Odin - The Bifrost Incident - The Mechanisms

Ragnarok II - The Calling - The Bifrost Incident - The Mechanisms

2nd place winner of Yishan Wong's 2021 Solarpunk Art Contest! 🎉
medium.com/@yishan/solarpunk-art-contest-2021-winners-d935df357c84

Lyrics:

A city in ruin
But only for the blink of an eye
A pitiful tune
But only for a moment in time
In the long run

We came back to these old streets
When the barriers had all gotten
Buried at sea
And when these buildings all
Turned green
We agreed
It’s better than it used to be

How long has it been
Since we last felt fear of the sun and the wind
And how long will it be till we feel
The Metropolis of Eden we live in is real?

A city in bloom
A city with that adapts to survive
A little more room
For underdogs and misfits to thrive

In the rooftop gardens
The Purple Finches are pecking out the eyes
Of the wild yellow sunflowers
Smiling at vanilla skies
And you and I are finally free
To do the things we like
Be it making art or making out
And stargazing every night, and oh
How sweet would it be
If an Eastern Phoebe nested
On the balcony, and oh
How sweet to begin
Seeing life as a gift,
Not a contest to win

We came back to these old streets
When the barriers had all gotten
Buried at sea
And when these buildings all
Turned green
We agreed
It’s better than it used to be

How long has it been
Since we last felt fear of the sun and the wind
And how long will it be till we feel
The Metropolis of Eden we live in is real?

How long has it been
Since we last felt fear of the sun and the wind
And how long will it be till we feel
The Metropolis of Eden we live in is real?

A city in bloom
(We can do the things we like)
A city in bloom
(We can do the things we like)
A city in bloom
(We can do the things we like)
A city in bloom
credits
releases December 24, 2021
Music & lyrics by Stephan Nance
Arrangement by Stephan Nance

Piano/vocals/synths - Stephan Nance
Percussion - Mathias Kunzli

Mixing & mastering by Thaddeus Moore, Liquid Mixing & Mastering

Recorded in Portland and Los Angeles

Artwork by Leif Holt
Graphic design by Chad Lowe

Metropolis of Eden

Once Upon a Time (In Space) Old King Cole - The Mechanisms

Tales To Be Told The Ignominious Demise of Dr. Pilchard - The Mechanisms

Mack and Dusty have finally recorded several of the tunes they play busking on the streets of victoria BC.

Catharsis

Pirate song, Mack Shields on fiddle, Dustan Townsend on cello

Pirate Song

gray after gray 
prey after prey 
morning to morning 
day after day 

let's let 
bygones be bygones 
blackening the skies 
in the bygone style 
of soon-to-be-gone monarch butterflies— 
climb up the butte 
stare at the sun-drenched river 
clench your lids 
hurry 
carry the sight 
to the boardwalk 
lift your chin up 
open your eyes 
see a shadow 
watch as it lightens and dies. 
see a shadow 
watch as it lightens and dies. 
see a shadow 
watch as it lightens and dies. 

how can I love someone I've 
only seen in a painting? 
how can I love a voice I've 
only heard described? 
how, on the other hand, can 
you kill somebody who's right in front of 
you seem to have no trouble at all doing it 
you seem to have no trouble at all 

straw after straw 
back after back 
mourning to mourning 
caulking the cracks 

let's let 
bygones be tattooed 
upon our eyes 
let's let 
the truths 
be louder than the lies 
I feel so ashamed to think 
I used to say 
it wasn't your land 
and I didn't take it away 
it wasn't your land 
and I didn't take it away 
it wasn't your land 
and I didn't take it away 

white appetites 
killed the passenger pigeon 
white fashion 
killed the Carolina parakeet 
white silence 
kills people of color 
white power 
will kill the very current it ignited 
my own white power 
will kill a current too 
if I'm not prepared to fight it 

