Machine Unseen's second album contains more deeply personal music from In-Xtric-8's own life and regarding his relationships and feelings for family and friends.  Containing songs initially written in high school to songs written later in life and more recently with reflections during and after COVID-19..

In-Xtric-8

Many thanks to Lori Thompson, piano arranger and pianist!
. 
Stem-mastered by Oli Morgan

..........It can be so hard to let go
. 
Lyrics:
.
v1.
I know a man, trying to get lost in the crowd.  Hiding his eyes, but knowing he wants to cry out loud,
"Look at me! Am I so different than the rest of you?  You can't understand what I've been through; be thankful for it..."
v2.
I know a man, who sees what no one else has seen.  Not sure himself what all his life has come to mean...
I remember when, he says with a sullen smile, but really knowing all the while, he can't remember why.

Chorus:
Look at that man with the tears so dry, the laugh so hollow and the heart in chains.
Help that man with the lonesome soul...  He'll need to cry when he faces what remains of a pain he can't let go...

v3.
I know a man, haunted by imagined wars, uncertain why he hesitates at open doors.
I know a man who doesn't see the value of a sentimental kind of love that's hurt him straight through...

Piano interlude

to Chorus:

I know a man who's empty as a broken dream, who's wandering like a shallow stream...

Evidence of Soul

I Know a Man

I Know A Man - Lori Wendt Thompson (piano)

Stem-mastered by Oli Morgan

..........For our friends.
. 

Lyrics:
.
v1.
When you arrive, time to take a small break from our labors…  To slow down and unwind as much as we’re able, 
An honest kind-hearted friendship never wavered.  You bring the wine.  We’ll set the table.

v2.
At the door, “Glad to see you!  How was your flight?  Of course, you’ll have to stay for more than just one night???”
The girls start in with banter and joking, our words more subtle.,,, quietly spoken, confidence shared, long-kept, unbroken…

Chorus:  
We’ll serve the quiet and you pour the laughter.  No need to clean up, we can handle that after you’ve gone…  
Let’s make the most of this time spent together…. Even though a familiar melancholy song, the afterglow of your smile lingers on…

v3.
Share a good meal and a drink, or maybe two, talking of old times, and old friends we once knew…  
laugh and smile ‘til… bellies and hearts fill, remembering all we knew to be true.

v4.
Behind the meal, and special care, … faintly whispering in the air. 
More than gratitude, peace and good cheer, sacred, unspoken these many years… this reluctant evanescence shared…

Chorus:  
We’ll serve the quiet and you pour the laughter.  No need to clean up, we can handle that when you’ve gone…  
Let’s make the most of this time spent together…. Even though a familiar melancholy song, the afterglow of your smile lingers on…

v5.
Once again, across all these years… How have we come this far???    through love... laughter… loss… tears???   … You break out your guitar,…

(guitar interlude)

Life’s not always been kind, but friends know how to pretend… love is blind…

Chorus:  
A little more music,…  Won’t you read us a chapter?  We've got all night. When will another chance come along?  
Let’s make the most of this time spent together…Even though a familiar melancholy song, the afterglow of your smile lingers on…

Afterglow

Thanks to Oli Morgan for his creative input

..........A proposal

Lyrics:

v1.
You're the one,... I'm just lucky to be near you.
And my path's never shone so clear,... before you.
I'm sure we'll make it through life's ups and downs
Without losing sight of all that we know and feel is true.
But we'll need to trust in one another
to be forever faithful lovers,...
v2.
so we won't ever have to fight to keep alive what is just so right.
and all we need is to hold on to each other...

Chorus1:  
Do you need true love?
Do you need a lover who'll be by your side?
True love...
Someone who has thrown away his pride
to give you everything you need...
True love...
You just make my life seem right,
and so I'm here on bended knee tonight.
I need you love.

v3.
I may not always know how to sing I love you.
But I'll still be here when times get tough to get through.
I understand the way you feel, you don't need something that isn't real...
You need an honest man with the heart to truly hear you.

Chorus2:
Do you need true love?
Do you need a lover who'll be by your side?
True love...
Someone who has thrown away his pride
to give you everything you need,
True love...
Everything's gonna be alright.
I'm hoping that you'll agree tonight...

Bridge:
Our love, it will last forever if we only let it be,... If we trust and let it be.
This life could be our adventure.
Won't you share your time with me?

v4.
All we need is to trust in one another that we will be forever faithful lovers.
You know the way I feel.  I won't make a promise if it isn't real...  And I swear my love, I'll be forever true!

