1. |
Sing This Science
04:20
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My luggage is listless from bearing witness to going out of business
It's aimed like a raygun so casual and careless
burning like a cheap cigar, they're shouting "last call" at the bar
Unplug the landlines, I'm scrying for the decline
and sharpening our knives
We'll sever the sinews of this old life and
Sing this science into the street
Parade the pitfalls of our disbelief
In spite of these attempts to stifle the sound
Could you keep it down, I can't hold it down
I can't
Cast down a shadow to cremate the hedgerow
The bustle of this town will hum its own elegy even as it drowns
I'm out for the last time, sniffing for landmines
and calling the bluff on these telltale signs
We'll trot out the naysayers' flawed designs and
Sing this science into the street
Parade the pitfalls of our disbelief
In spite of these attempts to stifle the sound
Could you keep it down, I can't hold it down
Could you keep it down, I can't hold it down
Without a care in the world, you are absolutely sure
You doubt that there's a loss you can't afford to take
To stick it out and not move away
You've had enough of this fleeting toughness
Too soft to sell yourself on what to think
Would be impossible for us to bring
to bare our teeth and grit through this grief yet
or so-to-speak it
Or so to sing this science into the street
Parade the pitfalls of our disbelief
In spite of these attempts to stifle the sound
Could you keep it down, I can't hold it down
Could you keep it down, I can't hold it down
Could you keep it down, I can't hold it down
I can't
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2. |
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On a tree-lined Chebucto,
there is an aisle, there is a narrows
Between columns of red light,
A moonlit path to follow, that follows
The hillside, to the northwest arm
and the circle of grey where you
Tempt the Fates in a grisly roulette,
Forget your fears and reserve your regrets,
You’re running
Fender to fender, and pedal to pedal
Asphalt to concrete, rubber to metal
On the far coast of the Passage,
There is a roar, there is a rumble
Of the vinework of the conduits
That process crude, produce a pablum
For its progeny of complacency,
Convenient and commercial they
Take a swig and they try to forget,
Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em, there aren’t many left
Commute a sentence of labour to death and serve it
We’ll run, like Pamplona
For ruin or for restitution,
The red cape of the matador swinging,
I hope you can forgive the intrusion
Split hooves on the asphalt, ready to rage
We’ll ride, tilting at the engines of progress
A bull market is upon us
Faint strains of an anthem singing
We can take it if we want it, if we want to
The strange chorus that we belong to
Fender to fender, and pedal to pedal
Asphalt to concrete, rubber to metal
Ride on Aziz, I’ll don this helmet in your memory.
In the gridlock of this rush hour
A vanguard legion slowly emerges
With no recompense for the elements
And no regard for hulking deterrents
Who march goose-step, in lock-step
With an aggressive agenda they wait
Chomp the bit for the race to begin
Burn it all down, they’ll just build it again,
But not us.
We’ll run, like Pamplona
For ruin or for restitution,
The red cape of the matador swinging,
I hope you can forgive the intrusion
Split hooves on the asphalt, ready to rage
We’ll ride, tilting at the engines of progress
A bull market is upon us
Faint strains of an anthem singing
We can take it if we want it, if we want to
The strange chorus that we belong to
We’ll run, like Pamplona
For ruin or for restitution,
The red cape of the matador swinging,
I hope you can forgive the intrusion
Split hooves on the asphalt, ready to rage
We’ll ride, and redefine the meaning of progress
A bull market is upon us
Stigmata of a martyrdom stinging
We can take it if we want it, if we want to
The great corpus that we belong to
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3. |
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Oh my, oh my, open-heart surgery
Oh my, oh my, double bypass
Don't lie, it's not fine, she's spilling her guts on the pavement
She's bleeding her last as the transfer-trucks pass
Oh, how I learned to read the hues of your humours
Black bile and yellow, red the blood and your blue tears
Now every knock is a heart attack
A dense clot and your last battle
Each sign is a symptom and that shake was your death rattle so
No no no, is it the rack or the pinion?
Yeah yeah yeah is she strictly aligned?