see a pipeline 
run along the oil-drenched river 
see us promise 
changes that we don't deliver 
see a sacred place 
watch us colonize 
the boardwalk 
see a fallen cup 
someone carried that cup 
when it was full 
it must have taken every ounce of strength 
to pour the liquid 
down their gullet 
yet a cis hetero white man 
emptying his gun 
seems to have no trouble at all 
carrying it for a future bullet 
seems to have no trouble at all
credits
from Incredible Distance [EP], releases February 9, 2018 
Stephan Nance - vocals, piano 
Jon Caponetto - trombone 
Adam Caswell - programming 
Sarah Evins - viola 
Alexis Garnica - trumpet 
Dylan Myers - bassoon 
Sarah Rosier - cello 
Arrangement - Adam Caswell

White Appetites

from Incredible Distance [EP], released February 9, 2018 
Music & lyrics by Stephan Nance
Stephan Nance - vocals, piano 
Adam Caswell - programming 
Sarah Rosier - cello 
Arrangement - Adam Caswell & Stephan Nance

Lyrics:

The inspirational 
Isn't moving 
Inspiration all died 
I defy 
Edifying texts 
I defy 
Hot air quotational flotationals— 

Quote away. 
Float away. 

Who am I talking to, 
Talking to? 
Imaginary figments in the ICU 
ICU 
I see nothing left to view 
Left to view 
Left 
(Right?) 
Left to view— 

Lungs bereft 
I seek a sunken bubble 
Free dive on empty 
Down to an abyssal depth 
And where the plain 
Intersects with the trench 
I teeter on the edge 
A current blasts 
From behind 
I gasp 
I cast a shadow 
On a shadow 

A Turkey Vulture buddy 
From my littoral days 
Phases in 
All unflappable 
To call the black swirling kettle 
Back together for a 
A whirlwind tour 
Of a marginal sea 
Hover over 
One /ˈneɪvəl/ vessel 
Or another 
Body of 
Human or of water 
Blood exists 
To be discovered. 
I exist 
To be— 
I exist 
To be— 
I exist 
To be! 

I take a breath 
I cast a shadow 
At the moment of 
I take a breath 
I cast a shadow 
At the moment of 
I take a breath 
I cast a shadow 
At the moment of 
I take a breath 
I cast a shadow 
At the moment of—

Left Right Left

from Incredible Distance [EP], released February 9, 2018 
Music & lyrics by Stephan Nance
Stephan Nance - vocals, piano, programming 
Adam Caswell - programming 
Esther Kwak - clarinet 
Dylan Myers - bassoon 
Arrangement - Adam Caswell

Trampoline sensations 
lingering 
I fall asleep 
grinning 
and awake 
grinning 
in awe 
at what I 
see saw 
see saw 
see saw 
see saw... 

It's unreal 
it's unreal 
it's unreal... 
It's unreal 
it's unreal 
it's unreal... 
It's unreal 
it's unreal 
it's un— 

Cornucopia sofa 
so far you are 
treating me A-OK today— 
Eleemosynary celery 
boyar 
born of crimson velvet clay 
born on an inclement Friday 
born in the month of March... 

Tambourine tintinnabulations 
annotating 
birdsong, bee song, 
thumping bunny hearts 
clinging 
in awe 
to what they 
see saw 
see saw 
see saw 
see saw... 

It's unreal 
it's unreal 
it's unreal... 
It's unreal 
it's unreal 
it's unreal... 
It's unreal 
it's unreal 
it's un 
reeling in the Earth 
cartwheel and coincide 
sidewind and surrealize 
Sun reeling in the Earth 
Earth reeling in the Sun 
(parenthetical asides aside) 
Sun and Earth 
having begun 
accrete 
accrue 
accelerate— 
collide... 

Pierce my wrists with your nails, 
pierce my temples with your thorns; 
Revoke my resurrection license, 
I can't bear to be reborn. 
Place me on a bed of shells 
(relics of pistachios) 
within earshot of the sound, 
somewhere over the Narrows…

The Sound Narrows

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

indie chamber pop (bardcore)
pronouns: they/them

Left Right Left

Sparkbird