Chorus3:
If you need true love, if you need a lover who'll be by your side,
True love...
Someone who has thrown away his pride to give you everything you need,
True love...
Let's go make a brand new life,
Come run away with me and be my wife...

I need you love...

True Love

...love's marathon

Stem mastered by Oli Morgan

Many thanks to Monkey Swipe for the flute track.

Lyrics:
.v1.
The race is on!  Who's chasing whom?  What are you fleeing from?  Who are your running to?
Got to keep pace, strong steady stride, ...no time to look back.  The swiftest will survive!

Chorus:
Although I may never win this race, I'm running in a state of grace, just to see that smile upon Your face!

v2.
No promises made to rats on a wheel.  The rules are so few.  We've got time to steal.
It's not only fear, but Love that inspires, that keeps us on the run... the Fuel that feeds our fires.

to Chorus:

Bridge:
The first time you fell, I fell too, and I knew I had fallen.
Running beside you, "Don't let go!" you cried.
Now we're just chasing time, so to stay alight, let Me give you these wings ...

v3.
to fly...to fly!  Fly high!
It's not only hope but Joy that inspires,... that keeps us on the run... the Fuel that feeds our fires!

to Chorus:

(Instrumental)

Fuel That Feeds Our Fires

Fuel That Feeds Our Fires - Monkey Swipe (flute)

Thanks to Oli Morgan for his creative input, In-Xtric-21 for helping to write this accompaniment, and Yamamoto-san for his drum track.

Lyrics:

V1.  
Your eyes are like my rising sun, growing brighter day by day, to never fade away...

And my love, a rolling mountain spring,.. I just can't help but sing these feelings from my heart,

'cause I know that you can heal my broken heart and mend my fragile pride, teach my how to love again...

And when your smile makes me warm inside I know you love me too...


V2.
Will you teach me how to love with the patience that you've shown that makes me glad just knowin' 

that I'm in your arms while you whispering to me those words I long too hear, 'cause I know you speak sincerely from your heart.

I don't know how this could be true, but you say you love me too.

C1. 
In our lives we never really learn to show the way we feel, until we find a love who helps to open up all the feelings from inside.

You have shown me how to love and be a better man, by opening my heart...


V3.
My dear, I can't ask you to believe words that I've been known to say, so I could have my way...,

but from this hour my actions will be clear.  No lingering doubt remains, and I'm not playing games.

You are the one that I've dreaming of.  Sweet moments spent with you..., to share our love a lifetime's not enough.

Now and always I'll be true.  I'm in love with you.

C2.
All my life, I never really thought I'd find someone like you to show me who I am and help to make me more than I ever thought I'd be.

All the love I have to give I'll give it all to you.  Like the stars shine down from up above, I will share my love!


C4.
You are the one that I've dreaming of.  Sweet moments spent with you,
  ...to share our love a lifetime's not enough.

I don't know how this could be true, but you say you love me too.

You Love Me Too

Thanks to Oli Morgan for his creative input

Thanks to Irina for her lovely vocals

..........A single flame will light the darkest room

Lyrics:
.
Chorus:
How?  Tell me how could it be that the softest touch reveals so much of me?
How can these calloused hands express such deep tenderness?
How can this great river flow from what was dry and barren not long ago?
I never knew love until I loved you.
I never knew love until I loved you.

interlude...  

A torch guiding me from isolation, your voice gently calls me breaking the silence within these walls.
And a blind heart begins to see as old wounds begin to heal.
A locked door opens to so much I could never feel.

to Chorus:

I never know love until I loved you!
...until I loved you...

Redemption of a Lone Lost Heart, Part 2

Redemption of a Lone Lost Heart - Part 2 (with Irina - vocals)

For Melody.

Lyrics:

Feelin' downcast, feeling' down, staring empty at the ground
Eyelids drooping, face a frown, don't want anyone around
Silent now the youthful sounds, buried underneath the brown
Earthen packing, round the crowns, clutching firm the ones who drowned.

Frigid waters licking clean the wounds from all the years between, like
Hockey games for skating teens who spilled their blood upon the scene
Too tall and lean without protein who turned into glass figurines and
In the river then careened, from off the bridge to submarines

Raindrops fall upon the faces of all who knew your favorite places
Classrooms where you tied the laces, churches where you said your graces.
Loved ones whom you gave embraces, walk the diamonds and the spaces,
Fields where you ran your races all the way around the bases.

Sorrows end if we pretend to know the answers to commend
About the letters never penned, the lack of precious time to spend
With no more chance your wounds to mend, or to become a better friend
Searching now to comprehend the flowing river water's end.

