swarbles.

swarbles; fragmentalism.

the weekly elephant 6 townhall hoursong is up.  the theme was the cover art image (which is an image of a woman taking a photo in front of a whole slew of mirrors), which was found by googling “random.”

so i started off writing one thing, and then it turned into something else.  also i’m horribly obsessed with the last chord progression, which i also used last week, and used again this week (and am actually using in a song for whatever it is that i’m working on). but i’m pleased with this, so alright!

available to download from cllct.  the whole thing is available as a zipfile on mediafire.

lyrics:

you know, i don’t understand why
you only photograph mirrors;

reflecting fragments of the world for me,
as though the whole picture was too lovely.

you know, i don’t understand why
you only sing metered measures;

warbling fragments of the world for me,
as though the whole song was too lovely.

you know, i can understand why
you’re all i want to see
and you’re all i want to hear,
so could this be?

swarbles; the black lodge.

my second song from this week’s elephant 6 townhall hour song compilation about fictional characters was going to be an ode to special agent dale cooper (#fictional characters i want to have actual relations with), but i had trouble with it and it basically just wound up being about twin peaks in general.  also the lyrics are virtually unintelligible.  i like the basic chord structure of this (well, just the bridge-y “like cherry pie” and “the scent of” parts), but i’m not crazy about anything else.  i think i am just being hypercritical about it because i have allergies and my throat feels like garbage and i couldn’t remember how i sang when i was recording vocals, and an hour isn’t very long to write and record a song in if you have hypercritical tendencies.

available to download from cllct and all of the songs are available as a zipfile on mediafire.

lyrics;

the hesitance of fluorescence
still flickers in uncertainty,
even when the bulb is warm.

like cherry pie
and coffee,
black as midnight on a moonless night,
black as midnight on a moonless night.

you’ll find me washed ashore, wrapped in plastic,
with letters jammed beneath my fingernails
for you to decode.

the scent of burnt motor oil,
and tall douglas firs,
and fear.

your doppelganger
runs circles round you here.

swarbles; nino quincampoix.

the elephant 6 townhall hoursong weekly compilation is up!  i did two songs this week, because the theme was fictional characters, and a lot of the people i am in love with don’t really exist.  i wanted to do more (stephane miroux, holden caulfield, alyosha karamazov, balki bartokomous, etc.), but it is really really warm in here and having the window shut for any amount of time was wicked unpleasant.

this first song is an instrumental yann tiersen-sounding song for nino quincampoix from amélie, as played on nino quincampoix (my accordion is a nino accordion that was made in italy) and a xylophone, and maybe i sing a bit of a chevalier song at the end because it was in my head.  nino is a bit wheezy and rattley.  i found a hole in his bellows and i duct taped it, but i think he requires more help that i’m not capable of providing.

available to download from cllct and all of the songs are available as a zipfile on mediafire.

swarbles; peony, peony.

this week’s elephant 6 townhall hoursong is up.  the theme this week was the peony.  i got the idea for this in the shower last night and played it at too fast a tempo, but wasn’t really wanting to rerecord it, so alright.  this features the triumphant return of nino quincampoix, who no longer has any original straps, nor does he have any straps that are even appropriate accordion straps (two purse straps and a length of poly strapping we use at work), but at least he’s functional again.

as always, this song is available to download from cllct, or you could download all the songs in a zipfile available to download on mediafire.

lyrics;

peony, peony,
bud wrapped so tightly,
hiding your face needing more time to grow.
ohhhhhh

peony, peony,
blooming so suddenly,
white faces blush when your pale pink petticoats show.
ohhhhhh

peony, peony,
ants march with dignity,
carrying flags down the street so we all know.
ohhhhhh

peony, peony,
petals fall daintly,
cover the ground at your feet in your own snow.
ohhhhhh

peony, peony,
body lays lazily,
carried by ants to rest somewhere where we don’t know.

swarbles; perigee love song in three quarters time.

this week’s elephant 6 townhall hoursong is up!  hey alright!

i picked the theme this week, which was the moon, in celebration of this evening’s super moon, but also because i hold great affinities towards all of the moons.  i was thinking about writing a nice thing about the waxing crescent moon and the deer, but instead i wrote about the full moon and the deer because i am fairly certain that when i saw the deer last year around this time, the moon was full, and it was one of my most favorite times i have spent with him (he may or may not have been flirting with me, but i am uncertain because i am terrible at fellows, and most especially him, because surely there is no way he feels even remotely close to the same things i feel for him, but sometimes i think maybe he might, but maybe that’s just my brain wanting him to feel some of the same things i feel.  /long parenthetical), so i figure i will write a song about the waxing crescent moon for something else (probably multiple songs).  at any rate, i’m quite pleased with how the song came out; it is one of my more favorite hoursongs i have done.

the song can be downloaded from cllct.  if you enjoy all the songs on the compilation, you can download the whole thing as a zipfile on mediafire.

lyrics:

i’ll glow only for you,
if you’ll glow only for me.

you’ll light the dark seas at night
and guide this boat right back to home.

your eyes will full moon at me,
and my heart will high tide for you

i won’t fear drowning those days,
with you, i always feel safe.

the moon, earth, sun all in line,
your orbit will coincide with mine.

swarbles; solitary blue.

the elephant 6 townhall weekly hoursong is up!  the theme this week was first person, so here is a song written in first person that is an accurate portrayal of my day.

so i had originally recorded all the organ bits on my point and shoot camera, because i wasn’t really wanting to lug my computer downstairs in order to record the organ on the microphone, so i recorded five or six takes, and brought it upstairs, only to discover that the camera was trying to refocus every two seconds, so every two seconds, it made this loud cla-clack sound, and it was awful, so i had to bring the computer downstairs and record it the way i didn’t want to do it in about half an hour.  the vocals are questionable.  arguably should’ve just used one vocal track but i like doing two vocal tracks, even when the second one generally does not remember what the first one is doing.

alright.

as always, this song is available to download from cllct, or you can download a zipfile of all of this week’s hoursongs on mediafire.

lyrics;

i woke up late today,
hungover and cold.
i’d like to go away
this shit is getting old

i always try for first,
but lately come in last,
feeling slightly cursed,
have the good things all gone past?

it’s hard to see the light
when everything goes wrong,
but i fight the good fight
even when i’m not strong.

and sure, it’s just a phase,
and things, they will get better,
this lingering malaise
can’t linger here forever.

and so, for now, it’s fine,
and i’ll keep smiling through,
and drink a bit more wine,
until i am imbued.

this quiet, lonely time,
i sit and think of you,
and it is not a crime,
it’s just a solitary blue

swarbles; drowning on land.

the elephant 6 townhall’s weekly hoursong is up.  the theme this week was that there wasn’t a theme.  my contribution this week is a song with a nice chord progression, really not very good lyrics, and allergy riddled vocals.  there were supposed to be two more lines at the front of it, but i didn’t like them so i scrapped them, so the first verse sounds weird and lopsided.

available to download from cllct.

lyrics;

all that i am,
am i anything
worth keeping as secret
when morning comes
crawling through the window?
pull the shade,

close the sun out again
til it starts to rain
and the sound echoes loud
in the empty space.

the air hangs heavy in lungs
the sensation of drowning on land.

all that i am,
am i anything
worth keeping as secret
from you?