My fortune cookie said,
I would die today.
That's uncommonly specific,
I think it's fair to say. 

I asked the waitress for one more,
To be sure it was true.
She said, "One cookie per entree,
Is all I can give you." 

Ordered my second meal,
And scarfed it down with dread.
Then my stomach ruptured,
And in minutes I was dead.

==============================================
℗© 2004 Thyatira Music BMI
Written by Kahlil's Razor. All performances, mixing and mastering by Kahlil's Razor.

A Fortune Cookie's Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

So much for “We, the undersigned”
So much for the rest after the climb
And so much for love unconditional
And farewell my fair-weather friend
But what should I do with these memories?
Tell me please, when will the fading begin?

The time from February till July
You declared the season of reckless goodbyes
So goodbye

I could lay down my arms I guess 
The revolution would have one son less
And we could be Jews in Jerusalem
Or deists if we flee to Seoul
But you’ve picked a faith out already here
Now it’s clear
I might as well maintain control

The time from February till July
You decreed the season of reckless goodbyes
So goodbye

She’s been on my mind a long lonely time
A long long time
=============================================== 
℗© 2006 Thyatira Music BMI
Music, lyrics and production by Kahlil's Razor
All parts performed by Kahlil's Razor except female vocals by Sara Holmes and piano by Cheyenne McKenzie
Mixed and mastered by Lewis Kelly

The Season of Reckless Goodbyes (feat. Sara Holmes)

She lives in a time capsule
Of a world that never existed
She’s the hills softened by time
The ocean where the Arctic sun kissed it

She’s a stand against tradition
A struggle between two great abysses
She’s got time enough and wine enough
To help you burn some daylight and some bridges

She’s a struggle between
she’s a struggle between
Two great unknowns 

Her face is a map of ancient Moscow 
One expression gone and the next one’s coming 
If you fail to recognize those eyes
She'll narrow them and start the war drums drumming 

Through her lips, ten million whisper
The fallen who they tried to silence
But she heard their secret song
And now conveys the valor and the violence 

She’s a crossroads passed
She’s a crossroads passed
She’s a crossroads passed
And a new one near
==============================
℗© 2021 Thyatira Music BMI
Music and lyrics by Kahlil's Razor. All performances by Kahlil's Razor except female vocals by @looseyleaf

A Struggle Between Two Great Abysses (feat. Loosey Leaf)

Have you heard the lonesome tale, of when into their world I fell?                     And can you separate the moral from the myth? 
I came to see it by degrees, as through a fog that slow recedes:   A realm of gray.
A nation pinned beneath the boot, of a tyranny acute,
Rewriting history as even God can’t do. 
With every citizen a spy, and every screen a watchful eye, 
This world was cold. 

What chapter is this? 
What chapter is this? 
Have the perils all passed? 
Has the moral been missed? 
Did the prophecies fail? 
Did the plot never twist? 

And then I found myself within, another world, another skin, 
Where no desire of the flesh was left unsatisfied. 
The time between the itch and scratch: Too brief for purpose to be grasped.
Too brief for Love. 
And when the existential dread began to wail in someone’s head 
A numbing holiday was just a dose away. 
So no one ran. No one complained. Nobody tried to break their chains. 
A poisoned bliss.

What chapter is this? 
What chapter is this? 
Have the perils all passed? 
Has the moral been missed? 
Did the prophecies fail? 
Did the plot never twist? 

And then the page turned once again, and a vacant realm I was within, 
Overrun with men and women, but devoid of life. 
The drive for entertainment and for ease, became a crippling disease.
It wasted kings. 
Every noble truth had to be unlearned, and every book had to be burned.
Wisdom, they told us, only leads to grief. 
And no Big Brother was to blame, 
For the intellectual decay, 
The people made this world. 

What chapter is this? 
What chapter is this? 
Have the perils all passed? 
Has the moral been missed? 
Did the prophecies fail? 
Did the plot never twist? 

=========================================================
℗© 2018 Thyatira Music BMI
Music, lyrics & production by Kahlil's Razor. Except percussion by Panda Plane.

Panda Plane: https://soundcloud.com/pandaplanemusic

Parables and Patience

Did The Plot Never Twist?