Feelin' downcast, feelin' down, staring empty at the ground
To the west beyond the mound, the howl of that single hound,
A hollowness in shape of sound for all the living to confound
Of all the sorrows that abound, you could share what you had found.

If only you had stuck around.

River Water's End - on a poem by Troy Thompson

Lyrics:  

The wicked wage their war against the weak.  The polite wavering, hesitant to speak…            
Silenced views and voices, suffocation slowly destroys hearts broken by painful truth unspoken,  

Lords of flies, torment and terrorize, spreading gossip and lies, then gloat & patronize.  
Petty tyrants, imaginary throne, shaded eyes hiding shame unknown.

Chorus:
Though silence would shake you, may truth shield your heart
When words aim to break you, may truth shield your heart
Lest fears overtake you, may truth shield your heart
May truth shield your heart


Targeted to be put down, pushed out, pushed around, 
Acting deaf,  playing dumb, thought they had him under thumb, playing their fool, being their clown, no-no-no...

Self-esteem and pride, withering on the inside, 
accusations just denied, stand and fight or run and hide?  Lashing out or suicide?  No!

to Chorus:              

He saw that train coming, and measured his choices, feeling so helpless, so hopeless,     
powerless to take back his voice from a brutal pack.         

Bridge:
So many hearts broken, painful truths unspoken, 
unable to trust, unwilling to forgive, 
With courage and imagination, their dreams and aspirations 
make this world a more just place to live.

For now a humble hobbit.  Life’s fine here on the shire,
But he soon may be called upon to join rebel forces resisting a dark empire…

to Chorus:
May truth shield your heart!  
May truth shield your heart!

Though Silence Would Shake You

Thanks for the drum parts, to Bill Concello.


Lyrics:

Scars stronger than steel, wounded but learning to heal.
To stand upright, and dust off dirt, years, and mountains of hurt.  

Now faced with our mortality, a fulcrum of reality.
Back forth, left, right… at any moment, to take flight. 

Feeling the feeling of riding so high…
Flying around in the hurricane’s eye

French horn / cello / piano / drums

Tumbling immune to all gravity, stars shining on possibility
Build any bridge create, our reality, free to be whomever we want to be.

Our hearts so far from pure, yet knowing how to endure…
but the gift of being alive, had been more than the ruthless will to survive

A powerful feeling, but just riding high…
Flying around in the hurricane’s eye.  
Ready to conquer a volatile sky !!!

String/piano/drum interlude:

Bum-bi-di-dee-um
The eye in the sky... her mood spirals high.
Crashing so low, rhythm and flow...

Feeling powerful, but just riding high…
Flying around in the hurricane’s eye.

French horn / cello / piano / drums - ending...

Hurricane's Eye:  featuring Bill Concello (drums)

Thanks to Bill for the drum and percussion tracks...

Lyrics

There’s a grace in accepting our past
Shading reality through rose-tinted glass
Reframe dreams, re-envision success,
A lifetime of memories, some good, some a little less.

We’ve had challenges along our way.
Detours that led us here today…
Would never have dreamed to pray for this…
We found in our struggles a share of bliss…

Though deep wilderness we travel through
You make ever after so easy to do…
You make ever after oh so easy to do…

This man so flawed and moody.
In imperfection you showed him beauty, 
Imperfect, yet never settling for less,
as you tease playfully at his seriousness…

Now I hold my tongue a little more…
So that for your waves I can be your shore…
be your comfort as we grow old…
to have the hand you reach out to hold.

Tender impulses somehow grew.
You make ever after so easy to do…
Our years together, how they flew.
You make ever after so easy to do…
You make ever after oh so easy to do

Interlude 

Our years together, how they flew.
You make ever after so easy to do
If we lived 1000 lifetimes through
I'd still do ever after… so happily with you,
I'd still do ever after… so happily with you,

You Make Ever After Easy with Bill Concello - drums & percussion

Thanks, Bill for the drum parts!

lyrics

V1
Confident and full of  pride,
Honest feelings once denied
With no one in whom to confide.
Acquainted with life’s darker side 

Surviving such a long wild ride
Moments that  he could have died. 
So tough to swim against the tide 
But no denying that he tried 

C1
Just had to learn the hard way…
From willful boy to stubborn man…
Barely surviving day-to-day
Hoping life still had a plan…for him.


