LYRICS

You’re in front of me, time traveler
Vestige of how it was
Always defied my best intentions
Now physical laws
I was unprepared
I’ve never been prepared for you
What do you make of my plans, unraveler
I didn’t wait for you
I found a way with someone new
And who knows where you’re off to

Mornings waiting for the train
With the trash and dirty rain
I fought diffusion
Blurry streets and platforms
You were what I looked for
Now you’re in sight
A trick of the light

Don't want to live my life feeling half dead
But I tried
I've been a traveler too, but only ever
In my mind
Then I saw you make a wormhole, force the space to bend
Are you here to change the end

I could try to tease, a tempter
I’d never hold the power for long
You once became a stranger
When I came on strong
I might lose the game
It never was a game to me
Or I could be remade, inventor
Alive under your hands
Keep your clever eye on me
Make a small advance

The past is a perfume
Little fresh air in this room
And the riskiest words
Suspend unspoken
Blink if you can hear them
Now you’re in sight
A trick of the light

Don't want to live my life feeling half dead
But I tried
I've been a traveler too, but only ever
In my mind
Then I saw you make a wormhole, force the space to bend
Maybe we'll change the end

Is it in my hands, time traveler
Whether or not you stay
Will you put me down gently
It’s never been your way
Will you travel light
And leave my weight behind
Then I’d remain a battler
Prosaically deployed
Wrestling with the old routines
Every day, the void

You were what I looked for

Time Traveler demo

feat. Matt Hunter, electric bass; Max Olander, acoustic guitar. 

Thanks to freesound.org users for these sound effects: 
- Planbus for "guitar bend": www.freesound.org/people/Planbus/sounds/21602/ 
- oymaldonado for "guitar feedback": 
www.freesound.org/people/oymaldonado/sounds/74869/ 
- club sound for "mic feedback": 
www.freesound.org/people/club%20sound/sounds/105980/ 
- airlynx99 for "feedback": 
www.freesound.org/people/airlynx99/sounds/22137/
lyrics

LYRICS:

With muddled tongues and shaking lips 
We are searching for a script 
To give us pretty words to wield 
And to articulate how we feel 
It’s a ceaseless prologue 
Full of empty dialogue 
And bewilderment and strain 
You and I are not the same 

Ooo 
But the after hours are the better hours 
The proceedings take on a glossy sheen 
And no performance ever felt so clean 
Ooo 
Finally I know what you want 
Here alone you’re discernible 
Cause here alone you’re emotional 

Every clue we carefully leave 
Every hint we cannot read 
Every phrase that comes out wrong 
Each sacrifice to appear strong 
Every little thing I fear 
For which I try to come prepared 
We find our pride in someone else 
And find the blame within ourselves 

Ooo 
But the after hours are the better hours 
The proceedings take on a glossy sheen 
And no performance ever felt so clean 
Ooo 
Finally I know what you want 
Here alone you’re discernible 
Cause here alone you’re emotional 

Ooo 
It’s two-dimensional 
And that is how you know

Plans EP

After Hours

LYRICS:

I wrote a list for you 
Anything to give me proof 
That you could fit me in the way we both intended 
But evidence can turn out false 
I’m the one who makes plans that don’t work at all 
Still I folded it up and tucked it away and sometimes I take it out again

You are more elusive 
Than when I saw you from afar 
Oh I could feel you then 
Even when you’re with me 
We’re cautious when we explore 
But I can’t even get you close anymore 

Humans were made to get things done 
They built coffee machines for times of calm 
And though I’m shaking I refill my cup to keep on moving 
I’ve been taught what I have to do 
Conquer my fears and I’ll conquer you 
Easy fixes are false alarms, and with each one I’m losing stride 

You are more elusive 
Than when I saw you from afar 
Oh I could feel you then 
Even when you’re with me 
We’re cautious when we explore 
But I can’t even get you close anymore 

I’m waiting up for you 
I know just what we’re gonna do 
I have my fears like anyone but with you I laugh them off 
But something went wrong again 
You won’t be here, where am I then? 
It’s been so long I can hardly think of what it was you saw here, why you’d want to come at all 

You are more elusive 
Than when I saw you from afar 
And I still feel you there 
Even when you’re with me 
We’re cautious when we explore 
But I can’t even get you close anymore

Plans

It happened in another land 
Full of sorrow and goodwill 
I’ve been told it’s far away 
But I can see it still 
They took me in and held my hand 
As though I were their own 
I hoped that with their guidance 
I could become fully grown

I treaded the same route every day 
Bore a drifter’s load 
I watched the grinding of my boots 
Cause soil to erode 
I pictured great philosophers 
To see myself among 
But pilgrimages fill this road 
Mine’s just another one 

I wandered through a town where 
Cigarettes emit smokescreens 
Where young men learn to stare 
But unlearn how to see 
They sang with such conviction 
That one couldn’t play along 
And those were the times 
I remembered I didn’t belong 

A podium stood waiting 
Opportunity distilled 
I raised my voice, said, "Listen here 
So long as it’s your will" 
The air was full of whispering 
And conversation strains 
But in the back my eyes met 
A sympathetic gaze 

