Photo by: Cameron Bertron (cameronbertron.com). As featured on: newyorkcommoners.com

2 A.M.

Paris

I can feel the bone pushing against everything I touch,
I’m paper thin. Held together by mere promiscuity,
You want to walk the line? Take a look backwards.
We've been here before, I swear. When have I ever been wrong before?
 
I can’t control what you want me to be.
I can only see fragments of impossible,
Please, just look at me lying on the floor,
I’m bleeding pure anarchy. I only want to be free.

I can feel the blood dripping down my punctured chest,
I’m nothing within. Eyes filling up with broken promises,
You waited till the end of the line. Distorted by pieces of time,
If only I’d known, I swear. When have I ever been wrong before?

I can’t control what you want me to be.
I can only see fragments of impossible,
Please, just look at me lying on the floor,
I’m bleeding pure anarchy. I only want to be free.

Lyrics By Ben Fallows

Featuring Will Britton-Minney (Guitar)

Blood-Ridden Knight

“End of the line,” the driver said
As I awoke with a start and rubbed my head
I stumble through the doors like the living dead
And chuck my dinner down the side of a step
So I’m hurling up on the Roman Road
A gift most abhorrent, to it I bestowed
A whirlwind torrent, a splash down my clothes
Nauseous from lamplight; morse code
Like I’m sending out an SOS
To those soon to arise in their Sunday best
With their smartest jackets freshly pressed
And all of their desires safely repressed
But this is the price of hedonistic excess
I’m just a pest to infest and distress
To possess the mind of Britain and make it aggressive
She cries more tears than a manic-depressive
We broke it so bad even Bob cant fix it
Cos Bob’s job’s gone and now he’s signing on
While a comedian presides over the city
Is he laughing or does he really think its pretty?
Do the tears of a clown
Run down his lover’s titties?
As the cries of single mothers go unfound
If you never heard the tree fall did it ever make a sound?
The ink from the betting slips runs with the rain
The last drops of hope of a life consigned to pain
I was searching for pearls like a Japanese diver
But all I could find was Lady Godiva
Girl in the bus stop sitting with her legs crossed
They won’t be crossed for long ‘cos the Mondeo’s come along
These blackened walls breed hardened minds
So get  your head down and keep checking behind

London’s so dark, but you never see the stars
I’m blinded by the lights of the passing cars
Twisted visions in the shadows of the underpass
Blackened walls, lonely streets, forgotten parks

The discarded shells of run-down shops
The empty shelves and bottle tops
The slit throats of the ghosts of the past
And those shadows that the ripper cast
I’m kicking cans and broken glass
Boy, you know its time you oughta grow up fast
These diseases of the mind all seem to last
I decide its time to raise the mast
Try coming to my senses
Pass chicken wire fences
And blind-drunk eccentrics
Spouting shit offensive
I’m feeling apprehensive
Cos I’m new to this town I guess I’m an outsider
With a sorry-looking frown and a crumpled fiver
Eight million strangers and a handful of friends
Their stares are driving me round the bend
Cos my brain was real twisted but now its on the mend
Stop at Maccy D’s and waste the last of my spends
All of these nights seem to follow this trend
Then I’m on the road like Jack Kerouac
Just trying to get some of my memories back
Kebab shop neons struggle to hold a current
The silhouettes inside seem just as sullen
As the wind blows the stories of the road
Across the pavement a river of shit flows
I hate being awake when the sun begins to rise
I feel like my brain’s been shanked by a carving knife 
While the birds sing, but the day’s so uninviting
It's first thing and the rays are heavy, biting
I’ll join the 27 club six years early
It’s not like this place does much to deter me

London’s so dark, but you never see the stars
I’m blinded by the lights of the passing cars
Twisted visions in the shadows of the underpass
Blackened walls, lonely streets, forgotten parks

Lyrics by Jack Watts

Contains an excerpt from the poem 'London' by William Blake as read by Tom O'Bedlam (used with permission) 


Bow Church (Feat. Amy Spencer)

Birds Don't Fly Above Me (Feat. Amy Spencer)

Sad Mood

You came to me in a dream I had,
The stars lit you up all night,
Friends fall victim to your spell,
Burning desires melted away into the light.

Reality splits at the seams,
Splinters into a thousand themes,
The truth is not as it seems,
These are paper dreams.

You watched from above the watchtower,
We’re tingling from head to toe,
Shapes are merging to a distorted perception,
While she smiles from ear to ear.

Reality splits at the seams,
Splinters into a thousand themes,
The truth is not as it seems,
These are paper dreams.

