road dissolved the view. Now I look for something new.

“Wilt (For Adam)”

When the cold air and the rambling girls collide, Regrets and ashes strip me down, illuminating every bloated view. Of course there's evidence of the when the rain slid in my wooden shoes, And a bunch of lonely heroes had us dancing on the moon.

My mind wanders off as fiddlers drown me out and alcoholic cobwebs sob, It's bold to be so literal and melt into a worldless string Me all out babe, hangmen come at ten to cut me down In a nightmare that has kept me up all night going on a year now.

As the whispers of electrical twilight align and line the ceiling's fear Of poor impressionable nights alone without you on the wing A feeling of fall air comes in time to catch the next best thing Has it been all that long since archers struck us down?

It lingers and it mellows me as if this whiff of history could fly A century and hold on 'til our boys arrive and leave, By tombstone scenery I've been losing steam, bad deeds have nearly buried me But I'm winding up to live to see another rainy day.

Eden's off, the reservation shook our old nerves to the end of drawing plans, You think we've done enough, I think you woke me up And a heart attack awaits those who'll talk and talk and chalk it up to Sympathy and astral lies and bluffs, I think I've heard enough.

If to grow is to approach the psalms as ghosts and cling to open arms, Wait for me on Monday with a mask and watch your worries drown, I'll try to keep it brief beneath this front of ice and fear and fresh relief My soul is glowing at the thought of getting sleep, I'd love to get some sleep.

When I realize that my words are not my own and every melody has flown Among the bats and devils praying that I sing it like it is.

“The Hospital Choir”

With dystopia in my heart, I’m looking back To the hospital choir, all they sang was black. And for my last meal, the stories were endless All at once it collapsed and for better or worse, I was new And if blood wasn't angling to strike young men down in their shoes Maybe I'd have met you and carved out some honor. They said I was caving in, but I wouldn't die. If I would only swim around the nick of time.

If fifty years pass and you're still holding out for a full moon Well darling god bless your patience and enmity And if ladders and chutes don't lead me to you, tell the truth Will the Carolina blues strike somebody new? Now I'm dreaming of those who've passed and a vision breaks loose, About a boy who would fly to the depths of the sky and still lose. If you're ever caving in, remember that you're fine. Just go on and swim until the end of time.

“New Hyde Park”

I think of what I'd tell my son about the days of blood and hives, As I sink under the trail again, it stinks of spiderwebs and gin. I'll never make my money back, but at least I'm on a train, Away from love and blooming pain, away from architecture and the blame.

The truth is I've always been afraid, but we all stop sometime, Somewhere along the county line, between the bars we've plagiarized, Lifting lines and shots of rye that never stood the test of time. Losing the plot in the twinkle of dawn, I get off and clear the streets of my seed.

Now I think of what I'll tell myself when the nightmares turn to wine, Somewhere along the city line, while the ghosts who drove you away Whisper that they're drifting back. But for now I'm on a train, Awaiting life and blooming cattle, a way to go before I retire.

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wharfertunes-blog · 9 years ago

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Scenes of The Tourist

The third Wharfer album is out today. These ways may be easiest for you to listen:

Bandcamp - wharfer.bandcamp.com

Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/album/4LrAg9wu

'Scenes of The Tourist' really began when I moved into the house on Lewis with Roy Williams, Phoebe Hunt, David Moss and Dominick Leslie in August 2015. Besides living with four brilliant musicians, there was a piano. The months I spent rediscovering piano and writing these songs on it were as fun as anything I can remember, and the sounds I heard in my place - a horde of violinists, mandolinists, cellists, pianists, guitarists, etc. - in and out every day also helped inspire the sonic element of this record.

Shane O'Hara did an amazing job recording, mixing, producing and drumming yet again. Along with my four roommates, was honored to record again with Dave Speranza and also sneak in a bit of fiddling from Alex Hargreaves,

I ended up playing electric bass on a lot of the record, which is a first for me, and also laid down some banjo for the first time, but I was most excited to build some sections around electric guitars, which somehow haven't made it onto a Wharfer album yet. (Veering dangerously close to The Minor White territory at times with a Roy + Shane rhythm section.) Most of all I had great pleasure writing a song about going on a bender with an old turtle.

