I’m waiting for letters from a loved one
Anticipation grows greater everyday
I’m waiting for letters from a loved one
The wind won’t tell me when they’ll come
Even when the trees point in the same direction
I’m just waiting on these letters at home

I’m waiting for letters from a loved one
Can’t count the time enough for one day
I’m waiting for letters from a loved one
If we’d move faster over land
I just need that paper in my hand
I’m just waiting for these feelings to end

I’m waiting for letters from a loved on
I can’t wait to read her solemn words
I’m waiting for letters from a loved one
And when I do I’ll probly cry
To these letters I’m bound and tied
I’m just waiting as each day passes by

Folk Songs EP

Letters

Lyrics:
Is a man valued by the number of bullets it takes to kill him?
1…2…3…4…
1…2…3…4…
each man worth more

See how they drop
See how they drop to their knees
And cry freedom

Is a girl valued by the number of pains she can hold in her heart?
4…3…2…1…
4…3…2…1…
All whores so rotten

See how they break
See how they break
And cry freedom

Is a god valued by the number of minds he can purify
1…1…1…1…
1…1…1…1…1…
My mind is the, my mind is the, my mind is the purest mind

And I cry freedom
Oh freedom
And I cry freedom
Oh oh
It Smiles as it Kills
God has freed my mind
God has freed my mind

Lonely Killer Blues

Lyrics:
Are you pleased with who you are
getting drunk’s got us real far
is that enough for each week
I’m not as content as I might seem

I want to know

Is it fate that guides my way
Gentle persuasion throughout the day
Or was it in my own right
A path that I laid by each night

I can’t tell anymore

And if the knife that grazes my stomach
Can’t tell me who I am
Then what fucking can
I’m so lost, so lost

Philosophy

Lyrisc:
I’m walking down the road
Betwixt fate and my soul
Looking for myself
And finding none

And I can’t run anymore
Cause the posters are lies

And my momma was a Christian
Stayed in the light of the lord
But now she sleeps in darkness
Forever more

And I can’t walk anymore
Cause my bones are dry

But she was 106
And beginning to cry
Cause she’s in so much pain
But you think I lie
Because I’m insane
But soon you’ll all die

And I can’t hide
What I’ve done
No, I won’t hide
What I’ve done

Western Ghost Tale

Lyrics:
Let us test the air
Light our flares of excitement, delight it meant
That when the flame grows low, unabashed
That it’ll still grow red
When we burn down to ash

And we’ll drift through the wind
A cloud in spin
And we’ll settle on the ground
And form to immaculate sin
The air seems fresh
So bring the dust to your lungs
Cough up some love and settle in on our home

Sit set build fall
All this motion is flowing but I just can’t keep going
Because it’s too much to deal with
So I stick my foot in the bottom
To stop with the drift
Oh but it, oh but it just sinks in

Test The Air

Lyrics:
Come over across the bay
I can’t see you through the fog
And when your sails top o’er the shoreline
I find I’ve already gone

Siren’s song makes heart’s yearning
pulls me in upon her line

The cold salty air oh how it wakes me
brings a teardrop to the eye
a fresh hearty breeze is what is needed
to unfurl into the sea

Siren’s song makes heart’s yearning
splits my deck under her waves

Across The Bay

Guidance, Ian's indie-folk debut is an honest and revealing reflection of his descent into and rise out of depression following the themes of manhood, love, self-worth, and family, filled with dynamic guitar, sweet melodies, and powerful arrangements.

Written, produced, recorded, mixed by Ian Steinberg
Cello by Dani Hill
Violin by Jens Hybertson
Mastered by Gabe Millman
Cover art by Jack Caron

Lyrics:
Sunshine
won’t you blow my mind
won’t you take some time
and set me free

Lifetime
I will not spend my life
I will not waste my time
So unhappily

But the grass is getting greener
And the trees are greener too
In the brightness of their beauty
I can marvel at the view

Highlight
I’m guided by the light
You can’t control my high
So leave me be

And my friend
Please don’t follow me
I have to stop this fiend
From corrupting me

My body’s getting cleaner
I can feel it in the air
Another glimpse of freedom
Rustles through my hair

Sunshine
I have woke to thee
Cracking through the trees
I give my thanks

Guidance

Sunshine

Guidance, Ian's indie-folk debut is an honest and revealing reflection of his descent into and rise out of depression following the themes of manhood, love, self-worth, and family, filled with dynamic guitar, sweet melodies, and powerful arrangements.

Written, produced, recorded, mixed by Ian Steinberg
Mastered by Gabe Millman
Cover art by Jack Caron

Lyrics:
I’ve been struggling since you left me
One deep breath to calm myself down
Talking to myself for three years
Say I’ll come around
I’ll come around

Often I’ll slip into a daydream
Wander far lands and memories
And crash back to my day to day
Where nothing’s changed
Nothing’s changed

It is easy to get angry
Looking in the mirror, like what have I done
To pull myself out the fog
Say I’m good enough
Good enough

At the risk of coming off as trite
I would say I’ve been lonely
And I wish that I could change the way
That things have passed
Things have passed

At The Risk Of Coming Off As Trite

Guidance, Ian's indie-folk debut is an honest and revealing reflection of his descent into and rise out of depression following the themes of manhood, love, self-worth, and family, filled with dynamic guitar, sweet melodies, and powerful arrangements.

