released 14 May 2013
All songs written by Maarten Tytgat in 2011-2012 AD

Maarten Tytgat: voices, guitars, bass, cheap keyboards, glasses, cups, mattress, desk
Martijn Ravesloot: drums, expensive keyboards, rhodes, piano
Recorded at Chez Belle Mina, Leuven and Melody House, Lommel

Mixed by Maarten Tytgat

Mastered by Bert Gielen at Car Street Studio, Lommel

Cover design by Ine Matthijs

Tape Recordings

Mijn koninkrijk voor een theepot die niet lekt
't Is niet voor mezelf maar voor mijn agressiviteit
't Is tijd voor grote kuis in dat peperkoeken huis
Eentje voor de eenzaamheid en eentje voor de dorst
't Is niet voor mezelf maar voor de warmte in mijn borst
Ik weet niet wat mij overkomt maar ik voel mij zo verdomd overbodig
Ik zit niet echt op iets te wachten
Ik die het kalmpjes aan en spaar mijn krachten
Mijn koninkrijk voor een klok die niet met tikt
't Is niet voor mezelf maar voor het welzijn van de tijd
Eentje voor de regen en eentje voor de zon 't is niet voor het klimaat maar voor de stormen in m'n kop.
't Is tijd voor grote kuis in dat peperkoeken huis

Peperkoek

Jezus het gaat niet goed
Met de lezers van je boek
Ze hebben complimenten
En een slechte invloed
Op de hemel en de aarde
Ze bellen de politie wanneer ze eenzaam zijn

Jezus Ze slaan je raad in de wind
En elkanders koppen in
Ze vieren je verjaardag op de verkeerde dag
en geven enkel zichzelf cadeaus
Ze gaan op vakantie
Wanneer de porno op is

Zij willen geld
En macht en liefde en aanzien en geweld
Jij was hun held
waarom ging je weg en kwam je dan weer terug en ging je dan weer weg en kwam je nooit meer terug?

Jezus

Poor Little photon
travelled light years
just to end in my eye
born in a star
killed in the retina
of an average-looking guy

Thanks for exciting that electron
Cause it made me see
The self sacrifice and determination
Of a starlight beam

Poor little photon
Have you been drinking
Cause you're looking all red
Or is it your star that's moving away
Or has it been long dead

No one will notice that it's gone
Not in a million years
Thanks to the light speed propagation
Of a starlight beam

And it doesn't matter where you are
Or how fast you go
And it doesn't matter you're free of charge
It does not mean you're cheap
And it doesn't matter whether you are
A wave or a particle
And it doesn't matter you've got no mass
Cause you're supposed to be light anyway

Outro by MC Knubben

Photon

Although life is easy
Most of the time
It does sometimes scare the shit out of me
But when you hold me dear I forget my fear
Ask me now how I feel

I'm gonna marry you just like grown ups do
Although I feel like a child in its daddy's old suit
But I will spread my wings
I will flap those sleeves
I will leave the nest
And come home with you

Where can I sign to make you mine
Till death do us part

Let's start this fairy tale at the ending
And live happily ever after

January

The Brightest Guy Alive is new work from the Belgian band Phanques. The band recently emigrated to the United States and are slowly starting to find their way in the local music scene.
The timing of the release of this song is not a coincidence. There are clear references to the upcoming presidential elections in the country.
The subject of this song is a man (we know it is a man because of the slang word "guy" during the chorus, meaning "man") who knows he is very intelligent and also knows that other people are less intelligent but are paid more attention to than him because of their tendency to be more vocal or possibly even more eloquent than him.
This frustrates him. 
Like the biblical figure of Moses, who needed his brother as a spokesperson, the man (or guy, if you will), introduced as a half desperate man in the second verse, turns to a god-like figure but feels he's not even heard by this so-called "benevolent higher power". Is this perhaps a hint at the accusation that Bernie Sanders is an atheist?
During the chorus, the man is being teased by the choir: "You know you're right, and you're the brightest guy alive but you don't look it, you're out of style".
This is clearly a satire of the modern media, who focus on people's manners, style or even clothing instead of their message. In the second half of the chorus, the lyrics subtly change to "... you don't show it, that's not your style", indicating that the man is perhaps too modest or too insecure to come forward and demand to be heard.
The finale of the song reminds one of the opening of the Red Sea, allowing the righteous people to pass and escape from the evil Egyptians, who are then swallowed and violently killed by the salty water. Or does it perhaps refer to the disastrous possibility of a Trump presidency? The composer of the song adds a sample of chirping cicadas at the very end. Could this be a subtle reference to the plagues of Egypt? Perhaps we will never know.

Fun fact: the writer of the song is known to be a great fan of the band "The Whitest Boy Alive", to which the song title is obviously a wink. Go check them out!

"Biblical"
"An eye-opener!"

The Brightest Guy Alive

I put the books up on the shelve last night
they will be there until we move again

I put the TV on the floor for now
It will be there until we move again
They will be there until we move again...

We were drinking coffee in a neighborhood
We were in Washington DC again

The White House seemed a little gray that day
but the cherry blossoms
they were still in love
We were in Washington DC again...

I found a piece of land it's perfect
To build a house and find a home again
We put the books up on the shelf last night
And I have never felt as good as now

Washington DC (again)

F#m7    C#m7   Bm7   Amaj7
Let’s watch a movie tonight 
Cmaj7   Dmaj7   Bm7   A7
I found the perfect one it's got 6.3 on IMDb
It’s a thriller from 2009
Russell Crowe is a reporter and his hair is longer

Em   Dmaj7
Russell Crowe 
G   Cmaj7
You will always be my gladiator

Beautiful mind
But I'm serious what's up with the long hair

I don’t wanna go to bed
I’m too scared about mosquitoes  flying into my ears
I thought the movie was not that great
I give it 6.3 I would not say I wasn’t entertained

Russel Crowe (I need you so)

I write and record songs, with a little help from my friends. I speak English and Dutch and not a lot of French.
My first EP was released in 2013: http://phanques.bandcamp.com/

Phanques

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