Fish in a Birdcage

Rule #4 - Fish in a Birdcage

Waterfall

Rule #21 - Momento Mori

Lyrics:

One small sound
One small word 
In tongues all over the world
I said it
I said it 
One small word
I said it
I didn't
I said it
I didn't
Tongues all over

Can't pick them out
Can't press them in 
I'll never hide my scars
Can't pick them out
Can't press them in
I'll never hide my scars 
I'll never hide my scars 

One small sound
One small sight 
One unsheathed knife must glint 
In an alternate timeline's light
One rust-ridden blade juts out 
Of a friendly moonstruck shape
To tear, tear terribly, terribly
Tear, tear terribly 
The delicate crepe of night

Familiarity breeds
Indifference
Familiarity breeds discontent
Familiarity breeds
Indifference
Familiarity breeds discontent

My other time machine
A pungent, putrid brownish-green 
November smile 
Blandishing my two-timing door

One small sound
One small bite
One tomial tooth
One Loggerhead Shrike must skewer 
My invertebrate doppelgänger 
On barbed wire in a parallel universe 

My tongue parallelly bleeds 
One small drop 
In a monthful of blood 
In tongues all over the world
I said it, I didn't
It doesn't matter
What I said or didn't
Admit it
You were never going to get it
I was always gonna get it

Can't pick them out
Can't press them in 
I'll never hide my scars
Can't pick them out
Can't press them in
I'll never hide my
Familiarity breeds
Familiarity breeds

Not only is it thicker
Blood is stickier than water
Maybe that's relevant somehow
Can I explode now?

Credits:
Music & lyrics by Stephan Nance
Produced by Josh Frigo
Co-produced by Stephan Nance
Keyboard, vocals, backing vocals - Stephan Nance
Drums & percussion - Mathias Kunzli
Bass - Jeni Magana
Strings arrangement - Stephan Nance and Michelle Packman
Strings - Bizarre Star Strings:
• Patti King - violin
• Kyleen King - viola
• Anna Fritz -  cello
Guitar, additional backing vocals - Josh Frigo
Vocal coaching - Nevada Jones and Adam Sweeney
Vocals recorded at The Map Room
Vocal session engineer - Adam Sweeney
Mixed by Josh Frigo
Mastered by Alex Dobbert
Artwork - Rebecca DeMoss
Graphic design - Chad Lowe

November

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!

I Am Not a Stranger Here

A Thousand Songs About It All: Act 1 is out now!
Download/Stream: https://madilynmei.lnk.to/AThousandSongsAboutItAll
Album Merch + Vinyl & CD: https://shop.madilynmei.com/ 
 
Written and Performed by Madilyn Mei 
Produced and Mixed by Scrawny 
Mastered by Joe Hutchinson 
Video Animation by Scrawny 
Intro/Outro Animation by Madilyn Mei & Scrawny 
 
Lyrics:
I am an alien
My rocket ship is human bone and skin
I’m something smaller staring out the skull
With a panel of wire and
Buttons I don't understand
Spamming every one of them
So, does being human mean pretending to know
What’s going on?!
(Hello?)
What's going on?!
(Hellooo? Fine!)

Take me to your leader
I would like to have a couple words
Get your shit together
How do humans keep on getting worse?
I’d go back to space but they've invaded out there too

We’re doomed
(Will anyone tell me what's going on? No? I'm gonna scream!)
(AHHHHHH! Tell me!)

You mock the way I talk
And I might be a little bit behind
Trends and slang and other ways to fit the box
To not be not liked

Once it gets underneath my skin
It's hard to let anyone in
Again my walls go up
I’m on defense, my solitude is
Safer than having friends
Why do I feel alien?!

I am an alien
My rocket ship is human bone and skin
I’m something smaller staring out the skull
Through two big eye sockets
And I just don't understand
How to become one of them
Does being human mean
Pretending to be something you're not?
What's going on?!

Take me to your leader 
I would like to have a couple words
Get your shit together
How do humans keep on getting worse?
I’d go back to space but they've invaded out there too

We’re doomed!

I don't wanna be here
Don't want a body or brain or thoughts of my own
I don't know who’s there in the mirror
Wanna go home
Where is home though?

