Reconciliation (http://sistercity.bandcamp.com/album/reconciliation) is a year old! Here is a b-side from that modern masterpiece.

So this is art and I am held responsible
My actions far removed but sometimes still reprehensible
This is exactly what I wanted I explained
Stagnant water must evaporate

Oh disaster what new mystery is this?
Take my sympathy, my energy, and my wallet
And pump me up and string me out but leave my feet still on the ground
Their soles are soft -- a privilege unrenounced

Truly I tell you
We shall be redeemed
By the time our blood thins in these wretched bodies
Truly I tell you
Verily I preach
Forgiveness and redemption, vaccinated immunity

Oh forgive!
The man I saw in a supermarket chain with a “fuck capitalism” t-shirt on
And two full bags of groceries
Oh forgive! We know exactly what we've done

Oh forgive!
The thousands of humans with slogans and painted signs that deny
With not a single shred of empathy inside
Oh forgive! We know exactly what we've done

Oh redeem! 
Near and far and present company
Tethered together not by respect and trust but by electricity
Oh redeem! And prove and teach the proper way to speak

Oh redeem! 
The tributaries, oceans, gulfs and seas
Black with oil and with doubt and practiced inequality
Oh redeem! And prove and teach the proper way to clean

For we say repent
But it hasn't happened yet

(Person) (Noun) - Price Chop The Punx (Demo)

I got new socks 
At a big box store 
And a more than decent parking spot 
So I didn’t have to walk 
Out of the best things that have ever happened to me 
That is probably near the top 

Let's have a somber silence for fighter pilots 
For family I never knew 
But realistically would have been just as uncomfortable with as I am 
With most of the ones that I do 
And it's true 
There's a small herd of elephants in the room 
I've taken under my care 
I ask you don't stare 
They're much more afraid of you 

I'm piling pocket change 
I am looking for deck chairs to rearrange 
I’m arguing both sides of the debate 
Whether it's better to be 
A footnote in history 
A minuscule misery 
Or one of the greats 
A grin through gritted teeth's a smile either way 

If I'm in a bad place 
At least I've got good taste 
A fresh coat of paint and pictures hung in frames 
People staring from the walls 
Some summer nights we have singalongs 
We sing "kumba-fucking-ya" 

I had a vision of me laying splayed 
In a newly painted biking lane 
Blood lazily making its way 
To the nearest city sewer drain 

I'm piling pocket change 
I am looking for deck chairs to rearrange 
I’m arguing both sides of the debate 
Whether it's better to be 
A footnote in history 
A minuscule misery 
Or one of the greats 
A grin through gritted teeth's a smile either way 

I choke on the opening notes 
Of the triumphant close 
And as time starts to slow 
I notice the echo 
A ridiculous joke 
A reverberant “nope” 
Then a voice whispers "both" 
I zone out and I float 

To warmth and to white 
As it swallows the night 
When a sound to my right 
Punctures the lie 
And I'm back on my bike 
And I swerve to the side 
As a truck runs the light 
I go on with my life

Swan Dive

Pretending I Had an Epiphany While Biking

Solipsism 
So serpentine 
I think it might be time to simplify 
If it's too heavy 
Take off a load 
The rush comes once you've given up control 

I'm not as averse 
To “worse before it's better” outcomes 
As about them 
I'm not out of touch 
I just don't come around as much 

Double vision 
A single scrawl 
An infinite array of cannonballs 
And I'm exploding 
Burst bombs and bones 
I can't decide if I'd rather erode 

I'm not as averse 
To “worse before it's better” outcomes 
As about them 
I'm not out of touch 
I just don't come around as much 

I've got my rituals 
Capsules and chewables 
But I still don't take my vitamins 
But I’ve lied to every doctor who has ever asked 
Because I know everything about death 
So a couple throbbing teeth 
Don’t worry me in the least 
See, I’m perfectly at peace 
Happily hedging bets 
I’m good for now 
I’m nothing – yet 

It’s not that I don’t toe the line 
It’s just that neither of the sides 
Are catching my eye 
I'm not out of touch 
I just don't come around 

My prided prism 
My prison clothes 
Stars on slides slipped under microscopes 
My brash decisions 
My beating heart 
The end necessitates another start

Shtick Talk

It is not hard to sound smart 
When the cue cards are writ large 
Say the best parts with the most heart 
And a crowd forms in your front yard 
Dead tired of the old guard 
You took up arms for a restart 
After a sidebar with the good lord 
You built an ark for the last storm 

And the rains came for a couple days 
Then just as quickly went away 
And the pairs of eyes inquired "explain!" 
“I must have been off on the date 
But everybody makes mistakes!" 

