Updated mix:
https://bonbos.bandcamp.com/track/ferryman

Never from the heart.
Only from the body.
Body better find me.
Body under soul.
Now you come from nowhere.
You travelled far in your head.
They say they don't deserve you.
That's what they said to me too.
You smile over the phone, but you need to make it real.
When the menthol hits your eyes, the sand, crystalizing, makes you cry.
He will come to find you.
He will take you in your prime, and when the wind gets slower, I'll row you upstream when I find the time.
I'll still use a hammer.
You won't have to save a dime.
It doesn't matter if I love you.
You'll sink to the end of time.
Your index on the jugular.
Nothing really matters, shocking.
Steady rhythm, you cry: "I think I figured it out".
I love my favorite cohort.
They drank up all the water.
Now you are preparing.
Dancing with your daughter.
We make our memories special for future fascinations.
Saving dimes, saving time for when the ferryman arrives.

Ferryman

DUST STORM ON BANDCAMP:
https://bonbos.bandcamp.com/album/dust-storm
DUST STORM VISUAL ALBUM SAMPLER:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVvivHwijeE

Original text date, September 29th, 2022:
Hello, this is BonBos. Tomorrow night, September 30th, at 11:45 PM Eastern Standard Time, a visual album sampler for my second album, Dust Storm, will premiere on YouTube. This is a short music video made using Flipnote Studio 3D and Vegas Pro that will condense the story of the 47 minute album into 4 minutes. After the short's premiere finishes, Dust Storm will become available on Bandcamp at midnight as a free, pay-what-you-want download, complete with a lyrics sheet, and your own copy of the music video.  In the time since I started making Dust Storm, I wrote a lot of new demos, sketches, and lyrics, enough to span over 10 more albums. I know this because I have already set up tracklists for many of these hypothetical releases and still have a lot of music and lyrics, both arranged into song structures, and other stems left over waiting to be finished. I've been working on them a little bit at a time, while focusing mainly on my upcoming third album. I have a rough tracklist ready, two completed instrumental demos, and several shorter, unfinished demos. The music that's playing in the background is another demo I'm considering as an interlude for the album.  My first album Cardboard Girls came from a pile of 100 unrelated demos and sketches I wrote, Dust Storm came from those that didn't get used, and now that pile has increased to over 500. All of my future releases will pull from this pile gradually. The longer these song ideas sit, the more they age and the more I replay them and edit them and fit things together until I think they're good. There is no way I'm going to run out of songs originating from Dust Storm's sessions anytime soon.  As for Dust Storm, I am happy with most of the songs on it, with the exception of the closing track, "Houston", which I lost the original DAW song file for and had to reconstruct into a version I'm not as satisfied with as the original finished hi-fi version, but is still listenable enough. I'm disappointed that I was unable to record four of the original lo-fi demos into hi-fi, but none of my attempts at re-recording these songs sounded good, nor did they sound like a substantial positive change from the originals. Still, seven songs on the album were recorded in hi-fi versions that I'm satisfied with, so at least it's a majority. Dust Storm is an album about a man who enters the media and fails to escape it through 11 songs about desire, travelling, fear, love, self-confidence, and conspiracy, taking place from Breezewood to Hollywood and back. It releases at midnight on October 1st. The album sampler music video will premiere fifteen minutes beforehand on YouTube. Links are in the description. I hope you enjoy, and thank you for listening.

BonBos' Dust Storm Is Out Now (STATUS UPDATE)

"Tan Genuine Laughter" is the first song to be released from my upcoming third album. It's called Typolice and it will have 12 tracks, and a generally faster and more energetic sound compared to Cardboard Girls and Dust Storm. All the songs on the album are written, but the album is still being recorded and currently has no set release date. The mixes will be finalized for the album's release. The single artwork comes from a tweet made by Twitter/X co-founder Jack Dorsey (handle: jack) in 2006, and all the individual song art for the album is in a similar style with different tweets.
https://twitter.com/search?q=Satanic%20(from%3Ajack)
https://twitter.com/jack/status/5081