They gave me boots and a uniform, 
They issued me my gun. 
They gave me captain’s bars and some matching training scars, 
They said ‘your past life’s been undone.’ 

Some will say I’m too lethargic for this war. 
But I still can, still can die as well as any man. 

So I keep these old eyes peeled, 
Keep my misgivings all concealed. 
But is this a battlefield, or just a baffling riddle? 

They stationed me on the Western front, 
They said ‘wait here till they raid.’
That was 40 winters and springs ago, 
And I’ve still seen no crusade. 

Some will say I’m too lethargic for this war. 
But I still can, still can die as well as any man. 
So I keep these old eyes peeled, Keep my misgivings all concealed. But is this a battlefield, or just a baffling riddle? 

Have the comms lines been destroyed? 
Have the satellites all been conjoined?
Has a philter been deployed, or worse?
Or worse? Won’t anyone say?
Or worse? Won't anyone say?
==============================================
℗© 2018 Thyatira Music BMI
Music, lyrics & production by Kahlil's Razor.

Wait, Soldier, Wait

Not one will come back untorn.
Everybody’s, everybody’s gonna tremble. 
Not one will come back untorn.
All the people, all the people. It’s transcendental. 

Gowned and gaunt, so many finally ask the right questions. And finally see. 
The stony lungs can then at last be made to breathe. 

Not one will come back untorn.
But it’s not for, no it’s not for love of anguish. 
Not one will come back untorn.
Not because of, not because of any dark wish. 

Bent and blind, so many finally ask the right questions. And finally see. 
The stony hearts can then at last be made to beat. 

The stony lungs will breathe.
The leaden lips will sing.

Separate white light by prism.
Further divide hues by wisdom.   
Tear mystery from mysticism.

Not one will come back untorn.
Everybody, everybody’s gonna tremble. 
Not one will come back untorn.
All the people, all the people. It’s transcendental. 
Not one will come back untorn.
But it’s not for, no it’s not for love of anguish. 
Not one will come back untorn.
==============================================
℗© 2018 Thyatira Music BMI
Music, lyrics & production by Kahlil's Razor.

Not One Will Come Back Untorn

“That which is far out and exceeding deep, who can find it out?
All those fey and cryptic themes: The tragic, the serene. Who can find them out? 
She who can’t lie rapt in awe, can’t wonder anymore. Who could find her out?
That which is far out and exceeding deep, who could find it out?”

These words, these words were delivered,
by one who perceived. Then he sat and considered.  
When the the silence burned, he spoke once more:

“In the face of the great joke, and the terrors it evokes, one man feigns not to hear. Attuned to only matters nigh, preoccupied with life, he pretends the joke’s not blaring. 
A second man will listen well. He hears the great joke yelled, and blends certainty with zeal. He proclaims to fully grasp, to see through undimmed glass. And says ‘it’s all so simple.’”

All those who heard him were puzzled. 
Was it a parable or wisdom redoubled?
They urged him to explain. He stood and spoke:

“That which is far out and exceeding deep, who can find it out? 
Who can find it out? Who can find her out?  Who can find it out?"

===============================================
℗© 2019 Thyatira Music BMI
Music, lyrics & production by Kahlil's Razor.
Second lead vocal by David Brandon. 
Strings arrangement/performance by Mikael Arcangeli

Solomon and the Great Joke (feat. David Brandon)

I was Nebuchadnezzar. I lived forever, so long as the kingdom held together
I was Alex the Great. I was immortal, as long as my pulse traced.
I was Julius Caesar. I was eternal, so long as the people were believers
I was Attila the Hun. Reigning forever, as long as my blood pumped

(But all kingdoms fall)
No crash was yet forestalled
(And the lifeblood thins)
Malaise will always win
(And belief runs dry)
and the hubris dies
  
I became a pebble and was thrown into this lake.    
I disturbed its surface, countless circles from my wake.
But when I reached the depths, the deepest deeps, 
I became still, still still.

I was a mayfly. I was eternal, as long as the sun hung in the sky.
I was a grass blade. I was immortal, as long as the rains stayed.
I was a zephyr, lasting forever, as long the atmosphere was transferred.
I was an Afternoon. I was eternal, as long as the day bloomed.

