Imagine the calculator 
Coming undone 
For the value not just for the sum 
I cry, it’s easy 
Don’t know if you feel the same 
We’ve seen worlds 
Just follow Glass Bead Lane 
Play the imagineers game 
Walk the uncivilised and wild plains 
Follow the Glass Bead Lane 

How not to be governed 
I’ll pay the cost 
Not all who wander the streets 
Are lost 
Like Henry David 
March to the drum you hear 
We’ve seen worlds 
Just march to the drum that you hear 
Dance as if nobody’s here 
March to the drum that you hear 
Dance as if nobody’s here 

Don’t go straight ahead 
The path twists and turns 
Make sure the fire in your eyes 
Forever burns 

It’s all in your head 
That’s what they said 
It’s all in your head 
And now those thoughts are dead 

Try to understand it 
Coming undone 
Under the beautiful sinking sun 
Like time, it’s over 
Don’t know if you feel the same 
We’ve seen worlds 
Just follow the Glass Bead Lane 
March to the drum that you play 
Walk the uncivilised and wild plains 
Follow the Glass Bead Lane 

Don’t go straight ahead 
The path twists and turns 
Make sure the fire in your eyes 
Forever burns 

It’s all in your head 
That’s what they said 
It’s all in your head 
And now those thoughts are dead

---

Music and lyrics by Mortimer's Method 

Vox, keyboard, gat by Mortimer's Method 
Backing vox by Andy Gibson 
Bass, drums, and gat by Gav Henderson 

Produced by Mortimer's Method and Gav Henderson 
Mixed by Gav Henderson 
Mastered by Rohan Hancock

Glass Bead Lane

The space in between, the sentences I’ve seen 
Is a story no one wants to hear 

The way ahead, when all the birds are dead 
There’ll be time to think in the silent spring 

At times it feels like nothing here is real 
Listen, tick tock, it’s gonna blow 

I can feel it in the air I can see it in your stare 
But we speak of it only underground 
We speak of it only underground 

The steam below, it’s building real slow 
Like a volcano it’s gonna blow 

It was a bomb along, the wire we cut was wrong 
Listen, tick tock, it’s gonna blow 

I can feel it in the air I can see it in your stare 
There’s a rumbling coming from below 

At times, it feels like nothing here is real 
Listen, tick tock, it’s gonna blow 
Tick tock it’s gonna blow 

There’s a feeling I can’t explain 
Beneath the soul in a place with no name 
Something darker than the shadows at night 
Deny the truth while reality bites 
I’m falling, so slowly 
I don’t remember falling out of the plane 
I’m falling, not breathing 
We need a fire but we ain’t got a flame 

The space in between, the sentences I’ve seen 
Is a story no one wants to hear 

The way ahead, when all the birds are dead 
There’ll be time to think in the silent spring 

At times it feels like nothing here is real 
Listen, tick tock, it’s gonna blow 

I can feel it in the air I can see it in your stare 
But we speak of it only underground 
Listen, tick tock it’s gonna blow 
There’s a rumbling coming from below 
There’s a rumbling coming from below

---

Music and lyrics by Mortimer's Method 

Vox, keyboard, and gat by Mortimer's Method 
Backing vox by Andy Gibson 
Bass and drums by Gav Henderson 

Produced by Mortimer's Method and Gav Henderson 
Mixed by Gav Henderson 
Mastered by Rohan Hancock

It's Gonna Blow

We’ve gotta start dreaming backwards 
We’ve gotta start falling awake 
There’s no other way 
For this to begin or for that to end 

No flowers come from dead weeds 
We’ve gotta start planting new seeds 
Small little drops, the autumn rain 
The rise and fall comes around again 

Now that it’s falling together 
Now that we’re falling apart 
It looks like the beginning is near 
It looks like the beginning is near 

Future searching, it’s all uncertain 
Truth lurking behind the curtain 
It looks like the beginning is near 
The crystal ball full of blood and tears 

We’re on the way, on the way, on the way down 
And we’re in the waves, in the waves and we might drown 
We’re on the way, on the way, on the way down 
And we’re in the waves and we might drown, we might drown 