A captain with provisions 
Fears no mutiny 
I fear the day they reach 
To find that my arms are empty 
But I'll try not to mind 
When this affair goes bad 
Why should I mourn the loss 
Of things I never had 

Orbiting my head 
Recollections take their turn 
I clutch the searing images 
So I can feel the burn 
One day I will revisit there 
To see these tales end 
But it will never feel 
The way it did back then

Recollections

I spoke against you once 
You dragged me to the street 
Broke my camera took my things 
And ripped through my will with your fist 
This is me speaking 

I spoke against you twice 
You imprisoned me for anguished nights 
The purpose of my time denied 
And I came out smaller on the other side 
This is me speaking 

I spoke against you thrice 
You took all the ones I love 
Two hands to bind were not enough 
And I cried and cried in vain 
Hoping that my body would drain 
Emptiness could keep me sane 

And though the world could have no doubt 
You pointed, said “here’s the one with the mouth” 
On the ground I coughed out a broken shout 
“I’ll speak till the physics of sound give out”

The Protestor

We were two in one chair 
Alone in the evening 
The light was soft 
Our bodies were still 
We were watching a film 
A classic, my favorite 
Then I started weeping 
So crazy, again 

I couldn’t explain 
I avoided his gaze 
But then I felt him tremble 
He was crying, too 
A kiss to share 
The way that it feels 
I’ll never be alone 
Cause someone else knows 

Waking up is the hardest thing 
After feeling what I never knew 
There was a time of tenderness 
When did I lose you 
These days I dream of a place 
Where you accept the self that I lay bare 
Each night it happens, it’s true 
I am transported somewhere 
Each morning I wake up and hope 
That the next time I’ll stay there 

Yes, I dreamed of you last night 
This morning I’m crying

Morning Period

In Anatolia there walked a Riddle Man
Who carried the dirt of the road in his beard
He spoke only in proverbs, guiding the people as they grew
It’s strange to think of now, how little he knew

He still watches from the outcrop
But he can’t explain the landscape anymore
We feel his gaze upon us in our ruptured neighborhoods
Daring us to live alone, I wish I could

When horror comes close
We want to hold something closer
Surely there must be answers somewhere
So I’ll page through his books
Knowing what’s beyond these walls
Still his riddles can’t explain at all

The Riddle Man is out there preaching to the crowd
Intoxicated on enemies
They’re drowning in his words and he’s stirring the drink
New lies come up for air while the last ones sink

Part of me’s inside, held captive by his tomes
Looking still for freedom in the pages
Now I hear his voice has changed again, discomfort on the throne
He takes a shaky step from the microphone

When horror comes close
We want to hold something closer
Surely there must be answers somewhere
So he’ll page through his books
For a way to flee the fall
Still his riddles won’t explain at all

Tomorrow the Riddle Man goes to the war
He’ll leave behind his crumbling library
He’ll be fighting for a world so stark
Facing all the question marks
While history writes him into its books
Just to purse its lips at how the tragedy looks

But when I search for that pitiless gaze
I can’t find where it starts
The broken are many, the whole are few
So we’ll cry our own tears
Bury the meaning in the ground
Survive to watch the trauma trickle down

Riddles

Talk to me, baby
Why do you sigh?
You hope for too much
It’s only life
Stay for a while
And we’ll burn out in style
You’re not one who can achieve more 
I’ll know you’ll be back
It’s like every time before

It seems alright until you’re alone
I know what you think of when you’re walking home
You’re an imposter, I’m someone who knows you
But don’t worry baby, I’ll never expose you

Smile, baby
Like a fool condemned
I know that it strains
I like when you pretend
I’ll hold you close
Till your seams start to show
The fault lines of the abused
It’s only right
We’re made to be used

It seems alright until you’re alone
I know what you think of when you’re walking home
You’re an imposter, I’m someone who knows you
But don’t worry baby, I’ll never expose you

I hear the word "baby"
With a particular tone
Like a strange phone call
From inside the home
And I can't trust my mind these days
Don't know what is real
Did you say all those things 
Or is that just the way it feels

Someone Who Knows You

LYRICS

Oh, to be born with such conviction
And to make so little use of it
You’re the son of man in Galilee
I’m a servant at your feet
And I’ll follow you anywhere, even now
Though I know of the demon that haunts you in the night

At the beginning, I stayed awake till half past two
So little time to get good enough for you
Approaching you, I wore my hair like an infidel
Trying to forget myself

Can’t bear to be without you, but I want to
So much for knowing better, I don’t know anything

By evening, I’m drawn to you in a swarm of flies
Hoping to be seen against the light
You doused my head in water, I imagined wine
Needing to be drunk to feel divine

Can’t bear to be without you, but I want to
So much for knowing better, I don’t know anything

Soon you’ll put the bit in, fearing what I’ll find
You sense I’m of a different kind
Don’t worry, my better days are far behind
Looked straight at your lies and now I’m blind

Oh, to be born with such conviction
And to make so little use of it
You’re the son of man in Galilee
I’m a servant at your feet
And I’ll follow you anywhere, even now
Though I know of the demon you invented for the night

Disciple rough demo

Indie folk musician based in Brooklyn. Click tracks for lyrics & additional credits.

Monica Hunter-Hart

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