The orange lights on the ambulance swirl in time with the hazards
Please get better
Oh my, oh my, open-heart surgery
Oh my, oh my, double bypass
Don't lie, it's not fine, she's spilling her guts on the pavement
She's bleeding her last as the transfer-trucks pass
Strapped to the gurney, off to the ER we go
With a viscous IV and me muttering "no no no"
The prognosis is pulmonary
And my pulse is a mayday cry
But we have the technology, and besides
I'm too proud to say goodbye so
No no no, I want a second opinion
Yeah yeah yeah, I did everything right
The orange light on the dash is a flatline
Back in the saddle, charge up the paddles and clear
Oh my, oh my, bring back the biopsy
Oh my, oh my, spinal transplant
Don't lie, it's not fine, but I've got spare parts in the basement
And money to burn to make the driveshaft turn
Oh my, oh my, open-heart surgery
Oh my, oh my, double bypass
Don't lie, it's not fine, she's spilling her guts on the pavement
And pistons ablaze, she stops and stays
As the transfer-trucks pass
It's a waste of gas
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4. |
Phasecrossed Fightsong
03:51
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If you could keep up, why can't you catch up?
If you could speak up, why did you shut up? Shut up!
If you can't have fun, what fun can you have?
If you can't let go, how can you relax?
Got a fine sense of present tense
We shake an angry vibrato
Signed, sealed, send the delivery
Certified, open wide, a broadside salvo to swallow
Be my, be my accessory
Clenching, his knuckles crack, cocking an elbow back
I'm plotting my next attack
I've decided I'm not gonna fight it
For opponents so opposed to restraint
In a mindset decidedly violent
If I'm conscious I'll remain, remain
Empty threats, epithets, demarcate brazen marauders
Sabres rattle, scabbards shake silently
Teeth bared, fangs drip, this venom runs in the hollow
Perforate, punchcard the eulogy
Wounded and limping bad
Cauterize and counteract
I'm launching my next attack
I've decided I'm not gonna fight it
For opponents so opposed to restraint
In a mindset decidedly violent
For responses we'll refrain to refrain
If you could keep up, why can't you catch up?
If you could speak up, why did you shut up? Shut up!
If you can't have fun, what fun can you have?
If you can't let go, how can you relax?
I've decided I'm not gonna fight it
For opponents so opposed to restraint
In a mindset decidedly violent
If I'm conscious I'll remain, remain
I've decided I'm dying to fight it
For opponents so opposed to restraint
In a mindset decidedly violent
If I'm conscious I'll remain, remain
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5. |
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“Alright, now listen up; I want this thing to go smooth, and by the numbers”
Let’s get it underway, hail the antenna array
Among the conifers and standing strange on the crest of a mountain
Range, find the yellow line, bisect the vena cava with this knife
Sleek and steel with four wheels and x-ray vision
Make the incision
Bury the needle in the nave of a crumbling steeple
Circumnavigate the Great Lakes
We will terraform and do it all by the numbers
Dictate a great escape, spell out the days and days,
Away and getting further, closer now to the bears and the border
Patrol a polluted shore, forget to try to earn an encore
Remember we’ve encumbered a cub reporter
Stop the recorder
I don’t care what you told her
This interview’s over; we’ve all said our piece
Somehow there’s been no relief
So bury the hatchet in the back of a tattered atlas
Circumscribe the destination
If we’re terrified we’ll do it all by the numbers
Under the gun in the middle of the 401
When the wipers quit you jumped ship
But we’ll still go down and do it all
In the convex reflection of a tanker truck
The lines move away from us
The miles are stripped away
We retrace our steps
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6. |
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Deep beneath the Great Lakes in the icy, toxic blue
With eyes as big as dinner plates that are fixed on you
To size you up for service, you’ll be taken soon
By oaken tendrils and by streets that turn to sand
And you’ll go willingly, you’ll go quietly
Into a life of ease
Leviathan holds my heart fast
Harpoon in hand, I twist in your grasp
Into the light I am drawn like a fly
Bioluminescent at a bathyscaphic depth
She radiates a beacon to the ones still left
To summon from the surface, how she lures and contrives
To draw us all to her, her gravity ensures
That you’ll go willingly, you’ll go quietly
Into a life of ease
Leviathan holds my heart fast
Harpoon in hand, I twist in your grasp
Into the dark we will say our goodbyes
At the gate, stepping off
Wisps of fate and jet exhaust
We debate getting soft
And taking off
In a haze of contrails
Will we deign to set sail
In a glacial riptide
Will we spread our arms wide
Cross a thundering sea
On a southern breeze we're taking off
Would I go willingly?