(I, I don’t feel alone, I don’t feel alone, I don’t feel alone) 

We’ve gotta start dreaming backwards 
We’ve gotta start falling awake 
There’s no other way 
For this to begin or for that to end 

Now that it’s falling together 
Now that we’re falling apart 
It looks like the beginning is near 
It looks like the beginning is near 

We’re on the way, on the way, on the way down 
And we’re in the waves, in the waves and we might drown 
We’re on the way, on the way, on the way down 
And we’re in the waves and we might drown, we might drown, we might drown

---

from Notes from Nowhere, released January 1, 2021 
Music and lyrics by Mortimer's Method 

Vox, piano, keyboard, and gat by Mortimer's Method 
Backing vox by Andy Gibson 
Bass, gat, and drums by Gav Henderson 

Produced by Mortimer's Method and Gav Henderson 
Mixed by Gav Henderson 
Mastered by Rohan Hancock

The Beginning Is Near

A most depressing thing occurs 
But no one minds and no one stirs; 
Which means you've ended up two 
Depressing things depressing you. 

A most uplifting thing occurs 
But no one minds and no one stirs; 
Which means you've ended up with one 
Uplifting thing depressing you. 

A most depressing thing occurs 
But someone minds and someone stirs 
Which means you've ended up with one 
Depressing thing uplifting you 

A most uplifting thing occurs 
And someone minds and someone stirs 
Which means you've ended up with one 
Uplifting thing uplifting two 

--- 

Song by Mortimer's Method
Lyrics in first verse by Michael Leunig, from 'Depressing Things'. 
Lyrics in second, third and fourth verses by Mortimer's Method, adapted from 'Depressing Things.'

Vox by Mortimer's Method. 
Backing vox by Andy Gibson. 
Keys by Noctilucent. 
Cajon by Dash Dandelion. 
Synth by Gav Henderson. 
Mixed by Gav Henderson. 
Mastered by Rohan Laurence.

Two Depressing Things

Second Owl Of Minerva

Fourth Owl Of Minerva

Fifth Owl Of Minerva

First Owl Of Minerva

Third Owl Of Minerva

Dream First

The Apocalyptic Sublime

Aesthetika

Always Be You

Furor Poeticus

Welcome friends and strangers to my Audio Pharmacopeia for Modern Maladies. I am Mortimer’s Method, your urban witch doctor of music, warmly at your service. Here I offer prescriptions of lo-fi electronica, ambient dub, and occasionally grungy folktronica, designed to soothe, awaken, or energise your spirit, depending on your condition. Please stay a while, get your headphones, and perhaps even turn off the lights. Let us experiment together with how vibrations of sound can recalibrate the spirit.
 
The premise of my Audio Pharmacopeia is that music is medicine, not merely entertainment. We all suffer, it is the human condition. Music can help us heal. We all need emotional energy to be our best selves and live with generosity and defiant positivity in the face of life’s many burdens and challenges. It is my aesthetic philosophy that good music, deep lyrics, sophisticated beats, and alluring melodies can provide unsettled spirits with moments of enchantment in a world that too often seems disenchanted. Indeed, sometimes the best thing we can do for ourselves is to take time to listen deeply to music, to listen with the seriousness of children at play. For even in dark times, life can begin to sparkle once more, with the help of music. I live in trust that melodies can dissolve our maladies.  

I, Mortimer’s Method, am a self-appointed medicine man who composes and produces music to help myself deal with the modern maladies that befall we humans of late capitalism. I’ve discovered that music can heal me in ways that cannot be achieved in any other way. If my medicinal offerings can also help others productively digest these troubled times, then all the better. That is my business here at the pharmacopeia, thank you for dropping in. Please sample a dose or two from my ‘prescriptions’ page (see playlists)

Thus my new focus as an activist is on treating the human condition through the aesthetic interventions of music, to better prepare us for what lies ahead. When our spirits are in order, the rest will be easy enough. Music can plant seeds of revolution through existential rejuvenation, if only we let it.   

Love thy fate,  
Mortimer’s Method

Mortimer's Method

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