There's a big storm a-comin',
built in your filthy hands for your filthy terrible plans
Can you see with those opposable thumbs, or are they lashes to the eye in the palm of your hand?
There's a big storm a-comin',
built in your filthy hands for your filthy terrible plans
Can't you see with those opposable thumbs?
Your fake invincible
Not for me, only guest book homicide
You can never choose to die on or off the string
They will search, they will look very carefully
Any body that's found must face the facts
Better call the Typolice, they will snuff it out and peace
A to Z, zero to nine, colon to apostrophe
My fuckin' back is killin' me from carrying this tan, genuine leather
Did it make a sound?
Clicking clacking typewriters
Heated fogs and heated glasses
All the hearts and the triangles around belly-flop in a swimming pool of sound
There's a man in my basement, he looks confused
Yeah, you didn't do it, but the pressure floods in quick
Can't you see with those opposable thumbs?
Your fake invincible really protecting you now?
There's a man in my basement, he looks confused
Better call the Typolice, they will snuff it out and peace
No more, no more taking from the last guy
Nice guy, can't you see how hard she's sucking the
Dealers on the good street fund your enemies like
Markets belly-flop in common time oh
No more, no more stealing from the nice guy
Last guy, I can see how hard you're rubbing and prodding at his feet to make him feel right
Better call the Typolice, they will snuff him out and peace
Better than to sell your meat, or givin' up your wisdom teeth
Better call the Typolice, they will snuff him out and peace

Tan Genuine Laughter [Current Mix]

"Addresses and Families" is the second single to be released from my upcoming third album Typolice, and was first uploaded on June 3. The single artwork uses a tweet made by Tyler, the Creator (handle: tylerthecreator) in 2012.
https://twitter.com/tylerthecreator/status/285670822264307712

In the tool shed,
there's a big old metal bookshelf
and a garbage bag
full of children’s books
and instruction manuals
dated from the past
I don’t see the author’s name,
but he’s got a bunch of blurbs,
about his life,
taken straight from the brown sleeve of a Bad Jacket
and all it read was that he fucked up,
resorted to drugs
in a think tank, in a cardboard box
full of bulletins
Gonna look for salt on
many different salt pans,
many different salt wounds
and the blood floods into the shed
The gardener has my world
scaling, tattooin' down his spine
Solved in characters so
delicate and foreign
you can't even read them
I’m runnin' out of time to be
I’m runnin' out of time
and at the end of the day,
they are just like me
They have places to be
and they have people to meet
You-uh, you want to come and find them?
Well you can go and find them
hiding in a phone book,
hiding in a dictionary
The end of the day,
they are just like me
They have places to be
and they have people to meet
You-uh, you want to come and find them?
Well you can go and find them
hiding in a phone book,
hiding in a dictionary
It’s about high time
that his favorite date turned second-rate,
embarrassing
Prima donna talks
spouting diamonds from the front
of his pink dress friends,
and if you shield them off,
your beard grows sharper
from a man of God
to a man of purpose
The reset hits
and the nihilists
are hit with another minor inconvenience,
so whatever
But what comes first?
Is it fights or discomfort?
In a soft belly
that you stab so deep
with a butcher’s knife
Laughing all the time
Gives me fatal douche chills all
circling down my spine
And he’s not one of a kind,
he is just like me
He’s got places to blow
He has to wander the streets
You-uh, you want to come and find him?
Well you can go and find him,
he's hiding in the Dairy aisle,
hiding 'hind the swiss cheese
The start of the day,
they’re just like me
They have places to be
and they have people to meet
You-uh, you want to come and find them?
Well you can go and find them
hiding in an old book,
hiding in an open book
In the midnight hour,
the comparisons stop
They are up all night and
they’re watching you plot
You-uh, you want to come and find them?
Well you can go and find them
hiding in a pasture,
hiding in a king’s court,
hiding in plain sight,
hiding ‘hind the Aristocrats,
hiding ‘hind Italian food,
hiding down the turtle chain,
hiding in an old book,
hiding in an open book,
hiding in a phone book,
hiding in a dictionary
(I’m runnin' out of manifest
I’m runnin' out of destiny
I’m runnin' out of manifest
I’m runnin' out of destiny
I’m going to have to make my own
if I wanna make this desert manifest
I’m runnin' out of destiny
I’m gonna have to make my own
if I wanna make this desert manifest)
Silence not stirred
Its sizzling skins
(I'm running out of destiny)
Under the sunlight
Sizzling skins off
(I'm gonna have to make my own)
When the silence breaks,
does the blood remain?
(if I wanna make this desert manifest)
To be hidden by Typolice
Cutting themselves
with safety scissors
(I'm runnin' out of destiny)
Deep in their jackets,
sins and masters that
(I'm gonna have to make my own)
they nurtured through the years
They’d hate the world in there
(If I wanna make this desert manifest)
So when a light flickers,
then they will act
Slithering, sliming,
never lines up
(I'm runnin' out of destiny)
Logic alignment
never lines up
(I'm gonna have to make my own)
The farmer says all
The farmer says all
(if I wanna make this desert)
Damn the spat out snake
The snake goes "hiss!"