I don't wanna be her
Dissociate through another day
I don't know who that is standing in the mirror
Everywhere I look I’m alone

I am an alien
My rocket ship is human skin and bone
I’m over trying to fit in
Guess I’ll always be alone
Cause I just don't understand
How to become one of them

How do I be one of
How do I be one of you?

(Is anyone out there? Over.)
(Anyone!? Over.)
(I’m talking to myself, aren't I? AHAHAH. Over!)

How do I be one of
How do I be one of you?

5. Quarters

(1, 2, 3, 4)
Wish I could stick my memories
Under my pillow for a quarter each
Losin’ em like baby teeth anyway
So give me a quarter please

I just want a gumball at the mall

Here I am in a place I’ve never been
All alone, two decades old
My best friend is a cat who is buried in the yard
Across the country safe at home
Wouldn’t you believe the things we do to breathe?
The things we gotta just let go?
Endin’ up again in a place I’ve never been
All alone, two decades old

And I’m excited for Colorado
But not for the altitude
Got real sick last time I went
So I’m giving Mother Earth some attitude
All alone, watchin’ a movie
In some motel in New Jersey
Nobody here can hurt me
They don't know me well enough to

Here I am in a place I’ve never been
All alone, two decades old
Learnin’ different words for the clouds up over head
But the stars are still the same as home
Wouldn't you believe the things we do to breathe?
The things we gotta just let go?
Endin’ up again in a place I’ve never been
All alone, two decades old

I wanna move and never settle down
But I also want a chicken coop and a thousand hounds
Mind if I keep you in my collection?
I gotta build new friendships, new connections

Here I am in some place I’ve never been
All alone, it don't get old
Learnin’ how to cope with the fact it has to end
When I’m out of quarters in my coat
Didn't wanna leave Willy on the scene
Fig will have to learn to float
Startin’ over again in some place I’ve never been
All alone, two decades old

What’s Going On?!

Stream/Buy

Living Ghost: Still Rising

Wolf House

Lyrics:
Lay me down
Among the bones
Within my reliquary
Dyeballs and chestnuts
Dotting a damp yellow yard

Eyes open wide
But there's a shroud
Across the sky
Squirrels scurry by
Climbing the trees
I never made the time to try

Who would've thought
Who would have ever thought
Summer would pass so fast

Day by day
I met each arbitrary deadline
And maintained
The silly charade
Of a person who can act their age

Now silk-tailed waxwings jingle
Bells my mind recalls
But ears can't hear
I seek them following paths
Of berries dropping everywhere

Who would've thought
Who would have ever thought
Summer would pass so fast

[Instrumental]

One last time
Before the mold
Crept into figs and quinces
I meant to rinse myself
In a warm golden light

And let it sink deep
Into my skin and
Fold a blanket round my heart
Knowing it's hard
To keep hope alive
When the sun goes dark

Who would've thought
Who would have ever thought
Who would've thought
Summer would pass so fast

Sun Goes Dark

A Thousand Songs About It All: Act 1 is out now!
Download/Stream: https://madilynmei.lnk.to/AThousandSongsAboutItAll
Album Merch + Vinyl & CD: https://shop.madilynmei.com/ 
 
Written and Performed by Madilyn Mei 
Produced and Mixed by Scrawny 
Mastered by Joe Hutchinson 
Video Animation by Scrawny 
Intro/Outro Animation by Madilyn Mei & Scrawny 
 
Lyrics:
I am a one man circus
I do everything 
So incredibly 
Since I’m the one that’s pullin all the strings
Give a bow
Tip your hat
Marvel at the fact
That there’s no list of writers on the screen
It’s just me, only me
 
Oooh
LA LA LA LA
Oooh
LA LA LA LA
 
I am the sole director
I’m the soul behind the show
Hell I AM the show
So give a clap, show some respect
Great job Mads, take five! Thanks Mads!
No prob Mads
I’m a gas, a lovely crowd
Make me laugh out loud
Even when no one else is around
 
I gotta do what I gotta do
I've got me and you’ve got you
If my shoulders were broad
I’d rule your world too
The fate of it all in my palms
You’d applaud
At the drop of a hat
You’d excuse all I do
I could dine at the Ritz in my birthday suit
But I’m hardly a man, and yet I’m hardly a girl
I’m the hand of God in my own little world
 
I am a one man circus
I’m the host if you will
And still I am also the tent
And the elephant in the room
My very own personal peanut gallery
And my own worst critic
And all my own five star reviews
I’m the spot with the best view
And can you guess it?
You’re also the best view!
 