Written, produced, recorded, mixed by Ian Steinberg
Words from "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho
Mastered by Gabe Millman
Cover art by Jack Caron

Lyrics:
At that moment, it seemed to him that time stood still, and the Soul of the World surged within him. When he looked into her dark eyes, and saw that her lips were poised between a laugh and silence, he learned the most important part of the language that all the world spoke—the language that everyone on earth was capable of understanding in their heart. It was love. Something older than humanity, more ancient than the desert. Something that exerted the same force whenever two pairs of eyes met, as had theirs here at the well. She smiled, and that was certainly an omen—the omen he had been awaiting, without even knowing he was, for all his life. The omen he had sought to find with his sheep and in his books, in the crystals and in the silence of the desert. It was the pure Language of the World. It required no explanation, just as the universe needs none as it travels through endless time. What the boy felt at that moment was that he was in the presence of the only woman in his life, and that, with no need for words, she recognized the same thing. He was more certain of it than of anything in the world. He had been told by his parents and grandparents that he must fall in love and really know a person before becoming committed. But maybe people who felt that way had never learned the universal language. Because, when you know that language, it’s easy to understand that someone in the world awaits you, whether it’s in the middle of the desert or in some great city. And when two such people encounter each other, and their eyes meet, the past and the future become unimportant. There is only that moment, and the incredible certainty that everything under the sun has been written by one hand only. It is the hand that evokes love, and creates a twin soul for every person in the world. Without such love, one’s dreams would have no meaning.

Fatima

Guidance, Ian's indie-folk debut is an honest and revealing reflection of his descent into and rise out of depression following the themes of manhood, love, self-worth, and family, filled with dynamic guitar, sweet melodies, and powerful arrangements.

Written, produced, recorded, mixed by Ian Steinberg
Chorus by Nohomie Choir
Mastered by Gabe Millman
Cover art by Jack Caron

Lyrics:
One foot in front of the other
One foot in front of the other
One foot in front of the other
Until I get home

One bend of the knee
One bend of the knee
One bend of the knee
Take me where I need to be

Til my soles are worn
Til my soles are worn
Til my soles are worn
Bring me back to where I’s born

One foot in front of the other
One foot in front of the other
One foot in front of the other
Until I get home
Until I get home

One Foot One Knee

Guidance, Ian's indie-folk debut is an honest and revealing reflection of his descent into and rise out of depression following the themes of manhood, love, self-worth, and family, filled with dynamic guitar, sweet melodies, and powerful arrangements.

Written, recorded, produced, mixed by Ian Steinberg
Mastered by Gabe Millman
Cover Art by Jack Caron

Lyrics:Jumpin’ Jack rabbit robbin’ my scratch ticket
Lickety split to the exit, don’t look back.
Confound me, don’t surround me
I’m known to kick fits when the slick bitches snitch.

Woah, luck runnin’ out again.

As a soldier I thought I told ya,
Obey a command, now are you my man?
Yes general, my men were all memorable
Sticking with each other even at their own funeral

Woah, luck runnin’ out again

Is there any way out of this black hole?
Is there any way I can save my soul?
Woah, I can save my

Pretty penny oh won’t you tell me
To get a good meal instead of bottles of this swill
Bubbly bottle, clutchin’ the throttle
To be a role model got to get your head straight.

Woah, luck runnin out again.

And this bench will become my bed 
To lay my head, goddamn I need rest.
Dreams of war are at my door
With a roarin’ score goal lighting up the forest floor.

Woah, luck running out again.

Is there any way out of this black hole?
Is there any way I can save my soul?
I can save my soul?

Bad Luck

Recording of "A Boy Named Hiroshima."  Performed by Ian Steinberg and George Wilhelm

A Boy Named Hiroshima

Three-Fold Moment is a triptych of sorts.  Three songs that are representative of my time during quarantine. The title refers to time as broken into moments, and each moment as broken into three parts: beginning, middle, and end.  The fold implies the inexorable blurring of each moment into itself and the next, while maintaining its distinct parts.  This expression of time is the best explanation of my sensory perception throughout the pandemic.  Time unrealizes as seconds become days, days become hours, months become moments.  

Isolation is both difficult and easy.  Before it began, I lost my job, and during this crisis, my mental health has been unstable.  Excessive drinking, self-deprecation, and memory loss became habitual.  Three-Fold Moment is a gift in that it gave me the motivation and focus to step away from myself and these destructive behaviors.  The quarantine has also been a time for reflection.  The privilege of my skin and upbringing has afforded me the opportunity to reflect on my life and to think about the path forward, an option not many have.  The privilege of choice.  The ability, wealth, and safety to grow.  I am grateful for these things, as well as the people and love that surround me.  In offering, I give you these songs so that you might know me better.  I would also offer thanks to those who made this project possible:  Dan Kruglak, Gabe Millman, Dahne Duffy, Isaac Silber, and Seth Laxman.

All money from purchases of this EP or any of my music or merchandise through the month of June will go towards the National Bail Out Fund, whose goal is to abolish pretrial detention and mass incarceration, and the Minnesota Freedom Fund.

Lastly, I would like to thank you for taking the time to read this statement and for listening to Three-Fold Moment.  It means the world to me that you do.

Where Does The Time Go

Three Wishes

Hot Blood

Hailing from Western Massachusetts, Ian brings New England sensitivity with driving guitar, poignant lyrics, and a musical sensibility honed by over a decade of performance.  Born from the campfire and the conservatory, Ian delivers a nuanced and invigorating show whether he's in a concert hall or your living room.  Ian will wrap you in song and leave you wandering in his storytelling.

Ian Steinberg

Popular tracks