Addresses and Families [Current Mix]

"Unidentified" is the third single to be released from my upcoming third album Typolice. The single artwork uses a now-deleted tweet made by Darren Rovell (handle: darrenrovell) in 2016.
twitter.com/darrenrovell/status/788928211929427968

When you find me,
I'll be clinging to the edge
of a fishing hole
Independent wreck
in the riverbed
At least that's what they said
Out on the ice
Standing in the snow
Compass freaking out
Running by the lake
Where am I?
Unidentified and wistful
Round and round
Gonna scratch and dent
Come on mate,
we're going fishing
Rise, falling tide
reels my harvest in
Paddle round,
there is death around
Make my strength, and I
will run, run like an animal
with my tail between my legs
Make my strength, and I
will run, run like an animal
with my tail between my legs
Make my strength, and I
will run, crawl into safety
with my words shoved in my mouth
Make my strength, and I
will run, crawl like an animal
with my words shoved in my mouth
At a big dark rock in the ocean,
there is death around.
Celebrating the horizon in the sky
in a curved dome
Light is shining down
through little peepholes
Enough for us to live
They'll shine on the stars
Shining down
through the cobwebs in the
tombstones of the
Terracotta Armies
and the soldiers hanging
from the streetlights
in the rain will be singing:
"Make my strength and I
will run, run like an animal
with my tail between my legs
with my tail between my legs"
Make my strength and I
will lap around the shady parts,
chasing the wall in circles
with my tail between my legs
Make my strength and I
will run like the wind
Going down to the river
Gonna go down fishing
in a fishing hole
Black your bags,
we're going fishing
Gonna disappear
anyone who saw
Falling tide
reels my harvest in
Paddle round,
there is death around
Blackest bass
Shorted currents
Gonna black your bags,
we're going fishing
Gonna black your berry
Bloody build-up
All points back to the center of the corners
All points back to one place
All points back to one place
Soldiers trailing,
fighting for their lives,
pulling up their sleeves,
and their influences from the clover field
Fly away to space,
chased by Typolice
to be unidentified
(Make my strength and I will run
Make my strength and I will run
With my tail between my legs
With my tail between my legs
Make my strength and I will run
Make my strength and I will run
With my tail between my legs
With my tail between my legs
Make my strength and I will run
Make my strength and I will run
With my tail between my legs
With my tail between my legs
Make my strength and I will run
Make my strength and I will run
With my tail between my legs
With my tail between my legs)
All two masters sit
on an Arctic throne
Rings and wings of eyes
All identified
(Make my strength and I will run
Make my strength and I will run
With my tail between my legs
With my tail between my legs
Make my strength and I will run
Make my strength and I will run
With my tail between my legs
With my tail between my legs)

Unidentified [Current Mix]

This cover was recorded and mixed on December 20, 2024. It is a standalone recording and will not appear on my upcoming third album Typolice. The strummed string instrument used on the song is an RBI Chromaharp originally produced in the 1960's and has an electric pick-up (I'm not sure if this is a custom modification or not, it was there when I got it). Merry Christmas.

