The Consequence Of Imagination Is Fear

Tongues And Teeth

Fish in a Birdcage

Rule #4 - Fish in a Birdcage

This song was written and produced completely in my dorm with a $20 mic. Forgive me for the oddities it causes. 

Background:
And Eve was told not to eat the fruit, because "she would surely die." Instead, she learned information that she was not given before—she gained a power in that sense; she became the apocalypse.  What other powers are women "forbidden" from, all in the name of holiness? Maybe we should take a bite of that apple, feel some warmth from that lit match, explore ourselves, explore each other. They are baptizing the candles of tomorrow: they are snuffing flames. Why? They're scared of the heat we might just bring to the table. Mwah-ha-ha...

I digress... lyrics!!:
baptiser, baptise her, rose water, soft daughter
rectify and sanctify her, hold a moth and let it flutter
Don’t forget to floralize, don’t vocalize the smoke in eyes
Don’t don’t don’t strike.
catchin’ on that distant lie she’s gotta be divine
death-defier hanging on a burning tether line
then line breaks, spine aches, coiled snake, broken rope and Joanie chokes
they hope her perfume’s stronger than the soul

They’ll put an apple in your hand but don’t you dare bite it
A match and a wick but don’t you dare light it
They say temptation be a sin, don’t look any more behind it
That’s just how it is, don’t you dare fight it
They’ll put an apple in your hand but don’t you dare bite it
A match and a wick but don’t you dare light it
Life’s only meant to live, don’t fill it with excitement
Abstain, restrain, forgive, yeah, that’s how he likes it

Wax-dripper, flame-kisser, lost-livered life giver
Crucify and waterlog the sinner mother, sinner daughter
She could take you by surprise   
Beware the July fire ides
She’s a locked and loaded inferno with underglow she cannot know so drown that power fore it overflows
Sorry man, it’s way to late, her choice is made, the apple’s ate, the candle starts to flicker in a wicked little divine state
Rising and rising, gently respiring

she can’t let the candle burn
She can’t let the candle burn
So they’ve gotta teach her so she knows how to learn
That she can’t let the candle burn

CANDLEBURN

CANDLEBURN (Dorm Demo)

Played by The Crane Wives...
Kate Pillsbury - Emilee Petersmark - Ben Zito - Dan Rickabus

featuring their friends…
Steven Leaf - Seth Bernard - Rachel Gorman
Savannah Buist - Katie Larson

Produced by The Crane Wives & Ian Gorman
Mixed by Ian Gorman
Engineered by Ian Gorman & Ben Zito
Recorded at La Luna Recording & Sound in Kalamazoo, Michigan
Mastered by Glenn Brown at GBP Studios in Lansing Michigan

Artwork by Rebecca Green
Album Design and Layout by Bill Chesney

Thank you to our loving families and dear friends, Ian & Rachel Gorman, Glenn Brown, Rebecca Green, The Accidentals, Seth Bernard & May Erlewine Bernard, Steve Leaf & the Ex Pats, Joey Schultz of Chickenbach, John Campos, Kris Kessel, Sean, Sarah & Arlo Lamborne, Tyler Rehm, 88.1 WYCE, Matt Jarrells, John Sinkevics at Local Spins, Emily Fox & Michigan Radio, Kevin Romeo & Rhino Media, Joey Basch, Josiah Barber, Amber Buist, Josh Gibson, Bill Chesney, Leah Pillsbury, Mark Sturr, Lindsay Lou & the Flatbellys, The Appleseed Collective, Joy & Tim Lago, Marianne & Jim Fischer, Carmen & Javier Vargas of Mi Pueblo in Kalamazoo and Edith the Kitty. Thank you to all of the people who have welcomed us into their homes, fed us a warm meal, or shared with us their stories. 

Special thanks to our PledgeMusic contributors. This album would not exist without the help of our fans! We are grateful for your support and humbled by your loyalty.

Curses

Lyrics:

I’m burning wick to fingertip with sage
from my shaky-shakin hands
Millie, what have you done to me,
my friend?

I’m tossin’ turnin’ in an open grave
coined-tongued with whatever I can save,
carrying hauntings of a brand-new age—
Millie, can’t you see I slide
planchettes with my wake?