Now you’re getting it!
 
Oooh
LA LA LA LA
Oooh
LA LA LA LA
 
I am a one man circus
I’m the singer and the song
And the writer and the dreamer
And the show that must go on
I’m the “silence all your cellphones please, yes even the buzz”
I’m the buzz that keeps me wanting more
And therefore coming back for more
Because 
 
I’ll always do what I gotta do
I’ve got me, I don't need you
No one can help even if they wanted to
I’m the player one and the player two
I’m the acrobat, I’m the net down below
Catching myself when I choose to let go
I’m the puppeteer and yet the puppet still
I’m a marionette at my very own will
I’m hardly a man, and yet I’m hardly a girl
I’m the hand of God in my own little world
 
I gotta do what I gotta do
I’ve got me and you've got you
Used to play the part well
But now it seems I forgot
You’ll never know who I am, who I’m not
Don’t look too close
Or it’ll seem odd
This world that you see
Can be quite the façade
You’ll still applaud
Not your job to ask
But backstage I know
I’m wearing a mask
 
And when I burn out
And I wish to be done
I’ll yank at my strings
It’s only Act 1

One Man Circus

A Thousand Songs About It All: Act 1 is out now!
Download/Stream: https://madilynmei.lnk.to/AThousandSongsAboutItAll
Album Merch + Vinyl & CD: https://shop.madilynmei.com/ 
 
Written and Performed by Madilyn Mei 
Produced and Mixed by Scrawny 
Mastered by Joe Hutchinson 
Video Animation by Scrawny 
Intro/Outro Animation by Madilyn Mei & Scrawny 
 
Lyrics:
No time to waste
Gonna be late for fate
You know what they say ‘bout bright flames
Gonna burn out
They gonna replace you
Replicate
AI generate you
 
No time to waste
Gonna be late for fate
You know what they say ‘bout bright flames
Gonna burn out
They gonna replace you
Replicate
AI generate
 
I don't know the things I wanna say until I say it
I hate it till I play it
Up on stage and see your faces
Let go of the reins
Now my whole brain’s a one man circus
This has to be my fate
It’s my only sense of purpose
 
Make it a character
You're her but you're not her

No you can’t take a day
You’re our brightest flame
No you can’t change your name
You’re our brightest flame, woah!
 
I don't know which way to go
So I continue forward

The pure and utter horror
Realizing I left me behind
I'm lonelier than ever
But I guess that's for the better
Time to kill and bills to pay
And plenty things to write

I’m just a little not myself lately
Too late to contemplate
You chose your fate
Maybe I should
 
Make it a character
You're her but you're not her

No you can’t take a day
You’re our brightest flame
No you can’t change your name
You’re our brightest flame
No you can’t take a day
You’re our brightest flame
No you can’t change your name
You’re our brightest flame

I’m done, I’ve just begun (la la la)
Why am I burning out?
Did I fly too close to the sun? (la la la)
Why am I burning out?
It was just starting to get fun (la la la)
Why am I slowing down?
Why am I burning out? (la la la)
Why am I burning?
It’s burning
 
No time to waste
Gonna be late for fate
I know what they say ‘bout bright flames
Gonna burn out
They gonna replace me
Replicate
AI generate me
 
Gotta keep up
I’m eating my own dust
Don’t know what to do or to trust
Gonna burn out
They gonna replace me
Replicate
AI generate

No time to waste (I don’t know if I can go on)
Gonna be late for fate
You know what they ‘bout bright flames
Gonna burn out
They gonna replace you
Replicate
AI generate you
 
No time to waste (but I know the show must go on)
Gonna be late for fate
You know what they ‘bout bright flames
Gonna burn out
They gonna replace you
Replicate
AI generate
 
I don't know which way to go
So I continue forward
The pure and utter horror
Realizing I left me behind
 
I could write
A thousand songs about it all
I've just begun, now I can't stop
Lose your mind
Stay who you’re not
But the brightest of flames
Burn half as long

A Thousand Songs About It All: Act 1

My Only Sense Of Purpose

Neither in the street nor in death nor if you go some place where nobody can see you….

Rubio’s Lament

indie chamber pop (bardcore)
pronouns: they/them

I Am Not a Stranger Here

Sparkbird