Recorded on Tascam cassette 8-track by The Silents, 2002.  Gregory Hagen, Jenny Brice and Lara Niedzwiecka.  Never finished recording Gregory's vocals.  Rough mono mix digitized from an old cassette tape.

Embargo! Impending zone quarantine!
Why don't you go
through the uncharted space
cross the vacant divide
to a new wasted place?

Through the grotto
you may follow
through the Ottoman Empire
see the swallows...

the silents - Ottoman Empire

Recorded on Tascam cassette 8-track by The Silents, 2002. Gregory Hagen, Jenny Brice and Lara Niedzwiecka. Never finished recording Gregory's vocals. Rough mono mix digitized from an old cassette tape.

I think when I was mixing these tracks down I was messing with the tempo a little.  I remember  when I was mixing it down I sped it up a tiny bit or something.  These were mixes that I made before I sent the original tapes back to Gregory to finish, that I never intended anyone other than myself to hear.  But here they are!

Tiny Duck is Gone for Good but Fox is Coming Home

Come home little bear, come home tiny duck,
come home cave dwellers, come home little fox...
Don't go so far away! Don't drown in little stream!
Don't hide in false tunnels! Don't run away from me!

Little possum climbing up the tree, 
pulling on the branches one by one,
follow him, he maybe knows the way,
tiny branches swaying in the sun...
Higher now than houses on the ground!
Clouds below a breathless sleeping fog,
further up beyond the tops of trees
is the only place left to have gone...

Bring in the reinforcements, the opposition is strong!
Make way for propositions, the old rendition is gone.

Baby, don't you cry,
Papa, don't you moan,
tiny duck is gone for good
but fox is coming home.

In darkened far off places,
they could be huddled and warm.
If there were any traces,
they washed away in the storm.

Baby, don't you cry,
Papa, don't you moan,
tiny duck is gone for good,
but fox is coming home.




the silents - Tiny Duck Is Gone For Good But Fox Is Coming Home

Recorded on Tascam cassette 8-track by The Silents, 2002. Gregory Hagen, Jenny Brice and Lara Niedzwiecka. Never finished recording Gregory's vocals. Rough mono mix digitized from an old cassette tape.

This one has Jenny singing some vocals and playing a second guitar instead of drums.

The temperature's falling
and hearts are all calling
on the radio
it's fading out and I don't wanna go
on the record store tour

Your timing is flawless
your image is lawless
and I hear the phone
pretending that it's all alone 
with a deaf chaperone

Buttercup, chin up
we're making the sin up as we go along

the stars are on their own

the silents - Buttercup Chin Up

This one feels really lacking without Gregory's vocals.  And my vocals are mixed too low.  It was a difficult song to sing, in the 1st part anyway.  I think Jenny was playing in 5/4 time?

Heat, Comfort / Dust, Mildew

milk and coffee blah blah blah cauliflower (can't remember) peanut butter electric sewer cellophane and greeting cards party napkins riding mower megaphone uniform etc. etc.

In the bedroom, under blankets
in the kitchen, by the phone
in the doorway, on the doormat
by the fireplace, all alone

heat and comfort for the good ones
dust and mildew for the bad
I know you won't like the bookshelf
it's alright but it's pre-fab



the silents - Heat, Comfort / Dust, Mildew

This one was supposed to have gregory singing/yelling.

the silents - No Voices

some of the vocal tracks are new

Cousin Annie is the sweetest girl that I have ever known
cousin Annie has the nicest voice on the telephone.

Cousin Annie wears her hair tied up in pretty bows
cousin Annie eats, and when she eats she sweetly grows.

Cousin Annie's always smiling and when she smiles her dimple shows
cousin Annie's always crying and when she cries her little nose
is red as roses, pink as posies,
and we all count the tears that flow.

And we all go down to the valley
and we all call out her name
oh we all do love cousin Annie
but the echoes just aren't the same

And we all go up to the mountain
with the echoes all tumbling down
like drops cascading from a fountain
we savor the physics of sound.

And we all creep down to the caverns (arm in arm)
and we close our eyes and we hum
and we listen intently for patterns
to tell us what we have become.






the silents - 8 Little Orphans In Need Of An Education

I wish I had a better picture of everyone.

radio-silents