Get all 3 Ellis Easley releases available on Bandcamp and save 35%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of The Cooling of the Day, Earth Becomes a Rock, and Awful Instincts.
1. |
Foreword
01:11
|
|||
2. |
Capable Parties
03:40
|
|||
|
As it turns out, you can't say it
There's a new rift, a new shift in the ozone layer
They didn't cause the harm, but we'll hold them to it
What good is a smoke screen?
We can walk straight through it
I'm coming back from the cold sarcophagus
to reclaim all the things I'd left to rot
Because I thought, in the thick of the carrion,
that they were no more use to anyone
Pine for peace
Beg for relief
We're all capable parties
Farewell to the old ways
But let me keep my comforts close
I don't feel the need to rush to my grave
and I just hope you'll let me coast
Repairing the holes in the hull is clumsy
You tell me, for now, it's enough
But it won't be
I reach my cold hands beneath the far colder surface
Grasping for lifelines
Will the frostbite be worth it?
But lest we forget
We're all capable parties
|
||||
3. |
Nothing Gets to Me
04:33
|
|||
|
Take a nice, wide stance
Feet, one with the Earth
Dig roots down deep
All too often I thirst, for what my fingers can't reach
I want to stay here
Learn how to remain here
But when we feel safe here
There lies a new danger
I get high on time but it turns into nothing
Laughs as it drives by in its dad's new car and suddenly
I'm a child again
Abandoned in the wild again
Free to smile again
Can I please come in?
But nothing gets to me
Nothing, it gets to me
Sinking in your chair you see a brand new wave
And atop its crest are scores of brave new leaders
They've come to free us
But then they cruise right past you like every other time
that you already forgot
And the disappointment is a ball and chain
handcuffs on the radiator, stocks in the yard
And as the restraints tighten down
nothing happens
But nothing gets to me
Nothing, it gets to me
I promise to emerge from this presence of absence
In a dense, dark pool full of truant dreams
We never missed the boat, just haven't found it yet
|
||||
4. |
Compartments
04:42
|
|||
|
Her home was built high, a long hike up the hill
She was proud of that climb, and of her house, prouder still
From bone-chilling heights, she would stand and appraise
What becomes of the rubble, the debris of spent days
Though high as she'd built, it was no higher than that cloud
Regular visits unannounced, always threatening to bring it all down
Why, after so much time, does the storm prove inescapable
No one ever said what to expect
What this place was supposed to be is unattainable
So she learned to travel the circadian seasons
All essentials packed, close at hand
And it never hurts to stop and write a letter
March, with a heavy heart, across the tundra
One step at a time, out onto the ice
In this desolate winter, all has been plundered
Nothing works out right
Your hands start to shake, your confidence wanes
And you try hard not to think of all the bones
forever claimed at the floor of this frozen lake
Heavy feet no lighter
The thaw came swift and hot
Hair plastered to your forehead
Knee-deep in the boiling muck
The insects bite, your fury ignites
The loathing drips and saturates
Lash out, project, brood in the swamp
Nourish yourself with all of the hate
Coasting downhill to this sanctuary
As summer softens that stifling fear
You're safe from the damp here
You're surrendered to the sound here
Satisfied in where you are, in what you've done
And then you recall
The touch of the sun
Then the spring blooms all over
As though it never had before
The encompassing splendor of the purest air
You move freely
Your feet leave the floor
Submerged in the present
Within the truest joy
Unclouded by memory, you drown in your laughter
Love mixed with loss and you can't help but feeling
|
||||
5. |
From Where We Sit
03:59
|
|||
|
There's a frosted window pane between us and real life
It's a warm, comfortable seat
It's a kaleidoscopic, logistical nightmare
If it's taken this long to come up with a name for this place
I start to wonder if we should just leave it behind
Old, rusting machines tell us such thrilling tales
We listen any longer and our teeth will start falling out
Maybe the answers lie across the ocean
Maybe there's no real way to get there
I'm an open book of dreams, fully illustrated
I'm open to the idea of secondhand heroes
We look so long
And we watch the changes
From where we sit
We can't tell where the strain is
If I really think we're in such a compromising position
Would I have let it get this far?