Where did my mind go, Where did my life go.
Mellowed means cut by paper dreams.


(Lyrics By Ben Fallows & Jack Watts)

Paper Dreams

Featuring bass by Shane Boothby

Whenever you hear the kick and the snare
You know that I'll be right there
Everyone else can drown in their frowns
Living their lives in these crumbling towns

We've been torn apart and chewed
We are the gum on the bottom of your shoes
I said I'd never do a job where I had to wear a suit
Don't wanna be a pawn don't wanna work for no-one

And if we can't stay young forever
I hope at least that we can grow old together
There's nothing so sweet
You + me + the drum machine

All of your hopes and dreams
I know that you will find them all in me
There's nothing so sweet 
You + me + the drum machine

We've seen a clear blue sky in black and white
We've met freaks, had fights
On drunken stormy nights
Took it too far, far too many times
We're willing to fall, just to see how high we'll climb

Nothing good ever came from believing a cynic
You're helpless to change when your feeling's intrinsic
This world is ours and we'll sing it proud
Too busy living to believe your criticisms and doubts

And if we can't stay young forever
I hope at least that we can grow old together
There's nothing so sweet
You + me + the drum machine

All of your hopes and dreams
I know that you will find them all in me
There's nothing so sweet 
You + me + the drum machine


You + Me + The Drum Machine

Escobar

Tape From The Rubble

It's hard to know if it's the end or the start
With an inbox full of messages asking where you are
Turned my cheek to meet your lips
Take our minds for repairs in the pits
Could we save the tears until we're sober?

These days pass so quickly
I feel like my life is vanishing before me
I wanna write the stories
And I want you to adore me

Rack one up raconteur and tell me of your life
Do you need someone to carry those bags under your eyes?
I was waiting for the cards to be dealt but I knew she'd fixed the order
So there's no harm in asking after all these years 
Is he really still doing it for you?

These days pass so quickly
I feel like my life is vanishing before me
I wanna write the stories
And I want you to adore me

Could We Save The Tears Until We're Sober?

This Life Forever (Feat. Amy Spencer)

See You

Foxgloves (Feat. Amy Spencer & Shane Boothby)

Coalesce (Feat. Izzy Lee-Poulton)

Every time you look at me, I'm smiling through,
Never mind the doves on the wall, they're watching me.

I’m feeling cocaine renditions of a previous mindset,
My blood curdles to the thought of anything pre-set,
I am something different. I have to be?
That’s why you’re out there, and I will never be free.

I’m lost inside, stuck in-between four walls,
Or one round bone, depending on which way the curtains close or the manner in which you fall,
It’s raining bats in here, I’ve just seen lightning,
I’m going fucking mental darling, now d'you think I’m frightening?

I’ve been up all night in my cell, writing love letters,
The ace of spades sends her love. She's far too forgiving,
I wonder if they'll know she's been up all night drinking?
Of course they don’t, look at me, talking as if you’re you and I’m me.

Every time you look at me, I'm smiling through,
Never mind the doves on the wall, they're watching me.

Last time you saw me I might have been smiling,
I can’t control my twitching; I think I’m dying.

(Lyrics by Ben Fallows)

The Doves On The Wall

Contact Email: theriddlesmusic@gmail.com

Influences*
*The Beatles/John Lennon, Massive Attack, The Streets/Mike Skinner, Blur/Gorillaz/Damon Albarn, TV On The Radio, Portishead, Radiohead/Thom Yorke, Nick Cave/Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Oasis, Bob Marley & The Wailers, Tricky, The Stone Roses, Bob Dylan, Pink Floyd, Bonobo/Andreya Triana, UNKLE, Arcade Fire, Yeasayer, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Strokes, Arctic Monkeys, The White Stripes, The Black Keys, The XX/Jamie xx, Super Furry Animals, Outkast, The Cure, Nine Inch Nails, Rage Against The Machine, The Libertines/Pete Doherty, Sam Cooke, Sade, Bon Iver, Billy Bragg, The Clash, David Bowie, The Doors, Fleetwood Mac, Kasabian, Primal Scream, Velvet Underground, Nas, Marshall Mathers, 2pac, The Sex Pistols, The Pixies, Fugees/Lauryn Hill, MGMT, The Pogues, Jamie T, Metronomy, Johnny Cash, Basement Jaxx, The Rolling Stones, Kanye West, Warpaint, Four Tet, Burial, Bonobo, Gil Scott-Heron, Faithless, David Byrne.

The Riddles

Popular tracks