Whoa now 
All that doubt, you’re foaming at the mouth 
Go run around in circles, you’ll tire yourself out 
Slow down 
Everything in moderate amounts 
You can pout until you see those cows 
You’ve heard so much about 

Have you heard the good news? 
The film crews 
They all choose to watch you 
To be amused by a cartoon 
You don't argue or refuse 
You'll show the old prudes a harsh truth 
To break through their stone view 
So you stand groomed in your best suit 
And tie a noose to slip into 

There’s no snap or sway on the fated day 
Just feet hit ground with the stool away 
And the pairs of eyes inquire "explain!" 
"I must have measured off 
But hey, everybody makes mistakes!” 

Whoa now 
All that doubt, you’re foaming at the mouth 
Go run around in circles, you’ll tire yourself out 
Slow down 
Everything in moderate amounts 
You can pout until you see those cows 
You’ve heard so much about 

A fleeting thought 
Like an atom bomb 
Rearranged your DNA 
So you briefly saw 
The grace of god 
Or maybe not 
Either way, you raced to concentrate until you forgot

Sensation

	
I’ll remain 
I’ll always wait 
The patron saint 
Of peeling paint 
The grays 
Behind the greats 

The aftertaste will fade away 
Alaska to the Everglades 

And I 
With my straightened spine (for now at least) 
I’ll have myself a good time 
And drown on solid ground 
I might get around to figuring the point out 

I couldn’t care less 
I’m nothing yet 
I’m just a picket sign inside the greater protest 
But my rhetoric 
Is the opposite 
An open casting call for kismet 
On a California death bed 

“For what it’s worth 
The worst is far from here 
Your quote-unquote cursed 
And so-called careening career 

It is what it is 
And if that’s average 
Well ain’t that fabulous!” 

Yeah, well, that’s easy for you 
I’ve been living for two 
But I’m stuck in the same fucking place 
And I’m breaking in half every day 

The aftertaste will fade away 
Alaska to the Everglades 
Those of us, the frauds and fakes 
Float away, evaporate 

Good for nothing’s good for now 
First alone, then with the crowd 
Until they believe it for themselves 
Then blend back in and let ‘em shout

California Death Bed

	
Entry level empathy with nursing home intensity 
Sound asleep but able bodied; tawdry effort, awful hobbies 

I am every bit as bristling with bitterness as I was 
I just try to take it down a notch 

To not treat details as entrails, rancid as the landfills 
On a mid-atlantic afternoon my fears are finally coming true 
That I’m somewhere between solipsist and utterly anonymous 
And the ground is just as bottomless as the sprawling sky is infinite 

I will smile and nod pretending I don't speak the language 
I could, but my accent isn't very good 

There's a lithe young thing and it's calling to me 
And I wipe the sweat from my palms on my jeans 
As I approach, it bares its teeth 
Says "I am the things you'll never be" 

There's a lithe young thing and it's calling to me 
And I lock the door and get under the sheets 
As I lean in close, it sinks its teeth 
Says "I am the things you'll never be" 

"What you are, I know 
Where you’ve been, I followed" 

Meaningless decisions with circuit board precision 
A prim and proper piston in an old, unoiled engine 
I could be on the precipice or way down looking up at it 
It seems more like coincidence the longer I look 
And think I feel my fingertips brush up against some evidence 
Of any indication I am close 
To what I feel I'm owed 
When I hear my conscious groan 

"What you are, I know 
Where you’ve been, I followed"

Hepburn

I will always choose survival 
As every effort works to purge my soul off of god’s green earth 
I will meet them with an eyeroll 
Like a child 

I will build a boat, I'll learn to sail 
Nevermind my utter lack of motor skills 
A set of stumbling sea legs 
It's been nice to know the ocean 
Only as far as I've been rowing it from home 

I'll walk another mile 
A disciple, a dupe, and I've worn holes through my brand name shoes 
I'll idle as entitled 
As my idols 

I will build a cabin in the woods 
And die by my ineptitude with earthly things 
I'll hunt and dig 
It's been nice to know the forest 
Only as far as I've been foraging from home 

Death already listens 
He’s got the out of print editions 
So all this preciousness can stop 
It’s casting reels and skipping rocks 
And crowing about how many hops 
And talk of all the fish you caught 
From a long since dried up pond 

I will build a life I will be good 
I'll will away the wickedness 
That I've retained, ingrained, embraced, and entertained 
I will build a life I will be good 
I will will away the wickedness of existential impotence 
I will build a life I will be good 
I will will away the wickedness of existential impotence 
I will build a life I will be good

Survival

	
Always picking fights with lightweights 
With lowlights and outtakes 
I keep my outrage 
Tucked in my ribcage 
I got a sunburn 
I made a mistake 
I thought I lost touch with my reasons 

Almost took ownership 
Like that's all I needed 
Conciliatory, the strength of the story 
Accredited, crosschecked, the facts 
Are all I've ever lacked 

Except maybe tact 
Or ammunition 
I'd rather not win 
Than have to listen 
To the obliging 
Philosophizing 
There is a high tide rising 

And I’m unsubscribing 
To the lines in the sand 
Policing my plans 
Never mind that they’ll just wash away 

I had a bad day 
I made a mistake 
I had a bad dream 
It turned my hair gray 

Now I don't recognize my not blue eyes 
From the same set of specs 
Spent half my life up perched atop my head 
And I've been letting go 
Or is it coming home? 

