Name: Pleasant by Decline
Duration: 3 min 4 s
Description: Inspired by the hook from "Pleasant Valley Sunday" by The Monkees, "Pleasant" is a breakup song about the sweet release of getting out of a relationship with a shitty human and how your life afterward becomes... pleasant.

Judy Lin Wu: Violin
Chris: Percussion / Keys / Vox

Landslide (Fleetwood Mac cover)

A song I wrote while reading a book about Genghis Khan. Blue Sky Eternal was an old Mongolian term for the Supreme Being. The song is about going on through life and into whatever fate holds, all with the friends you trust at your side.

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Most percussion is acoustic: Tibetan prayer bell and finger cymbals, buffalo drum, sleigh bells, etc. Other instruments are digital.

Chris:  Percussion / Keys / Vox

Tracked, mixed, and mastered in Studio One.

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Lyrics:

I woke up to the drums
Of horseshoes on the plains
As the wind sang lonely songs around my tent
So I wrapped my blanket tighter
And stepped out in the air
And breathed a greeting to the morning Sun
Oh a frosty greeting to the morning Sun

Well I carry my own darkness
My secret history
Hard trails that I have ridden long ago
But a mighty few have drank
That muddy cup with me
And they carry me to everywhere I go 
They all carry me to everywhere I go

It’s the Blue Sky Eternal
Giving us the light
From the Blue Sky Eternal
As we ride
And we are all held up
By the arms of earth below
As we ride on to the night
As we ride on to the night

Now I hoist my tall black banner
The wind behind my back
As I ride out toward the Big Bear in the night
There are battles yet unseen
And furlongs yet to run
But my brothers and the big blue sky abide
My blood brothers and the big blue sky abide

It’s the Blue Sky Eternal…

Copyright 2023 Christopher Couch

Blue Sky Eternal (demo version)

A song for my friends - those who are here, and those whom we've lost.

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Most percussion is acoustic. Synths include a DX7, Prophet V, and Moog Matriarch. My goal was to create an 80s synth pop vibe with modern beats and vocal production.

Chris: Percussion / Keys / Vox
Shouts in Verse 3: Gene Mage, Gordon Darr, Steve Darr

Tracked, mixed, and mastered in Studio One.

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Lyrics:

Here
Here in the moonlight
We bathe in the fire’s light
Voices into the night
You
You take my hand now
And I’ll take a sacred vow
I’ll always stand by your side

Smoke
And dragon-eyed embers
Rise
Into onyx sky

We
We never know how
How long we’ve got until
One must leave the circle
So
So let’s hold tight now
Put one more log on the fire
And dance 'til the morning

Hold
Lean in and lean out
Can’t break the line
I think that this might be
As good as it gets now
And it’s fine by me, love

In the circle now
We’re linked arm in arm
Take a good look now
At the souls all around
And it’s magic how
Our lives intertwined
And let’s sing it out
'Til the sun starts to rise

Some
Were called to the night now
They slipped from our warm embrace
And walked out of the circle
They
They may not see us now
Let’s shout and shake the ground
So they know we’re here now

In the circle now
We’re linked arm in arm
Take a good look now
At the souls all around
And it’s magic how
Our lives intertwined
And let’s sing it out
'Til the sun starts to rise

Copyright 2023 Christopher Couch

The Circle (demo version)

Ever feel like the world is about to burn down? Me too. And I wrote a song about it.

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So analog it hurts! Tracked through Neve preamps, WesAudio compressors, and hardware EQ. Vocal chain includes a U67 mic and Neve 1073 preamp.

Chris: Percussion / Keys / Vox
Jason McGovern: Guitars
Jody Daniels: Bass

Tracked, mixed, and mastered in Studio One.

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Lyrics:

We’ve built it up so high
Shining glowing glittering
Towers punch right through the clouds
Hubris turned to steel
Rendered into steel

It’s gonna last forever
It has to last forever
Built for the ages
Not even gods can bring it down

But it only takes a breath 
To blow back the veneer
Lay bare our hidden nature
Barbarians deep within
No... gods can’t bring us down

The ashes choke our lungs 
The sky a preternatural hue
Jade mountains burned alive
An arsonist of truth
Cinders from the truth

In our push for the sugar rush
The everlasting high
We burned, burned so bright
Pyromaniacs of life

It only takes a breath 
To blow back the veneer
Lay bare our hidden nature
Barbarians… deep within
No... gods can’t bring us down

Walking on a razor’s edge
One slip and it’s sticks and stones
No margin for any error now
No time to let it go

No... gods can’t bring us down

Launching endless fusillades
From ramparts of our arrogance
Machines to feed the new machines
Can’t relax our stance
Don’t let them break your stance

We always get what we deserve
Kick ourselves down to the curb
Do we ever really learn?
Just bomb and let the cities burn

It only takes a breath
To blow back the veneer
Lay bare our hidden nature
Barbarians… deep within
No... gods can’t bring us down

Copyright 2024 Christopher Couch

Veneer (demo version)

Inspired by the hook from "Pleasant Valley Sunday" by The Monkees, "Pleasant" is a breakup song about the sweet release of getting out of a relationship with a shitty human and how your life afterward becomes... pleasant.

Pleasant

The project I'm working on is going to be a 5 song EP.  This is currently the most finished mix and finally good enough to share.  Recorded at Big Green in Garland, Tx.

Novacain

Formed in 1987 for a party in Denton, TX, Decline has underachieved like no band in the history of bands. They managed to stay together for over 25 years and wow nobody. They did, however, open for Pantera, The Toadies, Crowbar, and Billy Goat during that time. That tells you their level of failure... they tout who they opened for. Anyhow, here are some of their crossover thrash/punk tunes from their 25 year history of making the music that they mainly played for one another and a very small group of loyal friends who would tell them "You guys don't suck that bad."

Pleasant

Decline

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