V2
Knowing love’s unlucky side
She learned to take these things in stride
Protective of the fire inside,
But unprepared when hearts collide

They met, she sensed his wounded pride
Feelings intense, his tongue was tied
A gaze from which he couldn’t hide 
Walls fell down and tears were cried

C2
Their love grew the hard way…
Messy, yes, but always true
Step-by-step and day-by-day
Both needing to see this through…

C3
They found love the hard way.
Retaught each other how to dance
with grace and gratitude.  They
were one another’s chance... to learn

to love the hard way…

The Hard Way

The Hard Way - featuring Bill Concello (drums)

Thanks to Bill Concello for writing and recording the drum and percussion track!

Lyrics:

How to grieve what had never been?
Written long ago… father, not friend,
without resolution in the end.  Why? 

Perhaps primitive, never eye to eye.  
maybe I to him, an animal, shelterless,
to be taken in, weak and helpless.

But to never grow up, be like Peter Pan
Soul of a boy in the skin of a man.
Irreverent child.  Never worldly or wise,
But no longer willing to wear his disguise
Off to heaven he flies!

brief interlude 

Nervous smile, awkward laugh, outta there!
Pumped ’til the burn was too much to bear.
Felt like flying, the wind in his hair,

Now older, still taken in easily
could ne’er comprehend inhumanity
they say he still lives in a fantasy

…to never grow up, Like Peter Pan
Soul of a boy in the skin of a man.
Irreverent, child.  Never worldly or wise,
But no longer willing to wear their disguise
Off to heaven he flies!
Off to heaven he flies!
to heaven he flies!
..he flies...  flies!
....he flies!
......he flies!
........he flies!

Taken In - Featuring Bill Concello (Drums)

Thanks to Bill Concello for writing and recording the drum track, and for adding in the rain!

Lyrics:

Is this all there is?  
Life should be more than this.
Thought I’d be more than I am,
Achieve more than I have,  
Have more than I do.

Refrain:
I thought love would solve everything, 
was all we needed, all enduring.
Love could solve everything,


V2
So efficient, yet we’re all a mess.
Can’t automate away emptiness.
Though they try to entertain us.
Still can't solve loneliness
But perhaps we suffer less. 

Refrain:
I thought love would solve everything, 
was all we needed, all enduring.
Love could solve everything, 

Instrumental interlude

V3
Stuck in sands of distraction.
Blind to this such tragic inaction.
Sound and fury may tame the wild, 
but in this quiet house, the same small child.  

V3 extension
Who conquered the world, but not the fears 
of wasting all of his years… 
wasting away, all of these years...

The same small child... 

I thought love would solve everything, 

all we needed, all enduring 

love could solve everything, 

The same small child

I thought love would solve everything, 

love would solve everything, 

Love, Love, Love, Love...

Love, Love, Love, Love, Love...

Fade out on percussion and rain…

All There Is - featuring Bill Concello, drums

Many thanks to Bill Concello for the drum and percussion parts

Lyrics:

Stop!

Occlusion in glass, crack of a smile
Pierces the darkness, deception and guile

Means of attack,… of pushing of buttons 
…push back, with nuclear options

Chorus:
Stepping on a land mine of old injuries
Setting off a cascade of insecurities.

Stop!

How to take care, beneath bulky armor
Shell fragments lodged, pressing in further…

Hard to conceive…. can’t understand.
Digging up grievances best forgotten!

Chorus:
Stepping on a land mine of old injuries
Setting off a cascade of insecurities.

Stop!…

Bridge:  Lets put away swords, don’t utter a word
Through wounded eyes.only silence is heard.

Chorus:
Stepping on a land mine of old injuries
Setting off a cascade of insecurities.

Stop!…

Chorus:
Stepping on a land mine of old injuries
Setting off a cascade of insecurities.

Stop!

Stop!…

Landmine - Featuring Bill Concello drums and percussion

Many thanks to Bill Concello for his drum parts...

Lyrics:

Odd little bird…. seen not heard
Never allowed the final word…
hidden, unknown, feelings never shown 

Struggling… trying so hard to be good.
Ever and always doing as she should.
But what she’d give to just be understood.

Chorus…
Hear her cries riding the wind.
Feel her tears in the falling rain….
If only to be with her again…

Someone to share her heart?
Deep waters so painful to chart
Living together but always apart….

Chorus…
Hear her cries riding the wind
Feel her tears in the falling rain…
If only to be with her again….

To dance her dance and play her tune
Wander the nights, sing to the moon
Breath of hope coming none too soon

Odd little bird…. seen not heard
Never allowed the final word…
hidden, unknown, feelings never shown 

Chorus…
Hear her cries riding the wind
Feel her tears in the falling rain…
If only to be with her again…

If only to be with her…

To Be With Her Again - featuring Bill Concello (drums)

Many thanks to Bill Concello for the drum and percussion parts.