And I will build from my revulsion 
To forward motion

Bad Day

I saw my future in a flash of a thought 
I saw my future, when I blinked it was gone 

I watched in the mirror as it came to me 
Then got distracted and it slipped my mind immediately 
I watched the clock cross hands 
And how it kept my attention 
Reversed in reflection 

Was it too old to care or too young to be careful? 
I grin and bear through the prayers but never tire of the riddles 
Was it too lost to be profound? 
Or too found to lose out now? 
I am wrapped in the rhythm 

I saw my future in a flash of a thought 
I saw my future, I know I say that a lot 
I was starved, I was parched, I was delirious and wandering 
I was starved, I was parched, I might have almost made the promised land 
But to be honest, I’d moved on by then 

See, I’m working on wings, I’m gonna fly to the sun 
Cause what that first guy got wrong’s he didn’t plan far enough 
He only thought of the rise, he didn’t think of the fall 
He was half there, but I’ve got the rest of it solved 
You’ve gotta focus on ending the second you start 
So in a smoldering nosedive, there’s peace in your heart 
So when you smash into the earth, you did it on your terms 
That’s living the dream 

Was it too old to care or too young to be careful? 
I grin and bear through prayers but never tire of the riddles 
Was it too lost to be profound? 
Or too found to lose out now? 
I was wrapped in the rhythm 
But I’m scrapping the system

Avenir

	
You could always die another day 
Pick a poison or fall fearless on a blade 
For the honor, some ancient concept of a father 
More likely never bother, too focused on the fraudulence of summer 
Some secret you’re the only one who found 
Never considered it’s the other way around 

This is the end 
This the only new beginning we have left 
This is just to say 
I never really understood redemption anyway 

Hold tight till it breaks 
Until the blood swells in your fingers 
Until the static dissipates 
Hold tight till it breaks 

You could even last another year 
Taking bets on when your friends all disappear 
Play the odds, help them along 

It's one thing here at the bottom of the city 
On the top floor sitting where the walls start spinning 
And another entirely everywhere else 
Where everyone’s been taking care of themselves 

This is the end 
This the only new beginning we have left 
This is just to say 
I never really meant that “better off” trash anyway 

So this is it? 
I studied symmetry for centuries for this? 
So this is mine? 
I untethered each and every tie to the treadmill of time 
If it is done then I am safe 
I am a swan dive in a lake 
I am a perfect summer’s day 

Hold tight till it breaks 
Hold tight till it breaks 
Hold tight till it breaks 

This is the end 
A mess of circumstance and ever ebbing interest 
And this is how it starts 
A spark, then smoke as the symphonic sulking falls apart

Everywhere Else

Burning interest as if it's incense 
Taking in the scent 
Of someone else's cigarette 
Water to the lungs 
Words on the tips of our tongues 
I've left but I'm still leaving 
Got caught between the floor, the walls, and ceiling 

Swore I saw the closing, the floating 
The atoning final moments, I've seen the omens 
The symbols and speech 
How every “us” only ever meant “me” 
Opposite my musings 
Is a four letter word I call choosing 
And I'm still reconstructing a plan 
The first in a long line of last stands 

Always fighting something back 
Like there’s something in that 

For the moment it's a miracle 
To be so unapologetically material 
On the shoulders of giants 
We are the weight that breaks the backs of better men 
For the moment it's a prison cell 
Make yourself comfortable and maybe even sleep a spell 
We'll speak but we don't have to do it now 

Shout out to my silhouettes 
The shadows as our sustenance 
Steady while the sun ascends 
It's a slap across the face 
Toward starting to consider another way 
And getting better but it's still hard to concentrate 
On days as days 

Rather than a contest 
Who best can cut their losses 

For the moment it's a miracle 
To be so unapologetically material 
On the shoulders of giants 
We are the weight that breaks the backs of better men 
For the moment it's a prison cell 
Make yourself comfortable and maybe even sleep a spell 
We'll speak but we don't have to do it now 

If there's dignity in indignation, then I'm a shining example of greatness 
But if there's integrity in integration, then I'm a sad excuse for 

A primate blessed with common sense 
With empathy and with arrogance 
I am swinging from the trees 
I am crawling out of the sea

Attenborough Blues

If you enjoy Sister City, you’re probably struggling to reconcile a few things. Maybe you like indie rock, but your beard is lackluster. Singer Adam Linder’s beard and mustache do not connect. Maybe you love punk music but struggle with how to integrate it into your real life. Singer Adam Linder once wore a Rancid shirt under his dress clothes to a Bar Mitzvah. 

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