Love love love the Dexter reference and knives as a percussion instrument!!!!!!!

HOW TO MAKE A MONSTER: SYNTH & SPITE VERSION

Lyrics:

i used to decorate my bruises 
glitter smearing all over my bad ideas
with strawberry gloss and smokey puffs
turns out wanting freedom kept me cuffed
glitter smearing all over my bad ideas

they called me sugar, they called me sweet
but never asked what’s underneath
killed my confidence, then called me friend
isn’t that how monsters are made?

dead fairies in my room
dead fairies in my house, (they can’t fly)
guess if you want to love, you have to be willing to die

dead fairies in my room
dead fairies in my house, (they can’t fly)
guess if you want to love, you have to be willing to die

i lit a candle in their coffins
just to see if their ghosts would dance
they went crazy, like all my ex-girlfriends
then vanished when i took a stance

i stitched my mouth with safety pins
to keep all my monsters within 
but damn i look so pretty when i bite
and smile with cyanide

i buried her
the girl who glowed
under pink skies and clouds of smoke
now all that’s left
is teeth and thread—
a myth reborn
from all she bled

dead fairies in my room
dead fairies in my house, (they can’t fly)
guess if you want to love, you have to be willing to die

dead fairies in my room
dead fairies in my house, (they can’t fly)
guess if you want to love, you have to be willing to die

i used to be so nice, 
but everyone took advantage
made a joke out of me
now i'm the one bursting into laughter (hahaha)

everyone i ever  loved 
slowly pulled me apart 
now fairies are dying inside of me
like a pixie plague of dust

isn’t this how monsters are made? 
i don’t know who i am without all this pain

isn't this how monsters are made? 
i don’t know who i am without pain

isn't this how monsters are made? 
i don’t know who i am without pain

DEAD FAIRIES (Demo)

Lyrics:

 i think i was born different 
a little magical, a little rare
 like while people star-gazed
 i saw worlds in my head
it felt lonely 
that no one could understand

 i’ve never been able to be  fully here 
because half of me died  before i was ten
 i’ve never known  a life without grief 
but i promised myself  i would create something out of it
 and despite the downfalls
 i followed those dreams 

the emptiness  echoed so loud 
that i fell in love  with designing sounds
 but a part of me  is still there  by the door  
waiting for someone 
to come home 

i was too young  to know betrayal  
the way i did 
some days i wish  i just got 
to be a kid
so i think it’s time  to return to her  
and seek out justice for all the times
 everyone pretended  they didn’t notice
i was getting hurt

the emptiness  echoed so loud 
that i fell in love  with designing sounds
 but a part of me  is still there  by the door  
waiting for someone 
to come home 

no one loved me hard enough
 for me to believe it 
i became an orchestra of longing
to be found— except no one ever did

so i tucked my thoughts  so deep within 
i woke up one day  and i was out of reach
it was different once i turned sixteen
and my wounds became  
displayed on my skin

the emptiness  echoed so loud 
that i fell in love  with designing sounds
 but a part of me  is still there  by the door  
waiting for someone 
to come home 

i murmur spells 
while the world sleeps
 i still got magic
growing inside of me

i murmur spells 
while the world sleeps
 i still got magic
growing inside of me

GRIMOIRE (Demo)

Lyrics:

my blood is cold, 
my mind is bright 
i’m a runway-walking
 warning sign

rocking my black dress,
 hell’s bells chime 
revenge tastes like power — 
now i’m beautifully malign

 i used to cry myself to sleep 
now i lick blood off knives 
(like it’s cherry lip gloss )

 i look so pretty when i bite 
i kissed God then left him behind 
your prayers won’t reach my high 
my female rage is undressed
 the whole earth shakes in fright 
tell me how does it feel to be
 deeply horrified?

 i sleep during the day
 and haunt men when it’s dark 
 feral wolf 
i’m more than just a bark
(mary jane laced with violet flames)

 i’m no longer that girl you contained
 sexualized and vandalized
 i’m the ending you deserved

 i look so pretty when i bite 
i kissed God then left him behind 
your prayers won’t reach my high 
my female rage is undressed
 the whole earth shakes in fright 
tell me how does it feel to be
 deeply horrified?

 tell me, how does it feel
 to have your fate in someone else’s hands? 
your dignity distilled
into venomous wine 
you made a monster 
isn’t she great?

 tell me, how does it feel
to press on your buttons 
 and collect poison in packs
 you covered me in wounds,
 but i eat my enemies like snacks

 i look so pretty when i bite 
i kissed God then left him behind 
your prayers won’t reach my high 
my female rage is undressed
 the whole earth shakes in fright 
tell me how does it feel to be
 deeply horrified?