(But the rains drift west)
Past Minsk and Budapest
(And the winds die down)
Once balance there abounds
(And the day decays)
and the hubris fades

I became a pebble and was thrown into this lake. 
I disturbed its surface, countless circles from my wake.
But when I reached the depths, the deepest deeps, 
I became still, still still.

Something tells you that there’s nothing else but this, 
Lake and something whispers that you're still not quite a- 
-wake and nothing's quiet. Nothing sleeps. You're not still, still, still

℗© 2019 Thyatira Music BMI

Music, lyrics & production by Kahlil's Razor. Many thanks to Fuzz Genesis for lending the track her beautiful vocals and to www.reddit.com/r/BedroomBands/ for help making this recording collaboration possible.

Fuzz Genesis: @fuzz-genesis

I Became a Pebble (feat. Fuzz Genesis)

Light scatters so strangely
Ionized and crimson skies
What hairs the radiation’s left are swaying wraiths
But for as long as this hand can hold the brush...

Dust settles so slowly
Eons captured in each fleck 
The lungs are sputtering to oxidize my sludge
But for as long as this hand can hold the brush... 

My greys and blacks from tar and ash
Golds from an earth unpeeled 
The burgandies from my own flesh 
The wounds that time can't heal

One is the loneliest world 
Whose gaze could fall upon these works?
My heaviness astonishes, and maybe none will see
but for as long as this hand can hold the brush... 

Who’s got this? Oh, they survive,
Foreign, falling and real. 
WHO'S forGOTTen THIS follOWing? THEY anSWER: 'reVIVal!'
===============================================
℗© 2020 Thyatira Music BMI
Music, lyrics & production by Kahlil's Razor.

A Painter After the Apocalypse

And now I’m conjugating verbs in a language long dead.
Sacred texts fill my room. Puzzles pure fill my head.
There’s a sickly whisper hissing that we’ve all been misled.
So I search for some light, but find shadow instead.

I was young once and at peace, building castles planting seeds. 
I hardly knew that I existed.
And, though I’ve learned from year to year, the only thing 
remotely clear is that the path’s both straight and twisted. 

So now I’m translating runes from a cherubim stone.
In my pursuit of the way, I’ve lost my wife and my home.
And now I drift around Jerusalem, Mecca, and Rome,
But with each move, I’m only more lost, more alone.

And so I’ve squandered and I’ve spurned, couldn’t count the bridges burned, 
and now I’m old, and I’m reclusive.
And after decades in this war, the only fact of which I’m sure is that
the truth can be elusive.

So now I’m meditating on this Himalayan divide.
And I’ve fasted for so long, I couldn’t eat if I tried.
I even went beneath the knife until my lust was defied.
But I see now it’s all just my self-righteous pride.

And accepting that the ears that I’ve petitioned wouldn’t hear
Pours me out, and dries my bones. 
But more desiccating still would be to wilt among the spilled, 
Who swear with faith that we’re alone. 

So now I’m conjugating verbs in a language long dead.
Sacred texts fill my cell. Puzzles pure fill my head.
There’s a sickly whisper hissing that we’ve all been misled.
So I search for some light, but find umbrage instead.

Mine’s been a tragic, silly life: a worm allowed to sit upright 
But it was mine, so what’s it to you?
And though I’m ashes unatoned, I would bow before His throne, and say the word: Hal-
===============================================
℗© 2020 Thyatira Music BMI
Music, lyrics & production by Kahlil's Razor

The Man Who Wouldn't Stop Searching (part 1)

Will you tremble when life shows you
sun and moonbeams made of light brand new?
Will you quiver at truth and cast out old beliefs when they’re disproved?
Or is your mind made up? 

Will you doubt all that’s told to you,
Or believe that it’s all true? 
Will you drift through your days with your brain disengaged
Locked in either of these two? 
Or will you bleed to discern? 

Will you glory in tradition? 
Set the past as your vision? 
Will you strive above all to walk in the footsteps of the ancients? 
Or will you seek what they sought? 

