Odin - The Bifrost Incident - The Mechanisms

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

Once Upon a Time (In Space) Sleeping Beauty - The Mechanisms

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

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 
Shigeki Okubo - drums 
Arrangement - Adam Caswell

Lyrics:

Talk about site fidelity... 
Talk about natal philopatry... 

Talk about synchronicity! 
Talk about London meeting Eugene! 

Other people's flight patterns lack the hallmarks of mine 
Pictures of ten-year reunions with pictures 
Of altitudinal migrations 
With breathless emergency landing vacations 

Talk about asthma! 
Narrows for airways 
Peak flow a puff from a pipe dream— 
Fifty percent of an infidel's personal best 
A Forest Park duck falls fifty feet leaving the nest! 

From the cavity edge to the edge of the briar 
A baptism of flier without proper plumage! 
In the purgatory of a spacer 
Passing from chamber through chamber 
To chamber... 

What is incendiary to me? 
Incredible distance confined 
In my body. 

Talk about imagined geography... 
Talk about plant intentionality. 

Talk about sessility, precinctivity... 
Talk about cosmopolitan pantropicality! 

Jump! Stop tilting at windmills! 
Wilting at failures to skirt the frame of the swing 
set! Jump! Stop placing bets 
On peregrination, on a fair roundabout 
gain! Spin! Shrink! Skidoo! into a postcard, 
into the gum on the 
stamp! Glue! Paste! Tamp! Affix! 
A Phoenix Garden wren in a sudden igloo sticks to sticks! 

From a nettle-mound to the pear-petaled crisps on the bower 
A universe swirls in that souvenir snowglobe! 
Half-eight till the vesperal pealing 
The architect shake-sings with skyscraper feeling 

What is irradiative to me? 
Incredible distance; 
unforgettable limits. 

Wouldn't you like to know where I want to go?

Limits

Spring, and still 
Leaves have not all fallen from the trees; 

Holding hands and skipping 
Stones across the river; 

Flowers open 
Wider than I've ever seen; 

You can see them too, 
If you hurry— 
You can see them too, 
If you come back to me. 

Spiral bound 
The pages that you wrote to me; 

In between the letters lies 
A secret that I'm meant to see; 

It has been a season 
Since I have seen the sea, 

But we can go there soon, 
If you hurry— 
We can go there soon, 
If you come back to me. 

When I sit and sip my tea, 
You're facing me... 

You: a day, a month, a year ago— 
It's all the same to me. 

On every bus I see 
On every street I see 
In every passing pair of shoes 
I see... 

You. 

You can see me too, 
If you hurry... 
You can see me too, 
If you come back...

credits
from A Troubled Piece of Fruit, released 23 July 2012 

Stephan Nance, piano/vocals
Angelica Sather Hodgetts, cello

Stephan Nance — Spring

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

Can't Go Back -Foxlore -the crane wives

indie chamber pop (bardcore)
pronouns: they/them

Limits

Sparkbird