(i look so pretty when i bite 
 strutted deadly through the night
i look so pretty when i bite)

PRETTY WHEN I BITE (Demo)

Lyrics:

i remember leaving 
quietly closed the door 
i didn’t say goodbye to you 
i was too tired out

i took all my journals
left most of my clothes
i couldn’t fit 6 years of my life
and drag them to the airport

we got married
somewhere in central park
i had dreamt of new york
for so long

but once i got there
it never felt like home
just my blood packed in a suitcase
for 11 months

if time heals pain
why does it still hurt the same? 

if time heals pain
why does it still hurt the same? 

i still like the sound of the rain
the way it clobbers the ground
and touches it just enough
to melt and spread around 

i recall our fire escape
and my old college town 
and the way you would burst into tears
while i was holding it down 

i left my friends and went to New York
i had no job, so i had no choice 
and i cried on the bus, flooded the floors
from beginning to end of the road

once i arrived, i wanted to go 
brooklyn was nice, but it wasn’t my home
6 roommates and i, smoking some dope
hotboxing the place, sliding the slope 

if time heals pain
why does it still hurt the same? 

if time heals pain
why does it still hurt the same? 

for those 2 years and a half 
something in me just shut down
surviving your fluctuations
like fall leaves tinged with brown

every winter
i died a little more 
and by the time summer arrived
i just didn’t care for the sun 

some parts of it were fun
like the smoke in my lungs 
but most days i just wanted to run 
undo the love that was already done 
my body was there, but my mind was gone
it wasn’t just you, we both did it wrong
‘cause you pulled the trigger, but i held the gun

if time heals pain
why does it still hurt the same? 

if time heals pain
why does it still hurt the same?

HOTBOX (Demo)

CHAINSMOKE (Final Final Demo)

me on classical guitar, the rest and the photograph by my son Adrian

Ladybug

This song came from an idea I’d been toying with for a couple of weeks—I was going to write about catfishing. But then my fellow artist and friend @nova-j-49914957 on SC dropped an incredible track called Catfish, 
https://on.soundcloud.com/akXMvWHvhowllgLq0y and I didn’t want him to think I was copying his concept. So instead, I flipped the perspective and wrote about the other side of it—why a lonely soul might do it in the first place. This is a deeply human, empathetic look at the hidden pain that can drive someone to hide behind a false identity—not to scam, not to be cruel, but simply to feel noticed, valued, and alive for a fleeting moment. It’s about the scars that aren’t visible, the desperate need for connection, and how broken hearts sometimes cause harm without meaning to. It’s not an excuse for the hurt caused—it’s a reflection on the tragedy of someone who thought they had to be a stranger just to be seen.


LYRICS: 

[Intro]
She said she was twenty-five… lived near the coast
But the eyes in the photo… weren’t hers… and she knows…

[Verse 1]
He fell for the laughter, the sparkle, the name
While she hid in silence, drowning in shame
She typed like a dream, a fantasy bright
But cried in the dark, alone every night

[Pre-Chorus]
She never meant to cross the line
She just needed to feel… alive… this time

[Chorus]
She’s not a villain, not a thief
Just someone buried underneath
A thousand days of being no one’s choice
So she borrowed a name… and someone’s voice

She never meant to make him cry
She only wanted to feel alive
But broken people sometimes break
The hearts they never meant to take

[Verse 2]
There’s a girl in the mirror she barely knows
Painted in pixels and secondhand clothes
He gave her a moment, a glimpse of the light
She gave him a story she couldn’t rewrite

[Pre-Chorus]
And the truth was closing in too fast
She prayed each message wouldn’t be the last

[Chorus]
She’s not a villain, not a thief
Just someone buried underneath
A thousand days of being no one’s choice
So she borrowed a name… and someone’s voice

She never meant to make him cry
She only wanted to feel alive
But broken people sometimes break
The hearts they never meant to take