Will you cling to your crosses, 
Swearing growth comes just from losses? 
Will your loyalty be to the fiery trials that have branded you?
Or can you sacrifice your suffering?
===============================================
℗© 2020 Thyatira Music BMI
Music, lyrics & production by Kahlil's Razor

In the Footsteps of the Ancients

Many thanks to Resonance 104.4 FM in London for featuring our track "Not One Will Come Back Untorn" on today’s episode of the Arty Facts Radio Show. We were thrilled to learn that of the 10 songs on the episode, ours won the high score, and was performed live by the hosts—after they had heard it only one time. Hearing this version—or approximation really—by Karen Holmes and Master J was a real delight. (Also, the band name is mispronounced at the beginning; I think he overlooked the first "L" in "Kahlil")

You can hear the full episode here: https://www.mixcloud.com/Resonance/arty-facts-new-music-review-show-23-august-2020-jason-kavan/

Our track and discussion & scoring of it run from 40:45 to 49:45. And then the memorable cover version is from 1:24:40 to the end.

Improvised, Live Cover of "Not One Will Come Back Untorn" (by Karen Holmes & Master J)

A little instrumental surf song I put together. I wanted to limit the instrument count to four on this (a high hat cymbal, guitar, bass and glockenspiel) and see if it could still sound full.  There's a video of me playing this on YouTube if you'd like to check it out.

℗© 2020 Thyatira Music BMI. Music & production by Kahlil's Razor.

Idle Eons

When the wolves are slain, and the hills reclaimed.
We’ll lay down our swords, and our fallen mourn.
But we’ve not reached that moment, we’ve not reached that moment.
And we’ve got to breathe until it comes.

Little love, have you lungs enough?
Or were you born too late to be this tough?

There will come a night, your voices will harmonize
And your dissonance will resolve to seraphs’ chants
But this is not that evening. We’ve got to keep on breathing,
and compose until that peace becomes.

Little love, have you lungs enough?
Or were you born too late to be so tough?
To be so tough? To be so tough?

Bm7b5   C#m7b5   Dm   Em   F+   G    A

Somewhere down the road, our bodies will go cold.
They’ll return to dirt, and nourish well the Earth.
But we’ve not reached that moment, we’ve got to breathe, atone and,
And struggle till that hour comes.

Gentle love, have you lungs enough?
Or were you born too late to be this tough?
Little love. Are you rough enough?
Or were you born too late to be so tough?

==============================================

℗© 2021 Thyatira Music BMI
Music and lyrics by Kahlil's Razor.
All performances by Kahlil's Razor except main drum part by Nick Schlesinger, and female vocal by Breanna J.
Mixing by Nathan Daniel and Kahlil's Razor. 
Mastering by Nathan Daniel.

Lungs Enough?

Here lies one who spoke, one whose words unroped. 
She freed men with a phrase, till one man her tongue chained.                       
So muzzled there and trapped, she spoke her last. 

Look. Don’t turn away. Comprehend this wondrous waste. 
This is what men will do. So look, don’t turn away. Don’t misconstrue. 

Here’s a nation struck, where victimhood’s the drug, 
Coursing through the veins among its legions. 
And now their might is pledged to dye the world red. 

Look. Don’t turn away. Comprehend this wondrous waste. 
This is what men will do. So look, and understand this tragic view. 

See this planet ill, its fever and its chills. 
All the joints complain and the heart is faint. 
And as the symptoms run, you’ll want distraction. 

But no, don’t turn away. Comprehend this wondrous waste. 
This is how men behave. So look, don’t turn away.
============================================== 

℗© 2021 Thyatira Music BMI
Music and lyrics by Kahlil's Razor.
All performances by Kahlil's Razor except female vocal by Gali Weber, and drums and hammond organ by Lucio Berte.
Mixing and mastering by Lucio Berte.

Aversion Therapy (feat. Gali Weber)

We now have a new band: Radio Moonglow. And we have an otherworldly new project in the works! Follow our progress and keep up with updates on instagram. 

Under our former name "Kahlil's Razor," our album "Parables and Patience" was released July 2020 and the vinyl copies quickly sold out. We'll be making a larger pressing for the new "Radio Moonglow" album, and can't wait to share it.

Kahlil's Razor

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