I hope everyone enjoys it as much as I did making it.

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wharfertunes-blog · 9 years ago

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Scenes of the Tourist lyrics + credits

All songs written by Kyle Wall

Produced by Shane O'Hara and Kyle Wall

Mixed by Shane O'Hara

Mastered by Josh Bonati

Kyle Wall – vocals, piano, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, synths, organ, banjo, mandolin, electric bass

Phoebe Hunt – violin (1, 2, 3, 12)

Dominick Leslie – mandolin (7)

Shane O’Hara – drums and percussion (1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 12)

David Speranza – upright bass (1, 4, 8, 12)

David Moss – cello (1, 3, 4, 9, 10, 12)

Roy Williams – electric bass (6), acoustic guitar (10)

Alex Hargreaves – violin (10)

1.BREEZE (SINCE I WAS BORN)

I came to my senses and came to your door,

But I can't trust my senses anymore.

I tried to be fair but you never did care,

And I'm fairly sure my role's outgrown me.

So if I have to die and you ask me why,

I'm beaming, “these clouds won't spit on my eye anymore.”

I'd love to go quietly into the wild,

But I can't go quietly anywhere.

I'd die to be under palm trees,

How the orange breeze would soothe my mind.

And if I should float down and you saw me around,

Darling I'd bleed to bend down on one knee

But I lost the ring and I can't sing the blues

The way this world showed me how.

So it's now that I'll slip out,

It's only been hours since I was born.

2. LILACS

This town we're a part of

Buries us from year to year.

An ocean of lilacs, baby,

Couldn't bring your body here.

It couldn't bring your body here.

It's starting to get cold

And I'm going out alone tonight,

Hypnotizing any entity exposing our crime,

It’s the same way you did it to me.

My words'll keep coming,

And I'll breathe through tomorrow

As I sit here and sing about you,

Fading into grass.

You're a thing of the past,

And I love you like that.

Beneath Alabama,

Memories disappear,

And the holes that we're digging save me,

But they couldn't bring your red eyes here.

They couldn't bring your red eyes here.

We're getting old

But we're going to get home tonight.

Hypnotizing any entity exposing our crime,

It’s the same way you did it to me.

If my words'll keep coming, why would you wake me?

If I sing tomorrow, would you let me sleep?

3. BATON ROUGE

Ran a mile in burgundy,

Rolling into Baton Rouge.

The criminals can see right through us,

Glued to overwhelming news,

Oh, it's overwhelming news.

Nuisance into nuisance, I'm arriving.

No sense in reminding me of anyone

While I'm hanging in my attic

And overheating on the fence.

Bled my wings in burgundy

Flies summon my drink.

And I've swallowed all my invitations,

And the air is like Christmas,

The air is alive.

Nuisance into nuisance, I'm arriving

No sense in reminding me of anyone

While I'm hanging in my attic

And overheating on the fence.

4. BLUE LEWIS

He knows what's going on,

How I've been blue.

Now his heart is underground,

But I've been true to you

In this season of foolish remedies, I'm screwed -

And I know you're losing time to lure me in.

Had a dream in black and white,

Where were you?

Now Old Donnie's settled down

And I'm back out the way I blew in,

As the winter rows us to sin,

I don't want to be an etching in blue, and you -

You are never gonna see the world for me,

It's full of daydreams and sunshine and haze.

I'm done now.

5. RYE WISH

The stars have all hid in our agony tonight

Veering around the room, new aches in our sights

Satan swallows my words and I'm shrinking again

Our town is a wire to godless sin

But my soul'll be projected on the edges of the wind

And my arteries'll always hold an image of your skin

Crying all night, stepping into the creek

My clouds run dry, I've been bawling here all week

I don't think I can ever step back in

The kitchen'll choke me, the bedroom'll do me in

But my soul'll be projected on the edges of the wind

And my arteries'll always hold an image of your skin

6. SOMEWHERE A METEOR CALLS ME

New dazing honor,

Separate alarms going off in our eyes.