[Bridge]
Maybe if someone had noticed the signs
The girl behind all of the scripted lines
Maybe a friend, or a stranger’s grace
Could’ve saved her from needing another face

To be real, to be raw, to be loved all the same
Without playing somebody else’s game

[Chorus]
She’s not a villain, not a thief
Just someone drowning underneath
The silence, the shame, the years alone
The ache of never being known

She never meant to cross that line
She only wanted someone kind
But even kind hearts start to shake
When trust becomes a lie we fake

[Outro]
So don’t excuse the hurt she gave
But maybe grieve the soul she couldn’t save
The one who thought she had to be
A stranger… just to feel seen

The Face Behind the Face

Smoke & Mirrors

Maria

Dollar Bill from the screaming trees.  RIP “Dark” Mark Lanegan

Dollar Bill $🌞$

The bass line in this drew blood! Schweeeeet. This is always a good sign as generally you are wearing your finger a slightly different way. I think that's true here for my bass playing. I'm not a well versed bass player but getting there finally with it 🧬🎶

Tempo of 161 BPM borrowed from Sit Down Stand Up by Radiohead which is track 2 off the album Hail to the Thief


"Go home, look in the mirror and give yourself a kiss" Damien Dempsey (Popular Irish folk artist)

I saw Damien perform live in Dublin a while back and he said that on stage. I've thought about it a lot since. We have ourselves and can't change that so we really need to start loving that reflection no matter what stares back at us. That's what the universe gave us so it's always .. Perfect

You Reflect Perfect

Music mainstream
The world mind web of subliminal dream
Quiet control
Mind melding meme
To be tuned or to be not
Pure positive shock this scene

Feed the feather fuel
Merge winds with mystic
Perfect pedestals unrealistic
The look
Make up perfection
We give the masses blind reflections
Mirror muted free with a lack of love for "me"

Your reflection
Always perfection
Your reflection
Always perfection

Escape is easy
No dopamine drought
No pain finds feeling
Each day scrolled out
Device extensions
Limbs of tech
Robot wars for eye contact
Moderation manifest flora
Tune in cause soon direct access box of pandora
Ads direct to your brain
They already conduct most of your 'sane'
Rear projected square light
Chip in your head
We'd want to know the keys before decisions lost instead

Mighty, your reflection
Always perfection

Take all belief and direct it to you
Too hold some for your Earthling crew
Let's not deal in absolutions
Unity
Union
Yearns for trueness
Absolute stops the hunt for new honest
Fluid is found
Unknown next stage of forest

Coded base pairs
Twist on the double
Force field flushed darkness
Tackle some trouble

Your reflection
Always perfection
Your reflection
Always perfection

Who are you all?
Who are you all?
Who are you all?
Who are you all?
Who are you all?
Who are you all?

Rear projected square light,
Decisions almost gone,
Fear make you forget your fright.
Fear protected inside,
Chip in your head (hand),
Your Merovingian right!
The matrix to fight...

🪞You Reflect Perfect 🪞

Cast of characters:

The Beautiful Dark -- @thebeautifuldark -- Carl — Ovation guitar, lead vocals, lyrics, and compostion

Mistermark-- @user-432503709 -- Mark –- VST Chinese gong and VST cello

J.J. Terrell– @j-j-terrell – light VST Latin percussion, synth, and piano

K2 and the Three [and the Four]--@k2andthe3, @k2-kara –Ken -- drums

Entheogenic Psychonaught (Josh Clary)– @josh-clary-1 –Josh – Warwick fretless four-string bass, chant vocals at the end 

TexMex Shaman– @texmex-shaman –Stephen — production, mix, and mastering

 This song is the fourth Carl has written and composed with a member of Eclectic Collective in mind. This time JJ is being honored, and we all agree that he deserves it, too. Carl is a wonderful singer, songwriter, composer, and musician, and we're all grateful that he's joined our collective. 

  Here's what Carl had to say about it. "The music for this was a personal song written to myself which I never really released as I was trying to say goodbye to my own ego in the song. From that point of view I have always seen the piece as a great bit of personal therapy for me. None of the original lyrics survived and JJ gets painted by the new words .. But I thought it would be nice to reuse the composition for this. There was no big reason for it only when I decided to start a 60bpm song for JJ on piano .. I started playing Goodbye Ego and the rest is history..."

