
On my lonesome I lie here
It’s in my nature to be restless
Weight of a landslide is all I feel
And lately all I’ve been is helpless

Because I’m caught on the wrong side 
Of new morning’s light 
Like I’m stranded in your doorway
And I’m finding out the hard way 
That the bottle’s all but dry
I do believe I will go thirsty

Cherry blossoms in the park
Evoking summer’s evenings walking
I watch the city sky turn dark  
From the roof of our apartment building  

I played the mandolin and she sang
In a voice so soft and tender
But now my weary head does hang
Low upon my surrender

Thirsty


We walk these badlands
Through pouring rain
Wild-eyed we’re yearning
To free our names
But it’s the same old story they tell
Just a child’s parlor game

With dirt our witness
We place our trust 
In her father’s pistol
Red, lifeless dusk
It’s the same old story they tell
Another tale for the dust

So don’t treat us rough
We’ll break like light bulbs
Crack like dam walls
You and I are drowning in the flood

So revel in wonder
Where you may roam
Dare not to ponder each 
Fork in life’s road
For it’s the same old stories they hear
No matter how it’s told


Wildeyed Lovers Of The Badlands


Well I heard they hung the parliament
Strung ‘em by their ties
Left their bodies swinging there
Crows pecking at their eyes
This apocalyptic feeling’s got me
Going out my mind
Its death by propaganda
They’ll bury us with their lies

No-No way
I get that lowdown feeling in the middle of the day
No-No way
That lowdown sinking feeling, it’s leading me astray 

I turned the pages backwards
To read in Japanese
But the words they made no sense
Remains a mystery to me
My creations they elude me 
See them carried off to sea
By a flock of union seagulls
Advertising mutiny

Well I heard they hung the parliament
Strung ‘em by their ties
Left their bodies swinging there
Crows pecking at their eyes
This apocalyptic feeling’s got me
Going out my mind
What if this world is just a dream
That you awake from when you die?


Lowdown Feeling


With a pencil and paper I lay
The weight of the world
Between the lines of the page

Either way it’ll all end the same
We’re but remnants of stardust
Slowly floating through space

I’ve tried disappearing 
But a fragment always remains

I believe I’ve been stranded in time
Like the Cro-Magnon Man
In his casket of ice

But not to change is to feed my true vice
That’s when the cowardice returns 
Am I afraid what I might find?

All that could have been
That should have been

It’s a stain that won’t wash away
A recollection through rose-colored change
Even your favorite shirt will someday fade
So don’t try to keep in the Oregon Rain

Imagery of a once mighty kin
A family branching out like a river that flows
Through the veins under my skin

Yet I stand an outsider on the plain
A desolate reminder of so many 
Long unspoken names

I’ve tried disappearing


Oregon Rain


Ontario nights
How they pass me by so slow
View from my window 
Tells of a ghost town under snow
Down in the valley ablaze by the moon
I follow the bloodline through the past
Am I drifting through this life
Like a ship without a mast?

Perched like a Jay on the wire
Two lovers intertwined
Reckless desires always bleed into mind
In a truck stop diner 
Drunk on that raison wine

Five hundred miles away
You lie sleepless in New York
But you and I remain 
Bound like the pages of a book
There’s a magic in this old town
A silent guiding force
As I drive the final nail
Into the coffin of my remorse


View From My Window


 You can take your evangelist heart
And leave me with the casing
Put your faith in higher power
My own fate I’ll be making

Because it’s always understood
That we’ll awake without the light of the moon

In the dark

So raise a glass to the folks long gone
They belong now to the ether 
I saw a million eyes hidden in stars
In a desert down in Utah

As a stranger plays a song by the fire
And the canyon holds the weight of the night

In the dark
Distant trails illuminate 


In The Dark


There’s a shadow creeping ‘round at the edge of the frame
It’s holding my judgment prisoner but I can’t hesitate
If I’m to keep this vessel afloat

And this city feels like some kind of memory to me 
As if I’m watching my life like a movie through these eyes of TV’s
And I ain’t got the remote

I’d burn it all down just to swallow up the dark 
But all I need is a spark

As I stare straight into the nihility of it all
And realize I’m just a fading picture on the wall
I get a feeling of release

Because its days like these I’d rather just dissipate 
Like I’m a moth to your flame

So take my secret thoughts 
I can’t use them
And will you sell my reflections to the ghosts
Of my long departed youth

I’m coming off the back of a week-long bender
I’m never one to surrender but I think it’s time I tried
To find some truth behind this dream

And I’m questioning my way along that company line 
Was I born under a bad sign at the wrong time
And put to work like some machine?

I’d burn it all down just to swallow up the dark 
But all I need is a spark

It’s the last stop on my line
There’s no turning back
When I am the dark side of the street
Where you hide your troubled peace


Spark

B.R.Mackie's new EP 'Negativity Spiral', recorded in Boston with David Minehan of The Replacements, is a desperate & swirling, echo-drench journey through the modern, tumultuous times in which we reside.

Released March 16, 2017 

Personell: 
Matt Carlson - Drums (track 2) 
David Minehan - Percussion (track 3) 
B.R. Mackie – Everything else 

Music and Lyrics by Ben Mackie 
Recorded by David Minehan at Rubber Tracks Studios, Boston 
Mixed by Ben Mackie at Acid Springfield Studios, Bushwick, NY 
Mastered by Greg Calbi at Sterling Sound, Brooklyn, NY 
Cover artwork by Ben Mackie

Magician's Assistant

Negativity Spiral

Beachcomber

Australian-born, Brooklyn-based songwriter B.R.Mackie has, in the past year and some change, played some of North America's most acclaimed musical gatherings, including showcases at SXSW 2017, the 2016 Newport Folk Festival, Brooklyn's Northside Festival 2016, the 2015 CMJ Music Marathon, and Canadian Music Week 2016 & 2017 in Toronto.

This March saw the release of Mackie's new EP 'Negativity Spiral', three tracks of desperate & swirling, echo-drench indie folk rock, recorded in Boston with David Minehan of The Replacements.

B.R. Mackie

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