My eyes are open wide
and now I see you
without your robes on
Without your cloak
I don't want to hate you
I don't want to beg
Kind of fascination
that gets in my way
A door that opens wide
My, how you've altered
Oh, Heaven, help me
Is that the time?
Beginning without end
Never lost, never dies
Unending, a beam of light
A tunnel in my mind
As it all pans wide
with a filter on the lens
She sees everything I do
She sees everything I do
And without my shoes on
over broken glass
I am dancing for pennies
I am staring straight ahead
A view that is so wide
it's gonna break
It's like it holds me in its gaze
If I go, it's because
it's happened once before
and now it's starting all again
As it all pans wide,
forget everything you knew
Forget everything you knew
as it all pans wide
like a newborn child
Like a newborn child
Like a newborn child
A child
A child
A child
Like a newborn child
Like a newborn child
Like a newborn child
Like a newborn child

Pana-vision [Cover; originally by Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, Tom Skinner and Nigel Godrich]

Original upload date: September 13, 2025 (a few days after uploading I noticed some issues with the vocals and the second verse and rearranged some things to work better) For the one or two people looking for a proper update on my upcoming third album Typolice, this the fourth song I have been able to complete in the past two years. I currently don't have the consistent peace and quiet that allowed me to record my first two albums cleanly without distractions bleeding through, and have had significantly less time to record than before. In that time, I re-evaluated a few unreleased songs on Typolice and reworked them. "Watering the English" is one of those reworked songs, and it will serve as the album opener.

"Watering the English" is the fourth single to be released from my upcoming third album Typolice. The single artwork uses a now-deleted tweet made by Donald Trump (handle: realDonaldTrump) in 2017.
twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/869766994899468288

There's a missionary
resting by the hillside
Just another target
waiting for the right move
And when the eagle comes,
it comes with water
Into the attic
Put out the fire
In secret burning groves
In crossed out X and O's
The offended surround him
in rows of twenty
Predicted in sci-fi
from years ago
Maybe, maybe, maybe you are not
Maybe, maybe you are not at fault,
but if you try to break
a raincloud on my face,
then I will make you scream
an undeniable fact
Here comes the Gardener of Languages
He's watering the English, he's watering the English
He's watering with bludgeon can,
filled with blood analysis
Watering the English
Watering the English
Knights in shining armor
wrestling by the hillside
Clashing blades of steel and
Gritty cursive backpack patches
Go find your river white
Your Stone of Scone is out there
Wrestling the spade code
Out of the atmosphere
Builders are working
Working in groups of two
Laying train tracks
If they took it one by one they'd
Go down the river red
Into a deep pit
Stabbed by stalagmites
Food for the plants and animals
Blood and soil else regrow
Dandelions dying slow
Everybody else will follow
back to the Alamo
Blood and soil else regrow
Dandelions dying slow
Everybody else will follow
down to the land they're owed
Ghost babe won the war
Many phantoms roam the streets
Death carries life in a can of
Chinese torture tricks
Watering the English
Watering the English
He's watering with bludgeon can,
filled with blood analysis
Watering the English
Watering the English
Everybody else will follow back,
follow back, follow
Maybe, maybe, maybe you are not
Maybe, maybe you are not at fault
Your fight or flight instinct
will not cooperate,
'cause your fate's your own ideas
that you don't have to run from
He's in the compass house
He's in the marketplace
She's in Rapunzel's space
They are all astronauts
They're growing cancerous
They're on a hiking trip
Saving the mangos
in the formaldehyde
Everybody else will follow back
and I'm gonna make 
sure that you're happy
Feel it on my mind
Make sure that you're happy
Feel it on to feel
Make sure that you're happy
Feel it on my mind
Make sure that you're happy
Feel it on to feel
Make sure that you're happy
Feel it on my mind
Make sure that you're happy
Feel it on to feel
Make sure that you're happy
Feel it on my mind
Make sure that you're happy
Feel it on to feel
Make sure that you're happy
Feel it on my mind
Make sure that you're happy
Feel it on to feel
Feel it on to feel
Babbling united these demons are,
and they're building up a tower,
and they're building up a tower,
and they're building up a tower,
and they're building up a tower,
and they're building up a tower,
and they're building up a tower
at the top