Boy, I'm electric,

Cattle days sneak up and eat me alive.

Somewhere a meteor calls me

And whittles me down to my blood and my wires.

Oh now it's falling,

See melody, the doldrums are real.

I'm out of things to turn around,

My soul's been lost along the sound of you.

My bones are full of abstinence,

But it's an honor to be caring less and less.

Somewhere a meteor calls me.

And whittles me down to my blood and my wires.

Oh now it's falling,

See melody, the doldrums are real.

And nothing is real as yesterday.

So I'm betting on a silhouette,

It's bullshit but I'd love to see her win.

7. THE SUITCASE

A wreck like me, blind in infamy.

Avoidance in spades is electrocution,

An elevation of an ending.

I'm in hiding and I'll ride it out.

Sparks under sheets where we used to spin,

The kind of emergence I've been imagining.

I can't let you out, but I will let you down,

Howling in my room.

I'm losing, no I lost, I'm rail-thin in my thoughts,

You could never lose with your eyes all soaked in booze.

I'm still hiding it and I'm drying out.

I can't let you out, but I will let you down,

Howling in my tomb.

So say goodnight now, I'll be quiet.

8. MARIGOLD

I'm gonna slip in my marigold, my marigold of wire.

The sky's got me coming undone and I'm blood in the bayou.

You don't know where I've come from tonight,

So sing a fable and rip out all my lies.

I'm looking into my marigold, my marigold's blind eye.

The sky saw me sipping alone now I'm throwing up ice.

But I don't think that you're alone enough,

Your dreams are strung within my baring bluff. is that enough?

I'm gonna get you my marigold, my merry golden bride.

My old girl's a murderer dying to eat me alive,

But I don’t think that she’s alone tonight.

Let's sing a fable and rip out all our lies.

9. ARROWS

If you'd fell into the bleeding elements

Our country sings so well,

I'd ride 'round the memories I can

And disregard the rest as fleeting wind.

With hundreds of arrows on my mind,

I'm pointing out the highways and the way they surrendered

Me, into the one who's always breaking down

And escaping out the back.

Please don't stare into the light too long

If I'm the only one to crash.

Please don't dream about the leaves too long

'Cause I'll be drifting back.

10. IN THE OLD MAGNOLIA TREES

If my god had caught me walking down another aisle,

In a dream, a funeral's got me riled up.

Would his actions come and visit me,

Rolling thunder over rum and tea?

Tired of the way the wind keeps talking out of symmetry,

I hook the bait and try to memorize

The order of the never-ending seas,

The busted San Andreas melodies.

I've been here a lifetime,

In the old magnolia trees.

I drank all my lifelines,

It's the right time to descend into the breeze.

Eight nights alone and I'm addressing every passing need,

But I promise I've forgotten almost every damn thing.

Dig me under dying stars tonight,

The high is blinding and I've been sorry for miles.

11. ST. HELENA

Jonathan, give me life.

To the South Atlantic Ocean, I'll retire.

Hunting down schemes after dark,

We'll drink until our eyeballs bust.

But you're already blind

And you're stayin' up to piss in this dirt

And if I boil down,

Will the others realize what I'm worth, worth to you?

Boy, you've been here for two hundred years

One jug of rye and I disintegrate.

You old motherfucker, make my memories erupt.

When she held out her hand

And I came in the way that I left

If I could design a moment,

I'd have wept, wept for you

Boy, you've been here for two hundred years.

12. THE WILD

In dreams of a world that is winding down,

Where workers'll always be blessed,

The hermit assesses the seaboard

And finds that it's all he's got left.

The scenes of the tourists die suddenly,

Old California unrest.

He knows the grass won't watch itself,

Hell in the mountains out west.

Pipe dreams and plywood, he sees it all,

And makes love the shame that it is.

If disaster's swimming in anyway,

Why won't the saints visit him?

He wrote our whole history out on Tamalpais,

Keeping it close to the chest,

But he knows the past won't wash itself,

Hell in the mountains out west.

