Loki - The Bifrost Incident - The Mechanisms

Ragnarok III - Strange Meeting - The Bifrost Incident - The Mechanisms

the crane wives - scarecrow bones (live)

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

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

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

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

The Crane Wives - Hard Sell

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

Knotted Constellations

The Wolf (Live) - The Crane Wives

indie chamber pop (bardcore)
pronouns: they/them

Stephan Nance — Spring

Sparkbird