Would I go quietly?
Into a life of ease, her loving arms around me
Sing me off to sleep
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7. |
Hunker in the Bunker
05:00
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The city's on lockdown, orders from the top of the hour
News casting a blanket of blackout to cover up the snow
We covered ourselves in caps and coverlets
Conscripted for the shovel brigade
Slugged it out in the trenches, content just to hold the line
We march, from the mountain to the marsh
From the light to the dark, and from the means to the end
We will defend
Hunker in the bunker, waiting for the outpost call
On the edge of a melting iceberg in the face of a winter squall
We wonder, yeah we wonder, watching for a semaphore sign
But we're squinting in the wind, climbing the steepest incline snowblind
The slope of the ramparts glistens in the morning sun
Listen to the sharp report of a sly retort when metal grinds the concrete down
Resounding, the sound echoes on the walls of the barracks' windswept flank
These reprisals are a cheap morale, and now there's rancour in the rank-and-file
We'll put it all in a pile
And do it all with a smile
We're on the company dime for this time
Hunker in the bunker, waiting for the outpost call
On the edge of a melting iceberg in the face of a winter squall
We wonder, yeah we wonder, watching for a semaphore sign
But we're squinting in the wind, climbing the steepest incline snowblind
Oh but these anomalies make great enemies
When it's 30 below, who knows where the blame is
When we're feeling evasive
When we're digging ourselves in just to dig out
We march, from the mountain to the marsh
From the light to the dark, and from the means to the end
We will defend
Hunker in the bunker, waiting for the outpost call
On the edge of a melting iceberg in the face of a winter squall
We wonder, yeah we wonder, strutting on a vanguard line
But we're squinting in the wind, climbing the steepest incline snowblind
We're in it for this time
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8. |
Silver & Steel
04:09
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What do you see, oh sleeper when you close your eyes?
Fields of green, a golden dog running by
Colours of night, etched into jagged lines
Spilt the whole canvas wide
A dark and foreboding sky is thundering
What do you see?
What does it mean, the secrets that you spell out in rhyme?
The volume I brought you, there's blood upon the pages you write
Bound in a long life, lived in a short while
Dog-eared a lifetime, we memorized its lines imperfectly
So now we take up the cause, silver & steel
My sword is yours, I'll bend and I'll kneel
Banners aloft, their colours unfurled
Standards to bear stoically
Weekends to wear
Speak to me, what do you see
What does it mean?
What do I see, sleeper when I close my eyes,
The streets of Sydney, saintly but their sins can't hide
Parallel lines on a perfect horizon
There's polygons rising, their faces aligning
Isoceles speak to me, what do you see
What does it mean, what does it mean
Spirit I cannot deny
There's order in entropy, I think I can see the signs
But whether free will won I made my decision
Fight for the true ones, Our daughters and our sons are struggling
So now we take up the cause, silver & steel
My sword is yours, I'll bend and I'l kneel
Zeppelins aloft on silhouette skies
Standards to bear stoically
Weekends to wear
Speak to me, what do you see
What does it mean?
for a solemn oath to defend
for the bonds that ever may break
for a fleeting chance on the wind
for the lion’s share of the take
for the spoils all plundered again
in a wild tempestuous age
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Alright Already Halifax, Nova Scotia
Literary, angular 12-string electric anthems which seek to agitate rather than soothe. Midwest emo guitar and pop-punk rhythm, too complicated for punk but too simple for prog. Dylan Mombourquette and AJ Boutilier provide the critical backbone for Sean MacGillivray's rhythmic compositions. "Essays for Anthems" arrives September 1st 2023 and features guest vocalists from across the spectrum. ... more
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