Maybe I like it this way
Maybe you do too
This swirling indecision is the glue that holds us
far too close together
And then, in the distance,
as though a dinner bell rings
The stampede turns its course from us
and dissolves elsewhere
We sit and count ourselves fortunate that
we have no part in it
But is that just another lie?
Your bedside manner has revealed so much
and yet nothing at all
Another explosion
I'll put my ear to the ground and then
tell you that we're fine
Long, hard looks at one another
have borne mysterious, new context
Neither of us dares to ask
But "stay vigilant!" we say
not know its full meaning or implications
My God, the implications
Never spoken aloud so that we can continue
If we can't see the monster
Everyone knows it can't see us
We look so long
And we watch the changes
From where we sit
We can't tell where the strain is
It's getting hard to tell the difference
From where we're going to be
and where we sit
|
||||
6. |
Antidote
04:31
|
|||
|
Give me another try
I know I've said that before
There's anger in your eyes
That I know was first mine
You just stand in the hallway
Like you're the only thing holding up the ceiling
It's a paint by numbers
It's the wallpaper peeling
When the poison in me
Finds its way into you
When the jealousy
burns a hole clean through
Neutralize my thickened skull
Douse the embers burning low
Hunker down in the case of a gale
If you know your worth clean veins prevail
Let's find the antidote
There's no such cold reception
As when the fog disappears
revealing a shocked reflection
So hold my face to the pixelated dream
And though it burns us both
We'll try no to scream
This is all good for us
-Ch.-
Give me one goddamned second
I'm scaling it down
In the direction of the younger me
lies chaos abound
Though the other way; age
lies such devious decoys
Avoiding the pitfalls
As my body is slowly destroyed
When the venom bites
Deep into the frame
When contamination can't be contained
Alleviate that searing pain
Giving in sounds way to plain
Lift me up, I'll leverage you
We'll keep us well even if it's just you
Let's find the antidote
|
||||
7. |
Afraid to Dream
06:02
|
|||
|
I'm a carnivore
I was kept in a cage at the carnival
It was safe to view, but never to touch
I'm sorry about that bite, you know
I don't get out much
Demanding recognition
I'll scream your name for days at a time
I'll rattle these bars
While you try to settle your mind and
Focus on the beauty of life
But don't shy away from the stream
Consciousness can be a cruel thing
So bow to slumber and succumb to my schemes
You make it easy for me
When you're afraid to dream
When we're alone together I take great joy
in the strychnine drip that I've employed
It keeps you humble and it keeps you mine
Need to make sure that you live on my time
As the night changes so many thoughts
So the day is infected
From the inside it rots
And I'll eat you alive since it was you who
cut me loose
I'm a purveyor of lies
And I feed off your truth
But don't shy away from the stream
Consciousness is such a cruel thing
So bow to slumber and succumb to my schemes
You make it easy for me
When you're afraid to dream
|
||||
8. |
The Watchful Giant
05:49
|
|||
|
We skimmed along the fresh, black tar
We'd climb too high but never too far
The edifice loomed in full face of the sun
In its glaring completeness we were the lucky ones
If you held my hand it wasn't for fear
But in hopes that somehow I'd feel what you feel
That wild-eyed bliss that made you squeeze too tight
Made us both feel safe in the gathering night
But slumber doesn't always wander
With the cooling of the day
And shadows can be revealing
And the Giant within rumbles to its full height
Spewing detritus like
Winter's first snow storm in a canyon
It smothers us all under a weighted blanket
Crushing and freezing
How could we never have seen this from a distance?