  We tackled this song like we would any other, though. Mark was first up on this, adding his VST magic in the form of a Chinese gong, as well as the cello you hear throughout. The subject of our adulation came next, with JJ adding not only his hot, yet minimal Latin percussion and essential piano, but moody synth, as well. Ken added his spicy drums after that, and once they were down, Josh jumped in with his four string fretless bass to complete the rhythm section. Josh also added the vocal chant at the end.

  All that was left was for Stephen to mix it all down for us, which he did in his always pro manner. 

  As stated above, this is a continuation of our songs about us. Hope no one thinks it's arrogant. When Carl presents us with these little treasures, it's hard not to run with them, though. Always a ton of fun to make music together. We hope you enjoy listening to this as much as we enjoyed creating it.


Original lyrics by The Beautiful Dark:

Praying hands
Whatever cause
Once our greater good not lost
Bored children create their fun
We shelve French horn for this fine one
"Nice one lads" We read it all!
Vacation taken
To JJ calls
Neighbour to good Mickey Moore
Find Michigan piano pure

JJ calls
Just for us
Love lit up
Just for us

Down the road city of cars
To Howell front deck
Dad and Guitars
We jam that love then tell the world
Love and service human highway knurled
Good bi-product of happiness sought
With Croatian fun to cloud we court

Terrell Terminator in Jungle
Predator for good
Keys like Mr Bungle
Faith in more like we could
He Thanks you
It's lifestyle
Built from a porch
Good collective friend
Keep lighting that torch

Some moments sealed, marked and moulded
Pure intention
Dark blindfolded
Howl from human to Howell good soul
Keyed keystone as collective role

JJ calls
Darkness falls
Love lit up
Just for us
Love lit up
Just for us
Love lit up
Just for us
JJ calls

JJ calls
Just for us

JJ Calls - Eclectic Collective

Cherry cigar (Inst.)

Best brother

Back to the present 😊... This is a quicky born from some serious emotion re connecting to my first band. The power of nostalgia is something else. The power of nostalgia wrapped in music for me is one of the most giant forces in the universe. We gotta use it to teach in my pea head opinion. How music helps us wire our brains is just different to everything else and I strongly believe the only reason it's not in schools yet more deeply is because we just haven't done that yet... Let's make it so! It literally can be a time machine for knowledge if we design it to be that!

Pure Path

Good master moments
Memories
Nostalgia
Reborn energy
Past power psychalgia
Lessons of love
Forever teams
Bands of humans
Fill our dreams

We've hibernated to screen
Turn around to scream
Oh fine door bells
Connect this scene
Those random visits
Outside of insular
Soothe simple figdets
Bond presence sprinkler

Stoned on door step
Crying for Kurt
Slagging each other
Seeding that worth
Memorable memes
Lost to computer
Ok, changed are those dreams
But they still needing suture

Here's to love
Here's to light
Here's to pure path
Let's forget the fight

Pure Path

Lyrics: 

i sharpen the knife
you riveted into my back 
you should know by now 
i’m deadly inside 

do i scare you out? 
‘cause i don’t sleep at night
i saw horror too young
now i’m fucked in the mind 

i could plan 
my revenge 
i'm deranged 
i'm unhinged 

now 
watch me
put my 
gloves on
(like i'm dexter)

i don’t where to put
all the darkness you left in me
i’ve been hiding, drowning, drowning
in the weight of your memories

is it healthy
to fantasize
about your demise?
the things i'd do to you
(ugh, i wanna fucking kill you, man)

its been 20 years of silence
and restlessness 
i want to hurt you back
(and then wipe the mess)

puke out nightmares
through my teeth 
until your demons
beg on their knees 

now 
watch me
put my 
gloves on
(like i'm dexter)

i don’t where to put
all the darkness you left in me
i’ve been hiding, drowning, drowning
in the weight of your memories

you stole everything from me
my innocence, my security

you stole everything from me
my peace, my sleep

now 
watch me
put my 
gloves on
(like i'm dexter)

i don’t where to put
all the darkness you left in me
i’ve been hiding, drowning, drowning
in the weight of your memories 
(like i'm dexter)

i don’t where to put
all the darkness you left in me
i’ve been hiding, drowning, drowning
in the weight of your memories

now 
watch me
put my 
gloves on
(like i'm dexter)

DEXTER (Demo)

ØCTØBER

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