Purchase a digital or CD copy to hear the 10 acoustic versions of the studio tracks! Exclusive to purchases of the album!: https://www.spgiraffestore.com/collections/music-albums/products/1896

Sample the acoustic tracks here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ip1Jn4Jycpc&ab_channel=SteamPoweredGiraffe

Steam Powered Giraffe's 6th studio album, 1896!

A two disc album featuring a full studio album on one disc and acoustic versions of the studio tracks on the other disc!

Take a harmony-filled musical journey with the robots Zer0, The Spine, & Rabbit in this album featuring brand new songs from the band!

1896

Intertwined

The Ninth Hour - Demos

Pile Of Bones from Shayfer James

Beat The Love

Shipwreck

Welcome Back, Misery

You can put Christ in a manger on a cold winters night

You can see him gathering strangers, fishermen and the like

You can laugh with him laughing circles around the Pharisee

You can see him walk the shoreline of the Galilee;


You can see Christ as a carpenter, placing spokes within a wheel

With a clear mind of perception learning all that this would yield

You can hear him talk at the temple on a saturday afternoon

Putting the wheels into motion that’ll be coming around soon

Chorus:
You can put Christ in the alleys with the beggars and the thieves

 You can place him in a pulpit or the preachers's gallery,

You can frame him in a masterpiece with a halo for a crown

You can picture him in Calvary with his head hanging down,

You can put Christ in you heart 
when you’re ready for something new
putting the wheels into motion that’ll be coming round soon

Repeat 
Putting the wheels into motion that’ll be coming round soon (bis)

Wheels in Motion

Blue-, blue-, blue-eyed 
Scruffy fella— 
Helicopters buzzed against 
Our cheeks and ears and necks and 
Turned us all around 
In terms of color: 
Blushing, queasy, spinning 
And irrevocably endearing 
Drinking fountains, puppies, penguins, 
Little lambs… 

Don’t you dare go 
Making me like you more; 
I hate you more and more 
Every second I’m with you; 
Every second you’re making me like you 
More and more, 
I hate you more 
I hate you more. 

Firecrackers have no choice: 
The fuse gets lit, 
The voice comes shooting out 
In sparks and sparkles— 
And a minute 
Lasts a lifetime, 
Lasts a heartbeat, 
Never lasts for sixty seconds 
Like it should— 
And no matter what 
It’s never long enough— 
But it’s still good. 

True, true, true, I would 
Be your boyfriend 
If you’d be mine, 
But this whole situation is 
Becoming so ridiculous— 
Mr. Potato Heart— 
Indeed, it seems 
You lack a few essential pieces; 
Would it be taboo for me 
To skip-bo right past go, 
Play operation and connect for good 
The clues to cure this sorry state of 
Constant aggravation? 

Don’t you dare go 
Pushing my love away 
If you’re gonna just 
Pick up the slack and 
Pull it right back 
In a stupid kind of tug-of-war game 
That I don’t wanna play— 
Unless I’m on your side, 
In which case 
I’ll be with you all the way. 

Firecrackers have no choice: 
The fuse gets lit, 
The voice comes shooting out 
In sparks and sparkles— 
And a minute 
Lasts a lifetime, 
Lasts a heartbeat, 
Never lasts for sixty seconds 
Like it should— 
And no matter what 
It’s never long enough— 

I could go a day without you 
I could go a hundred days 
But I’d spread those hundred days 
Out over a century 
If that’s okay with you 
Sometimes I get the feeling 
I’m just on display— 
Like some little punk’s been 
Pressing against me, 
Setting me off for a 
Pyrotechnicolorful 

Don’t you dare go 
Don’t you dare go 
Don’t you dare go 
Don’t you dare go 
Don’t you dare go 
Don’t you dare go 
Setting me off and 
Running away 
When I’ve got something 
I still want to say… 
Again! 

Firecrackers have no choice: 
The fuse gets lit, 
The voice comes shooting out 
In sparks and sparkles— 
And a minute 
Lasts a lifetime, 
Lasts a heartbeat, 
Never lasts for sixty seconds 
Like it should— 
And no matter what 
It’s never long enough— 
And no matter what— 
It’s never long enough— 
But it’s still so 
oh oh oh-oh-oh 
good!

credits
from A Troubled Piece of Fruit, released 23 July 2012 

Stephan Nance, piano/vocals
Merlin Showalter, drums 
Tim McLaughlin, bass/guitar

Stephan Nance — Firecracker

ハシブト and ハシボソ
ガラス* caught colds
And シジュウカラ*
Got a yellow throat
And I feel
Like I don’t belong;
When I open my window
I hear all calls
No song

And in the forest
The lianas
Traded gold for evergreen
Threw shade
On the fauna
So ムササビさん*
Hides their head away
Can’t peek out
To catch some rays

Ooh ooh
家の家はどこですか
Ooh ooh
もう家の家はどこですか*

I spent
One month
In paradise
It ruined me
For other surroundings
I spent
Two months
In paradise
They stripped me clean
Of any lingering grounding

Reverse nature shock
An itinerant Song Sparrow* returns to the flock
With the distant stare of a Rough-legged Hawk*
With the deep despair of the last Great Auk*
Sticking a key in an electric lock

Ooh ooh
家の家はどこですか
Ooh ooh
もう家の家はどこですか

*ハシブトガラス — Large-billed Crow
*ハシボソガラス — Carrion Crow
*シジュウカラ — Japanese Tit
*ムササビさん — Musasabi-san (musasabi = Japanese Giant Flying Squirrel)
*家の家はどこですか... — Where's my home / Where's my home again?, or Where's my *home* home / Where's my *home* home again?
*Song Sparrow — ウタスズメ
*Rough-legged Hawk — ケアシノスリ
*Great Auk — オオウミガラス

Stephan Nance - vocals, piano, synth
Adam Caswell - programming
Milo Fultz - bass
Merlin Showalter - drums
Arrangement - Adam Caswell, Stephan Nance, & Merlin Showalter

Reverse Nature Shock (家の家)

White-throated Sparrow
In the winter,
White-fronted Geese
In the winter—
Why white?
Why
Why white?

Snow Bunting
In the winter,
Snowy Owl
In the winter—
Why white?
Why
Snow white?

You know deep down you don’t belong here
Eat and rest and
Sing a noncommittal song here
Then fly flight
Fly fly fly flight
Fly fly fly flight
Fly fly fly flight
Fly fly fly flight


Stephan Nance - vocals, piano, synths
Arrangement by Stephan Nance

Why Snow White

Haunted Things

For Wolves

Devil Throw Roses

Counterfeit Arcade

Under the Willow

Shayfer James has built a creative world entirely his own—where poetic lyricism collides with cinematic arrangements, where darkness waltzes with whimsy, where rebellion and vulnerability share the same breath. His work explores the dual forces of isolation and belonging, of longing and defiance, all delivered with theatrical flair and unmistakable swagger that both welcomes and unsettles.

For Wolves

Shayfer James

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