1. |
The Radishes
02:12
|
|||
|
Here comes consciousness
Particles strike the skin
Impacts echo down a tube
And that tube is you
Or at least the tube goes to you
Or maybe it's a garden bed that is you
I didn't feel blankness, just distraction
Constantly shepherding sensations
And my thoughts poke up like radishes
Plump and shiny in the light
Here come the radishes
Teeth pierce the spicy flesh
Chewed and sent into a tube
And that tube is you
Or at least the tube goes to you
Or maybe it's a clear stream that is you
Maybe one day I will know the silence the world tears through
And I'll marvel at my empty mind
But today I give myself permission to eat the radishes
To taste the blank-sweet water of true being
Well, that takes time
And this session is over
|
||||
2. |
||||
|
It's not the singe of a bursting sun
Not a black hole that will eat everyone
Not the bite of the freezing rain falling
Not the tailgating terror that will turn you to gum
Not the landslide that shears off highway one
Not the unclipped seatbelt that sends me vaulting
So you ask me -- why so snide?
It's not an earthquake, it's not the end times
It's just footnotes to the faultline
No bleak catastrophe
Footnotes to the faultline
That have got a hold of me
It's not an asteroid nicknamed "Funeral Pyre"
Not a storm that's got me forlorn, nor forest fire
It's not even a single puff of smoke
Surely nothing so Old Testament
No dragon's breath on the filament
Not even a little stain on your coat
Couldn't tell you why the wind blows whatever way
So you know I can't tell you why I feel this way
It's just footnotes to the faultline
No horsemen in the sky
Footnotes to the faultline
|
||||
3. |
Coming-of-Age
03:31
|
|||
|
And I admit I've been leaving a floating life
Chasing the arc of a useless sun
But I've returned to you now
And I will do what needs to be done
Here I am
And I have drank from the fire of the stars
And I have etched your name into my teeth
And I have singed all the nerves in my body now
And for you I shall never cease
I will break bones for you
I'll open the dam for you
Just give me the word
And your little bird
Will bring the hard beak down for you
I don't know how or when
I don't care where it ends
Just as long as you smile
And after a while
Upon my spent body you will ascend
|
||||
4. |
||||
|
So now I'm blushing, retracing
Remembering how I was when I was younger
Sometimes I wish I was so groundless as I was back then
But then I remember the cost of sleeping too long
And it was wrong to drag you along
But that's what bad investments do
So I guess you had it coming to you
Don't worry, it comes to me too
But I'm slowly waking up to myself
Day by day the fossil around me tightens a little more
Day by day there's fewer branching paths through the wood
Every single step I take is just another closing door
But I'm slowly waking up to myself
I don't think the ones around me will put up with much more
Those still bailing me out don't know what the flood has in store
But I'm starting to figure out how to patch as I go
I'm slowly waking up to myself
I know I'm not an island, I need your community
But at some point you've got to stop rolling up your sleeves for me
I'll climb the bluff alone high above the foaming shelf
I'm slowly waking up to myself
And it was wrong to drag you along
But that's what bad investments do
So I guess you had it coming to you
Don't worry, it comes to me too
Day by day by day I get another year older
You told me what was on your mind and I turned another year older
Every single step I take is just another closing door
When will I wake up to myself?
Higher and higher alone on a cliff above the foaming shelf
Anything to distract from the work it takes to love myself
So now I'm blushing, retracing
Remembering how I was when I was younger
Sometimes I wish I was so groundless as I was back then
But then I remember the cost of sleeping too long
|
||||
5. |
Fishing in Laughing Foam
08:27
|
|||
|
When I first saw the Great Wave off Kanagawa
I didn't see what I see now
Just the wave itself, making Fuji so small
I didn't see the fishers in those tiny boats
Bracing themselves for the tide
Just the wave itself, moving mountain crashing
I throw out the line again
On the coast of Songhees
A man collects debris washed ashore
Carried out from a tsunami in Japan, years ago
And in a forest he hangs a blue wave memorial
And in his hands he holds a joist
And he thinks about the lives that lived under neat it
Before it was drawn into the gone
I throw out the line again
And I had a verse here about you
What I saw in your room after you died
But it felt wrong to sing that, like it was some cheap morbid lesson
But it also feels wrong to just write you out completely
To shove that ocean away
So I wade in here, half-submerged, with an empty line
And now when I see the Great Wave off Kanagawa
I most clearly see the negative space
Another wave, always there, that pulls us all
As we're drawn into the gone
And this is like fishing in laughing in foam
|
||||
6. |
Return to the Breath
03:46
|
|||
|
Whatcha gonna do when your grief surrounds you in a swirling misty sea?
I'm gonna breathe
Whatcha gonna do when time caves on you and you're buried six feet deep?
I'm gonna breathe
And whatcha gonna do when your fruiting flowers polinate the breeze?
Don't know about me, but you're gonna sneeze
And you're gonna breathe
We'll take our turn to turn the earth
And I'll let you eat my radishes if you let me eat yours
|
||||
KD Surreal Abbotsford, British Columbia
Recording project for a cloud of anxious nerves on the traditional territory of the Stó:lō people, the Semá:th and Mathxwí First Nation.
Comes out in the summer.
If you like KD Surreal, you may also like:
The Edge of the Land
by Katie Spencer
Spencer's indie folk sophomore album was recorded live in the studio over the course of two days.
go to album
I Used To Be Sad & Then I Forgot
by Mr. Alec Bowman_Clarke
Alec Bowman perfectly captures the dark soil under the pastoral world of British folk with this collection of melancholy originals.
go to album
3ingle
by Jason Lytle, Little Wings, Kramies
A trio of songs from indie rock veterans, “3ingle” showcases their songwriting skill with pared-back, acoustic arrangements.
go to album
Delicate, plangent singer-songwriter material that feels like its petals could fall at any moment.
go to album
For My Love
by Kesang Marstrand
featured on Bandcamp Radio Jan 5, 2016
go to album
Stirring Americana set to acoustic arrangements and topped by the legendary Alice Gerrard’s lovely, world-wise voice.
go to album
Seawheel
by David Lonton-Baxter
”Seawheel Acoustic” delivers captivating melodies and heartfelt lyrics in songs that are equal parts soothing and enchanting.
go to album
