to be reincarnated as a butterfly

Anju - lyrics, vocals, string arrangement, instrumentation, production
Atlas Finch - production, instrumentation
Leonardo Vásquez Chácon - viola
John Mark Nelson - mixing
Alec Ness - mastering
Lily Xie - cover artwork

Gratitude to Dan Ramström and Nick J Meyerson

LYRICS:

Wake up to an open window and summer split ends
Last night and the cigarette grit still echoes and bends
I still taste you under my tongue
I don't want you, but you linger in my lungs

It's been months now, we're nearing on November
But sometimes to fall asleep, I stop to remember
The curve of your cheek

The sparsely filled subway car when midnight had passed
Giving thanks to the slices of sky as I maze my way back

There in the gate kept garden
Across from the alleyway stairs
Under the light of the corner store
You tucked a lock of my hair

Am I glowing yet?
Am I going to rain? I feel a monsoon in my chest
Drip to my knees
Believing again

Now I'm enveloped in yellow
I still dream I have insect wings
Reaching for creatures in make-believe lands
I speak through the worlds that I sing

The bugs below hum to the stars
I keep our New York night in a jar
Maybe some day I will go back
Maybe it's best when I dream from afar

Sometimes I wonder if I'm a cicada
Only emerging for moments like these
Only knowing how to sing in the times in between

It's been a long many years underground
I shake my shell, I make my sound
Awake to the world and I'm here to remember aloud
I remember

There in the gate kept garden
Across from the alleyway stairs
Under the light of the corner store
You tucked a lock of my hair

Am I glowing yet?
Am I going to rain? I feel a monsoon in my chest
Drip to my knees
Believing again

Am I floating yet?
Are my feet on the floor, or am I suspended in night?
Wings on my back
I flit like a kite
credits

Cicada

Anju - lyrics, vocals, production
Atlas Finch - production, instrumentation
John Mark Nelson - mixing
Alec Ness - mastering
Vy Vu - cover artwork

See grandmother sew in patterns
Feel the fabric fall in waves
Trace her fingers, feel your bloodline
Old palm readers, whisper in my veins

I inherit saffron riches
I inherit pools of pain
See grandfather on the shoreline
Sing to his plants in the haze

We used to move
Like the water from which we came
Rains and grains ago
Wind and waves ago

We used to dance
As the land has a heart of her own
Seas and seeds ago
Wild and weeds ago

Oh, topography
Like terrain on the top of my thumb
Like the song it unfolds from my tongue
Speak the hills

Oh, braided relation
From the crinkling eyes of my kin
To the chlorophyll caught in my skin
Sing the grass

And such lush abundance
Like falling asleep in your arms
Like a goldenrod crown on your heart
And I’m filled

With ancient medicine
From mortar and pestle and flame
I mean wisdom I’m learning to name
In my hands

We used to move
Like the water from which we came
Rains and grains ago
Wind and waves ago

We used to dance
As the land has a heart of her own
Seas and seeds ago
Wild and weeds ago

Remembrance

Anju - lyrics, vocals, instrumentation, production
Lutalo Jones - production, instrumentation
John Mark Nelson - mixing, production
Alec Ness - mastering
Nina Bhattacharya - cover artwork

In your red car 
Feels like I'm falling back together 
After coming apart for so long

Fabric up front, vanilla and cigarettes
Lines on the side of the door
Yellow flower from me and the silver CD
When you said how my hand fits in yours
In your red car

And on the highways with you
Wandering like teenager love
And how the sky holds a summer hue
Raindrops that tend to the dusk

All the times I've driven down these Minnesota roads
Some rides I know I'll reminisce
Two hearts, four wheels
Many more miles of this

In your red car 
Turn the radio dial to the frequencies from when we're young
Cleaning our hands, hearing the sirens
While we still have our breath and our lungs
In your red car

And on the highways with you
Wandering like teenager love
And how the sky holds a summer hue
Raindrops that tend to the dusk

All the times I've driven down these Minnesota roads
These rides I know I'll reminisce
Two hearts, four wheels
Many more miles of this

In Your Red Car

Arthur Theme Song

i've been waiting for a blessing 
hold my palm out to the painting 
and from here she'll take the aching 
so i'll wring the tears she's raining 

you saw through me 
never choose me 

i've outgrown the songs before me 
i'm unlearning all they told me 
take my wilted wooden soul but 
only if you swear to hold me 

i know i'm more 
than you came for 

i am worn from empty gestures 
ripples of immense ancestors 
i was born between two oceans 
still i'm taught i must surrender 

through skin, to him 
save me, lean in 

bodies of water in which i can wade and confess to her 
drip to descendants and still there are ways it's oppressing her 
teach me to sing with a heart that is kind, steady and strong 
reach me to again when the lakes have been drained 
and the rivers redrawn 

drift back, drift back to me


from Rind + Seed
Mateo Mendoza - keyboard 
Anjali Madhok - lyrics, vocals, guitar, production

Rind + Seed

Drift

messages on clementine rinds 
for once in my life i don't know how to feel 
you taste like pennies 
and that's alright with me 

the both of us are breathing 
in each other's ears 
our secrets speak different languages 
still your whisper's clear 

with you i feel grapefruit juice 
running in my blood 
i'm just a little confused 
what to think of us 

am i dreaming 
is it even you 
cassiopeia 
kiss me blue 
like the dragons in the parking lot 
ever heaving, flames and then exhaust 

constellate our fears with cinnamon sticks 
let's connect the stars 
help me hold the heavy parts of a heart 
feel me from afar 

many moons of waiting on a steady sun 
now i freeze in fear 
merge our fingernail horizons 
swear you'll catch my tears 

maybe sometime you can teach me 
how to hold on to your hand 
maybe next time when i'm bleeding 
i can call across the sand 

and when the ocean takes the lipstick from my face 
might you be there 
and as i'm walking empty steps in place 
will you hear my prayer 

am i dreaming 
is it even true 
cassiopeia 
show me what i'm meant to do 
like the angels in the submarine 
we hold water with our weighted wings


from Rind + Seed
Gaia Ramsdell - violin 
Anjali Madhok - lyrics, vocals, keyboard, production

Cassiopeia

Water Garden

The Reef

Jasmine

Lyrics, vocals, instruments, production - Anjali Madhok

Chorus vocals - Aathira Chennat, Ainae Nielsen, Alan Epp, Betty Wallingford, Carey Sirianni, Daniel Bergerson, Harmeet Rehal, Lily Xie, Nick Jordan, Padya Paramita, Sam Sylvander, Sarah Ogutu, Siddharth Iyengar, Tamanna Sohal, Uliya Yashtala, The Wellesley Blue Notes

Cover artwork - Katytarika Bartel

Fill Into Me

lake walk

Lyrics, vocals, instruments, production, mixing - Anju
Mastering - Bob Macciochi
Cover art - Ashlesha Tamboli

Thanks to Nick Jordan, Daniel Bergerson, and Uliya Yashtala for feedback and support

Honeybee

singer, songwriter, producer, and performer of homegrown folk-pop. music that conjures spirits of imaginary lovers, scents of citrus, and visions of hairy brown skin under the sun. booking, press, feelings - anjutunes[at]gmail[dot]com

Anju

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