Watering the English [Current Mix]

Updated Mix:
https://bonbos.bandcamp.com/track/stop-spinning

[Instrumental with Gibberish Backing Vocals]

Stop Spinning was originally supposed to have lyrics but after listening through and trying to pick good spots I realized that it'd work better on its own as an instrumental. I left in two vocals that I already recorded since they were really quiet in the mix and I thought they were simple enough to complement the instrumental. For the ending section I wanted to convey the feelings I had when I imagined a wedding that gets caught in a tornado, I think I succeeded. When I showed this to someone they said it reminded them of the Mansion Basement fart trumpet song from Resident Evil: Director's Cut.

Cardboard Girls

Stop Spinning [Instrumental]

Updated Mix:
https://bonbos.bandcamp.com/track/cardboard-people

I remember when our son was born
He looked so perfect and new, already old
We protected him with a heart of stone
Protected him from all the window panes
But then he met this girl named Martha
She had a heart of pure boiling magma
The two fell in love on first sight
He wouldn’t shut up about how beautiful she looked
So then they decided one day to go to the park and do the tie
But don’t you know, don’t you know plastic people burn in hell
Cardboard people like Martha will never burn again, still they became plastic
They did the tie, looped their problems up
Loop them up in a big bowl of soup for your soul
They did the tie, looped their problems up in a hot bowl of soup
Hot bowl of soup for your soul
Then one day I got a postcard from the two who had just eloped to a dangerous foreign country overseas, I don’t remember where anymore
I realized that there was much terror and mishaps that could happen over there and I got worried for them
But immediately I realized that I had nothing to worry about, because they took over the car
They drove into the night, into the sunset, into the future
And never again would any of their decisions be held in vain because they never cared anymore
They just wanted to move on, evolve and then they got to the fucking and they thought it was so right
But really it was wrong, but really it was wrong
You’d never see me there again
Their future was gone, their future was gone, but not in the way they expected it to be
Their future was gone, their future was gone, their future was gone
And don’t you know plastic people burn in hell, cardboard people never burn again
Plastic people burn in hell, cardboard people never burn again

Coincidentally, Cardboard People was the hardest song to work on for Cardboard Girls. The main keyboard riff was the first thing written for it about a year before recording, but I had no idea what to do with it. The lyrics are probably the most disjointed of all the songs on the album, I wanted to tell this chunk of a story from the perspective of an overprotective dad who coddled his son until he met some girl who wanted to show him more to the world. The problem was some of the lyrics were either so narrative that it became harder to enjoy the song, or just didn't fit in some parts like the very end. This song was originally called "Do the Tie" and had a few key differences; significantly different, more improvised vocals, backing vocals, and the bassy, house-influenced drum part at the beginning of the final song was originally the ending section. Over time I realized that the song was just shitty in its current state and decided to rework it. I think the rework made it feel less disingenuous, awkward and wordy than it already was.

Cardboard People

This cover was originally recorded during the making of Cardboard Girls. I'm releasing it because I heard the news that Daniel Johnston passed away and I wanted to pay tribute to him. I admired him for his emotional vocal performances and off-kilter songwriting. "Some Things Last a Long Time", co-written with Jad Fair and featuring Mark Kramer, is his best work in my opinion. May he rest well and in peace.

Your picture is still on my wall, on my wall
The colors are bright, bright as ever
The red is strong, the blue is true
Some things last a long time
Some things last a long time
Your picture is still on my wall, on my wall
I think about you often, often
I can't forget all the things we did
Some things last a long time
Some things last a long time
It's funny, but it's true, and it's true, but it's not funny
Time comes and goes
All the while, I still think of you
Some things last a long time
Your picture is still on my wall, on my wall
The colors are bright, bright as ever
Things that we did, all we forget
Some things last a life time
Some things last a life time

Music: Daniel Johnston
Lyrics: Jad Fair

Some Things Last a Long Time [Cover; originally by Daniel Johnston, Jad Fair and Mark Kramer]

Updated Mix:
https://bonbos.bandcamp.com/track/and-thats-the-way-it-is

This is a slightly updated mix of "And That's the Way It Is" from my first album, Cardboard Girls. This mix is more evened out and fixes some audio glitches (mainly in the vocals) that were prevalent on the original. Nothing has been rerecorded, and on the Bandcamp release of the album which came out after this the mix was fixed a little more. The rest of the updated mix for Cardboard Girls was released on Bandcamp on June 8th, 2020 and can be found in the link at the top.

