This was a collaboration for FAWM 2021. 

@mikedebenham writes absurdly beautiful things that live on permanent rotation in the jukebox of my head. He sent me some of his guitar work, so I've attempted to reverse-engineer it into lyrics and a melody. Still considering whether harmonies might work with this, but this'll do for now.

If you're hearing echoes of Dylan Thomas in this, I don't know what to tell you. (This, probably: https://poets.org/poem/fern-hill).

morning songs

It's been years since I've gotten to collaborate with Mike Debenham! This was the opposite of our collaboration on 'morning songs' (https://soundcloud.com/thedustcollector/morning-songs). Here, I sent him lyrics and a melody I'd been working on, and he set it to this lovely, weary guitar.

lyrics below. 



-----

always afraid of being left behind,
everyone running ahead
time has left you buried and turning
to sand in your blankets and salt in your bed

walk slow
walk slowly

whatever you wrestled has left you limping,
promising promise that never bears fruit
scorched and silent, stirring the ashes
while some joker promises rain at the root

walk slow
walk slowly

crushed glass underfoot, and we’re used to it
leftover minefields, inherited wars
someday, maybe all this will be worth it
but meanwhile we crawl through what someday ignores

walk slow
walk slowly

easier to rest
easier to curl up, dreaming
all our lives away
what is there to stay awake for

promises

.

FAWM 2021

walk slowly

This is 'Song', and I have a two thousand word theological commentary that accompanies it.

It was recorded in rather a mad rush, so it's much more haphazard and scrambly and basic than I prefer my arrangements to be, and has rather more reverb than I know what to do with. If I record this one again, the arrangement will be entirely different. Nonetheless, I find it a stellar example of the musical terror and trauma and the 'oh god let's just hum' that occurs when one's lecturer says 'write me a song that represents orthodox Trinitarianism'.


LYRICS:

When the night comes in
on an empty sky
and the streetlamp fails
so the children cry
the wind that moves through the streets is singing a love song
the breath that sings in the body sings of the sun

and we beg for bread
but the sky is stone
and our bodies fail
and we die alone
but the one who breathes out the breath is singing a love song
and the song that breathes in the streets is singing for us

you believed in bread
when the sky was stone
and you breathed your song
though you died alone
for the song you breathe to the singer is always a love song
and the breath that breathes in your body, the song of the Son

so you are our bread
when the earth is stone
for you breathe our song
when we only groan
and the one who sings 
hears your song alone
so the breath that sings in our body sounds like a love song
for the bread we break for the broken was broken for us
and the one who sings in the night hears you as our love song
for the song you breathe in the streets is our song of the Son.



NB: this is the tidier version; a previous version of this was uploaded but is now gone from internet existence. Mostly. Nothing ever dies on the internet.

Song

This was constructed for @troubadette's RADIO EUGH podcast show (Episode 1: Heartbreak: https://tinyurl.com/radioeugh1. It's in part 2 of the episode). 

Lyrics are from an actual Victorian-era Vinegar Valentine (think insulting valentine's day cards: https://crimereads.com/when-valentines-were-vicious-a-brief-history-of-the-vinegar-valentine/). 

As follows:

'Tis a lemon that I hand you
and bid you now skidoo--
because I love another
there is no chance for you!

Vinegar Valentine Card #1: SKIDOO

This was constructed for @troubadette's RADIO EUGH podcast show (Episode 1: Heartbreak: https://tinyurl.com/radioeugh1. It's in part 2 of the episode). I don't actually hope anyone dies alone.

It's a modern take on a Vinegar Valentine (think insulting valentine's day cards: https://crimereads.com/when-valentines-were-vicious-a-brief-history-of-the-vinegar-valentine/). 

I had plans to develop it further, musically, but show deadlines and eleven hours straight of song construction (instead of sleeping) meant shortcuts and a whole lot of reverb. Anyway, it exists, so it'll do for now.

And Now For A Shorter Valentine's Day Message

This is how I take mine (I really need to tone down that sugar).

Lady Grey

and we're FAWMing again!

This was created for a forum challenge known as 'morphing'. Various sounds that cannot possibly be produced by my voice alone are courtesy of angstrom, cloudyeyetavern and robinhood76 from freesound.org; long may they flourish. May their recording equipment stay ever unbroken.

Also note: I seem to have recently discovered the reverb effect. This has audible consequences.

the weather today isn’t particularly lenient, dear. bring an umbrella.

this is an anti song in an anti-syn game for FAWM 2021, where you write a kind of antithesis of the previous person's song.

@loveonamixtape’s wry, conversational, imagery-heavy folkish love song about someone who “lingers on through it all” set me up for something wretched and semi-wordless, which was entirely up my alley until Audacity had the temerity to eat my first sparse, shimmering attempt.

this, instead, is me giving up in despair and hurling random harmonies at the nearest wall with no pretense whatsoever at subtlety, appropriateness or sensible mixing. deadlines, after all.

doubt city

after

harmonies. rough demos. odd words and a whole lot of humming. this is a collection of experiments in vocal music, featuring an audibly evolving understanding of Audacity and sound engineering (latest discovery is the reverb effect, hurrah!). many of these were made in songwriting challenges that swallow up four months of every year (50/90 and FAWM.org specifically; check these out, they're awesome). most were made from scratch alone in a bedroom; others are collaborations (and those are the ones with actual mixing and instruments). 

I am, if you can't tell already, strongly influenced by choral work, but also by strange indie-folk groups who can't resist layered harmonies.

thedustcollector

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