Catch me walking with the ghosts again
Must be on that double dose, depends
Roman chamomile all down the throat, lift hands
In Michigan, the lakes all darken
Blackbirds flocking to and fro, sevens
Roots drag marsh over the floor, levelin’
Millie, can’t you stop them? You slow no omens
like exhaling, it never ends

I’m coughing up elderberry on the stage
like your sacrificial lamb
Millie, hypnotize pain away, I beg

I’m whisper-hissing notes on every slate
that I scribe and toss into the hungry waves
carrying itchings for a familiar ache
Millie, can’t you see I made a walking stick out of my stake?

Catch me walking with the ghosts again
Must be on that double dose, depends
Roman chamomile all down the throat, lift hands
In Michigan, the lakes all darken
Blackbirds flocking to and fro, sevens
Roots drag marsh over the floor, levelin’
Millie, can’t you stop them? You slow no omens
like exhaling, it never ends

Three redwing blackbirds outside my window
two fish heads at my door
What be this omen, I’ll never know
Millie, warm the kettle once more

Three redwing blackbirds outside my window
Two fish heads at my door
One kettle bubbling atop rusted stove but
Millie, warm the kettle once
Millie, warm the kettle once
Milly could you so please be 
a kind old dearie just for me
and warm the kettle’s tea once more?

Catch me walking with the ghosts again
Must be on that double dose, depends
Roman chamomile all down the throat, lift hands
In Michigan, the lakes all darken
Blackbirds flocking to and fro, sevens
Roots drag marsh over the floor, levelin’
Millie, can’t you stop them? You slow no omens
like exhaling, it never ends

Millie, Warm the Kettle

Lyrics:

If the double-row eighteen-cylinder
Air-cooled radial engine
Is not enough to tip you off
Before he slips you off the needle
Drops you into unstitched space
The wasteland which henceforth
Shall be referred to as “your place”

The captain lives by the sword
And the captain loves by the sword
When the captain dies by the sword
He'll leave you trapped in the cockpit
Crying out "Mayday!"

When a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher aerial courtship
Nosedives in a blitzkrieg from that Whiskey Delta
You can tell the backyard bomber
Never helmed a cargo crate
He croaks out undoing and doom
To the wishful safety net
You jeopardized your life to loom

The captain lives by the sword
And the captain loves by the sword
Once you elope with the captain
You'll leave on a sordid honeymoon
Trapped in the cockpit
Crying out "Mayday!"

Always the last and never the least
Always the fast and never the feast
Always the cult of domesticity
Always the jolts of electricity
Always surpassed and never decreased
Always amassed and never released
Always the past controls your mind
Never the peace you hoped to God you'd finally find

The captain lives by the sword
And the captain loves by the sword
And when he dies by the sword
He’ll reward you for your obedience
For your countenance has woven in at every turn

Even as the back, even as the back
Of the hand
Even as the back, even as the back
Of the hand still burns
Even as the back, even as the back
Of the hand still burns
From the last airstrike

Credits:
Music and lyrics - Stephan Nance
Piano/vocals/backing vocals - Stephan Nance
Programming/bass guitar/guitars/banjo/organ/keys - Josh Frigo
Violin/viola/cello - Yoed Nir
Double bass - Jeni Magana
Trumpet - John Lake
Trombone/bass trombone - Becca Patterson
French horn - Meredith Moore
Piccolo/flute/oboe/clarinet/bassoon - Josh Plotner
Percussion - Mathias Kunzli
Drums - Aksel Coe
Orchestral arrangement - Josh Plotner
Vocal recording engineer - Adam Sweeney
Mixing - Josh Frigo
Mastering - Alex Dobbert
Artwork - Rebecca DeMoss
Graphic design - Chad Lowe

Mayday!

Butcheress

Preybirds (Watcher Song)

Preybirds

Preybirds (The Watched Version)

The Crane Wives - Take Me To War

a lil bit folk, a lil bit cosmic, a lil bit whatnot... 
songs for the winged, moss-clad being that climbs through my window every blue moon and demands MUSIC.

CANDLEBURN (Dorm Demo)

Rabbitology