Lyrics:
  
Seven huddle in a one room shed, tattered clothing, no toilet…bed.  
to sleep and keep the children fed, all other options limited.

Chorus:  
Swords to borders, war’s been won.
Give up the fight before it’s begun!
We’ll have thousands, they’ll have none…

Dirt road in a dust bowl town.  Fossilized fingers scratch the ground…
Burying treasures, recently found.  Palms outstretched without a sound. 

Chorus:  
Swords to borders, war’s been won.
Give up the fight before it’s begun!
We’ll have thousands, they’ll have none.

Swords to borders, war’s been won…

Bridge:
Imagination aspiration, revelation inspiration
Innovation adaptation, cooperation orchestration
Reputation vindication, collaboration invitation
Third-world nation transformation. Population celebration!

Hot sands blowing sting their faces,… a journey walked for generations.
A million footsteps leave no traces, but imprinted on their hearts, was patience…

Outro and fade out:  
Nations
Swords to borders, war’s been won.
Patience
Swords to borders, war’s been won.
Nations
Swords to borders, war’s been won.
Patience

Swords to Borders

Swords To Borders - featuring Bill Concello (drums)

Many thanks as always to Bill for the great drum track.  Thanks also on this song to Kohei for the jazzy feelings.


About lost years and holding on to hope even in old age

Lyrics:  

I thought my ship had sailed…, never again to ride your seas…
to sleep in a blanket of stars, or to taste your salty breeze…

Crossed mountains and meadows, yearning to feel your sand between my toes…
At sunrise tomorrow morn, where she blows, no one knows…

Watching and riding the waves, a last chance for this ship to come in..
Then it’ll be smooth sailing for us my maritime friend…
  it’ll be smooth sailing my friend…

Docked my boat on the harbor.   I’m on the beach combing for shells.
Hull may be taking on water, …but I can still catch the wind in my sails.

Remember how we faced the deep fearlessly, braving the storm in our primes…
Won’t you come out and sail with me, once more for the sake of old times?

Watching and riding the waves, a last chance for this ship to come in..
Then it’ll be smooth sailing for us my maritime friend…
  it’ll be smooth sailing my friend…
    smooth sailing
      smooth sailing
        smooth sailing

Old Mariner's Song - (Bill Concello - drums, Kohei Kanayama - jazz harmonies)

Many thanks to Takahito Yamamoto for the amazing drum part, especially verse 3...

Lyrics:

Human society, consumer society
Increasing entropy with such efficiency
Quality, quantity, insatiability

From where the energy? No sense of equity
Drilling so desperately, holes to our destiny
Faced with reality, our own mortality

Bound by gravity, Einstein’s relativity,
Space-time continuity, N-space geometry
Travel the galaxy, speed to infinity

Running on, running on it seems that I’m running on, 
Running on ever running sands of time,

Musical cacophony, universal symphony
Seeking celebrity, brief immortality
Worship a deity, or our own humanity

Frozen in mystery or fossilized history 
Crocs wait patiently, consume a few calories
Warm blood burns brightly, need to eat frequently

Why am I always so hungry???

Running on, running on it seems that I’m running on, 
Running on ever running sands of time,

He visited nightly, full of expectancy
She was so pretty, living life passionately 
He sensed her remotely, connection felt spooky,

Yet he couldn’t foresee her novel ability,
To injure him needlessly, terrify completely,
They fought savagely, but clung to hope fiercely,

Youthful insecurity, entwined so helplessly, 
She finally quietly concludes her poetry
Loving imperfectly, in perpetuity, 

Running on, running on it seems that I’m running on, 
Running on ever running sands of time,

Am I just dreaming? So sleepy and tired...
Over-caffeinin' Just need something to inspire.
Am I just daydreaming?  Still running but so, so tired.
No time for sleeping.  Let the music light your fire...

Running on, running on it seems that I’m running on, 
Running on ever running sands of time,
 (in the form of a round...)

Why am I always so hungry?
Why is it never enough?
Why am I always so thirsty???
Why is it never enough?
Why am I always so hungry???

(with, in the form of an extended round)
ever running sands of time..,


Fade out…

Sands of Time - featuring T. Yamamoto (drums)

We are a family of musicians collaborating with others in Tokyo, London and the US to create our debut album, "Evidence of Soul," stories of love, friendship, and learning to survive in this world.

In-Xtric-8