I wanted to say I was sorry for everything I ever did, but now I take it all back
The world wasn't happy, it didn't make a difference how we sinned
The blankets and the pillows were comfortable that night
I just wanted to interlock with you or die
But now I realize it may have been me and how I reacted to you
You, you, you and how you reacted to me
Love doesn't play that way 'cause that's the way it is, January 1st, 2K
And that's the way it is, January 1st, 2K
And that's the way it is
When I met you on the playground, you laughed like you meant it, I gave you a daisy
Hey don't blame me for the truth of the matter
We need to take big steps or we'll go home, we need to take grand steps or we'll be alone
We can't survive anymore 'cause it goes back to living
But when I'm with you, I enter a tunnel
When I'm with you, the sun burns up a light bulb
When did you say you'd forget me again?
So conveniently, like sipping two cups of coffee simultaneously
Now do you remember me? You act like we've never met before
But we're just two hurt kids on a field trip to the jungle
And that's the way it is
January 1st, 2000, January 1st, 2000
And that's the way it is
January 1st, 2000, January 1st, 2000
Our tests are fucking a testing test
I know the jungle air smelled so much fresher than this
But it's ok, we can model our relationship off of others
We can pull it off without magic, we can do it in full color
The way you want to
Now I may have found you naked on the balcony taking steamy pictures
Sending them to me, but I can guarantee you don't have the answer to this next question
You don't have the answer to this next question
Have you ever seen a moth on a light bulb making love? Making love? Making love? Making love?
No of course you haven't 'cause that's the way it is
And now I'm gonna take it all back, I hate your guts 'cause that's the way it is in this place, in this time
That's the way it is
I can't scream this loud, I can't scream this loud
And that's the way it is, January 1st, 2K
I've made the world seem happy, I've paid the price already now let me in

The song started off with the second main guitar riff, the third and first ones came afterwards. It was originally going to be more dance-oriented, but became increasingly detailed and longer as I got more invested in it. I ended up adding an organ and piano inspired by 1990's eurobeat and barrelhouse rock and roll respectively. The lyrics on this are the most intimate and personal on the album, and recalled one of my first experiences with love before the lyrics become increasingly schizophrenic. I like thinking of it as a plane that takes off, then gets struck by lightning and crashes onto a battleship; overall safe, but a little damaged.

And That’s the Way It Is [Updated Mix]

Updated mix:
https://bonbos.bandcamp.com/track/rekindle

I remember when we got along so well
My intentions hurt in heartbeats, and then I come in and they take my intentions away
You know we always relied on other people's problems to survive, but now comes the time when we need to get ourselves together
Get your life back together
Your fear is dripping down my hair like water from the shower head
You know I'm not in the wrong this time
You need to hold onto the cord that keeps your life
As long as we talk about it, it will be ok
But maybe you should know that it's just another way of talking to you
Thursday becomes Friday, I hear no word back from you
I said "If this ever happens, then I will leave the bar and go back home, back home"
Don't worry it's ok to be scared
Don't worry it's ok to be scared
Don't worry it's ok to be scared
Don't worry it's ok to be scared
Haunting, haunting, haunting, haunting, haunting, myself, haunting

Rekindle [TAKE 2; hifi]

I have no budget. 
I make dream pop/psychedelic pop music.

Dust Storm is now available on Bandcamp.
https://bonbos.bandcamp.com/album/dust-storm/
Dust Storm Visual Album Sampler:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVvivHwijeE

Thank you for listening.

BonBos

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