We know that we're loved
that's easy to say
But convincing myself can depend on the day
At the pull of a string, reflectors saturate
and the Beasts become the darkness
as the toxins dissipate
The filtering light cuts a path through the leaves
They past down their love
We accept it with ease
So onward through brambles
Brace for a change that you thought wasn't possible
or acceptable
In the duality of the rain
Though lurking and late, it won't hesitate
With the cooling of the day
And answers can be misleading
And the Giant within keeps its one eye open
Pretending to sleep through a
double homicide in the kitchen
Then it rushes forth, cloaked in understanding
Scoops you up gently and
Back in your cage, life isn't so demanding
|
||||
9. |
Living With Yourself
03:35
|
|||
|
The old drone of the lightbulb in the guestroom
Has never quite become the comfort like you're used to
And the heat outside walks right through these walls
You can't keep cool;
Sometimes you can't keep calm
Enter the guest
But you don't want to talk
You just want to unpack your
suitcase of thoughts
And the lid is off
Fingers of vines grope their way up the walls
They surround you
Your escape routes all cut off
A baby cries in the next room
On your couch, your TV lies to you
Like you always say it does
In the kitchen, a drink prepares itself
And you shut the blinds
It's no one's business
Escape through a cave 'til you think you're safe
Fall back into your mind
Continue wasting away
There's no more left to say
|
||||
10. |
Structure, Which I Need
05:31
|
|||
|
On the infinite streets
She found me somehow
Sidestepping through turnstiles
Hopping locomotives
Sheltered in empty skyscraper shells
In the face of eternity
She picked me out of a crowd
I was almost gone
With my self-cut hair
and my rough-hewn thoughts
A callous fanfare
At the foot of the tower
We had a conversation;
a revelation
Hiding in plain sight
A promising radiant light
and yet you preached caution
In each of these hands, a trust in placed
And though we're equipped to withstand the blows
Disaster is a quick, quiet shadow
Near the roaring falls
She fixed me up nice
Put my glasses on straight
Rang my head a few times
To try and get my brain right
By the time I awoke
The dusk had been so kind
as to arrive
In the depths of delirium
I told you every prescient detail
In your infinite eyes
The seawater blossomed
and streaked your cheeks
Giving way to the glow
A surprised gratefulness
that you couldn't help but to show
"I didn't know," you said
"That we needed this dream.
So let's build, let's climb.
Because on its own,
Disaster won't just leave you alone."
I need structure to stand
I need real love to breathe
I need a genuine fabric
In which our lives can interweave
|
||||
11. |
Evening Leaves
03:49
|
|||
|
When I've spent all day
Just trying hard to try
I feel the sun going down
Before I've made it outside
It's an elaborate prank
and you know that I'm not in on it
And if I could, I wouldn't be
But I try to put a spin on it
Nothing so soft as the evening leaves
As they frame the day in a smooth silhouette
Nothing so bitter as when the evening leaves
But the sweetness lasts long after we forget
So every last drop
Hasn't yet been squeezed
From your vessel of happiness
So you fight the disease
And guard that vessel with
every inch of your life
It was never promised to be easy
So flip the script on your strife
Nothing so soft as the evening leaves
Let them polish the day and touch up our flaws
No need for goodbye as the evening leaves
It'll be back soon to soothe your wounds
|
||||
Ellis Easley San Antonio, Texas
The Musical Endeavors Of Daniel Ellis Easley
If you like Ellis Easley, you may also like:
Here in the Pitch
by Jessica Pratt
On her fourth album, Jessica Pratt blends up 60s pop and bossa nova into a spooky mix of soft psychedelia.
go to album
The latest from Jessica Pratt retains the sense of mystery that characterized her previous albums, adding expansive arrangements.
go to album
Forever Only Idaho
by Harrison Lemke
Big, strummy songs that recall the heart-on-sleeve earnestness and lo-fi glory of early Mountain Goats.
go to album
The Creature That I Call Myself
by Julie Arsenault
featured on Bandcamp Radio Apr 21, 2015
go to album
If you have a fondness for expertly wrought roots-rock with sharp lyrics and aching vocals, look no further—“Strangers” is for you.
go to album
Pittsburgh artist Merce Lemon makes tender and open-hearted indie pop with echoes of Frankie Cosmos.
go to album
The Australian singer's debut solo album is filled with creative indie pop tracks.
go to album
