note - I do N O T take A N Y credit for this track and will it remove if I'm asked to by the original creator

Allies or Enemies - by The Crane Wives

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

You Gotta Die Sometime - Andrew Rannells

The Hand That Feeds - by The Crane Wives

the crane wives - scarecrow bones (live)

Ulysses Dies At Dawn My Name Is No-One - The Mechanisms

Trouble is, 
Nowadays, 
We go walking in the rain 
Protected by our plastic parasols. 

From the mists 
To the waves, 
We don't think we ever will implode again, 
The mighty leaden rollers rushing in to kill us all. 

But the ships are swiftly sinking, 
And the submarine in which I am 
Sequestering myself 
Is failing to produce a proper answer. 
I'm thinking to myself, 
I'm telling me that deftly I'll be 
Giving my advice to all the world, that 
The cells we're in are splitting 
So it's looking like 
It's likely that it's cancer. 

You looked sweet 
Standing there, 
Smiling at me sleepily 
Suspiciously like someone who is dead. 

Shake the sheets, 
Let 'em air, 
We'll go down in history 
Conspicuously grinning like the cat who's in the story life we've led. 

And the ships are softly sighing 
As the sedimental seafloor says 
A prayer to bring them home 
And sings a sullen cradle song of death. 
I'm thinking to myself, 
I'm telling me that certainly we 
Haven't got the heart to tell the world that 
The tumors are malignant, 
So the time is coming 
When we'll breathe our last breath. 

From the start, 
Where was I? 
I was not the kind of guy 
To look a fading flower in the eye. 

Cross your heart, 
Hope to die, 
Hope to soon be sailing smoothly heaven-high, 
Surrounded by the seabirds as they skim the starless sky.

credits
from A Troubled Piece of Fruit, released 23 July 2012 

Stephan Nance, piano/vocals
Angelica Sather Hodgetts, cello/melodica 
Tim McLaughlin, trumpet

Stephan Nance — Immunodeficiency

You tell me that the boat is moving forward— 
Whatever that means when there is no land in sight. 
I’d always pegged you as a shorebird— 
But in light of certain facts, 
I’m inclined to take it back. 

Don’t underestimate me; 
This field of research is my specialty, my specialty! 
I will crack this hierarchy 
If it is the death of me, 
The death of me! 
The death of me… 

You tell me we are sailing on a one-way sea— 
I nod my head and hold my tongue. 
(You are an idiot!) 
You gave me a bum steer, crowing of your lofty views; 
I might have known you were 
A rooster on a booster seat! 

Don’t underestimate me! 
(Clearly there’s no danger of my underestimating you!) 
I will commandeer this vessel 
If it is the death of you, 
The death of you! 

—Must you respond so saltily? 
My faculties… 
Have long been… 
Bursting at the seams… 
Brimming as they are… 
With onomies, 
And ologies, 
And 
Memories! 
Memories! 
Memories! 

Don’t esterundimate me! 
I will hack this crierarchy! 
—Cut me, please—a little slack, I mean— 
Mental tacking’s never been my specialty. 
My knack is for a marked lack of strategy. 
But spin around and take another whack at me 
Look back at me — and see! 
I will stack up properly! 
If it is the death of me, 
The death of me, 
The death of me, 
The death of me!

credits
from A Troubled Piece of Fruit, released 23 July 2012 

Stephan Nance, piano/vocals
Angelica Sather Hodgetts, cello

Stephan Nance — One-Way Sea

Rain falls down, 
And the rain compresses all the sounds into the ground. 
When the clutter goes away like this, 
The silence can be found. 

A silent color guard routine 
Flows forth from the flowers as they sing. 
Do you see? 
The stamina are heavy, 
But the filaments are glistening. 
And this is why we need the rain. 

The raindrops falling on my head must remain, 
Because the leaves and debris are clogging up the drain to my brain —
But a creek can carve a canyon, 
So I’m counting on a clean cut to christen me. 
I need the rain. 

Do you ever wonder why the rain was invented? 
Was it to put puddles where the streets have been dented, 
So we’ll have a place to play 
When we’ve had a lousy day? 

Nah, it was probably to melt the snow. 
Nah, it was probably to help the rivers flow. 
Nah, it was probably to soak the seeds we sow. 
Nah, it was probably to make the wild things grow. 
Nah, it was probably to give us all a show. 
Nah, it was probably to sooth the winds that blow. 
Nah, it was probably to let us know 
There’s something out there even when were all alone 
And if we listen real close 
We can maybe hear the tapping of its toes… 

I had lost myself, but I came back around. 
And I memorized the map before it seeped into the ground. 

I need the rain.

credits
from A Troubled Piece of Fruit, released 23 July 2012 

Stephan Nance, piano/vocals
Merlin Showalter, drums 
Tim McLaughlin, bass/guitar

Stephan Nance — Resurrection

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)

Lupine caught
my post-consumer fall
Lupine held me there beneath
a post-consumer bird call
Warbling the echoes of
The decadent
The digital

And I know
When I go
Where the coils glow
It isn't for the greater good
And I know
When I go
Where the coils glow
That I grow
But it isn't for the greater good

Lupine, popping open,
hurled seeds
Lured an unsuspecting Oregon Junco
To the bed of reeds
And through binoculars
The birder saw the SOS

And I know
When I go
Where the coils glow
It isn't for the greater good
And I know
When I go
Where the coils glow
That I grow
But it isn't for the greater good

Broken letter
Broken clock
Broken box of
Broken
Sidewalk chalk
Sidewalk chalk

Kanji and Cyrillic talk
Heart-to-heart in nearby sidewalk
chalk nearby side
walk chalk
nearby side walk
chalk nearby side
walk chalk

Lupine sought dispersal from the slope
Me, I only sought dismissal from
This missile-peppered envelope.

Envelope

indie chamber pop (bardcore)
pronouns: they/them

Reverse Nature Shock (家の家)

Sparkbird