Sixty spins out of a rabbit hole,

Seconds away from the gun,

Lost in a teenage eternity,

And brothers who blew through the sun.

He whispers, "I'm going home to my old Alaska,

Easing away from the stress,

I love you all, goodbye and go wild."

Hell in the mountains out west.

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wharfertunes-blog · 9 years ago

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First tune from the upcoming third album. Details TBA. Enjoy.

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wharfertunes-blog · 9 years ago

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Photos by Justin Camerer

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wharfertunes-blog · 9 years ago

Audio

Jonathan, give me life / To the South Atlantic Ocean, I'll retire / Hunting down schemes after dark / We'll drink until our eyeballs bust / But you're already blind and you're stayin' up to piss in this dirt / And if I boil down, will the others realize what I'm worth, worth to you? / Boy, you've been here for two hundred years

One jug of rye and I disintegrate / You old motherfucker, make my memories erupt / When she held out her hand and I came in the way that I left / If I could design a moment, I'd have wept, wept for you / Boy, you've been here for two hundred years

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wharfertunes-blog · 9 years ago

Photo

Pensive Wharfer, 2013-2015.

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wharfertunes-blog · 9 years ago

Audio

Been living in this one for a few months.

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wharfertunes-blog · 9 years ago

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Kind Words

SPIN: "lo-fi treasure...art-folk stunner...marvel at wharfer's haunted, carved-out constructions...a no-frills, self-made passion project through and through...the singer's voice booms with a newfound confidence reminiscent of bill callahan" (http://www.spin.com/2013/08/wharfer-the-rattling-album-stream/) INTERVIEW: "there's something particularly beautiful about wharfer...wall has created his own version of haunting, yet gorgeous folk music that is hard to ignore" (http://www.interviewmagazine.com/music/exclusive-song-premiere-and-interview-ill-earn-my-collapse-wharfer) BUZZFEED: "one of the "24 reasons to love folk music in 2013...kyle wall’s growled, warbly voice immediately sets wharfer apart from the majority of DIY folk that’s popping up even in urban centers like brooklyn." (http://www.buzzfeed.com/harmonicait/best-folk-music-2013) POPMATTERS: "the best kind of bittersweet...if jeff tweedy, glen hansard and sufjan stevens met tom waits at justin vernon’s wisconsin cabin, the result would be 'acadia'...a retreat, an intimate invitation to his mental musings, unhurried and lush in its puzzling prose, heightened by the best parts of folk and Americana." (http://www.popmatters.com/review/194948-wharfer-acadia/) THE WILD HONEY PIE: "original, heartwarming charm...increasingly enrapturing with every listen." (http://www.thewildhoneypie.com/wharfer-gives-us-the-third-single-from-acadia-premiere/) WONDERING SOUND: "loving, immaculately-executed tribute to country music’s lost heroes...like a cowboy's lullaby." (on 'broken land: songs of the flatlanders') (http://www.wonderingsound.com/song-premiere-wharfer/) PIGEONS & PLANES: "kyle wall’s voice carries a muted despair, a warbly resignation that belies a streak of independence that runs through his music" (http://pigeonsandplanes.com/2013/08/wharfer-architect/) WE LISTEN FOR YOU: "with every subtle artistic choice, wall is simply defining himself as a songwriter with the intelligence to back up his raw talent" (http://welistenforyou.blogspot.com/2013/09/music-alliance-pact-september-2013.html) IMPOSE: "a talented folk mind...channeling folk sounds of cat stevens and cass mccombs" (http://www.imposemagazine.com/bytes/new-music/stream-wharfer-eyelids) FOLKADELPHIA: "nothing about his approach is phoned-in...the raw quality allows wall’s songwriting gifts to come to the forefront" (http://thekey.xpn.org/2015/02/05/folkadelphia-session-wharfer/) THE DELI: "like leonard cohen and early johnny cash meets phosphorescent" (http://nyc.thedelimagazine.com/16395/brand-new-americana-from-nyc-wharfer-plays-knit-tonight-0110) BEATS PER MINUTE: "spectral beauty...feel[s] deeply informed of [a] long line of country and folk music"

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