Common size, common heart
Common dreams just fall apart
Crooked eyes, crooked teeth
Lift all weight from underneath

Seven months, seven weeks
Seven days without much sleep
Pushing thirty, push your weight
Push your food around the plate

Let it rock, let it roll
Let it sleep out in the cold
Watcha say, Village Green
‘Toria was my queen

It’s all just shackled on the edge of my mind
It’s all in your second nature

Bored of work, bored of sound
Bore a hole into the ground
Christ you left us, Christ the king
Christ, I wish the phone would ring

Sick to death, sick in bed
Sick the dogs on us instead
Sick in love

Babble crazed, babble well
Babel grew and then it fell
Common queens, common kings
You are part of everything

Let it rock, let it roll
Let it sleep out in the cold
Watcha say, Village Green
‘Toria was my queen

It’s all just shackled on the edge of my mind
It’s all in your second nature

Second Nature

Out of my brain
Reading “Night” on a train
If your pain don’t exist
It’s invented

I swear that it’s true
It could happen to you
If you save all your cash 
And don’t spend it

It’s in your sorry eyes
You thought you knew me well
But I’m American, man
And you just can’t tell

And New York’s so small
I’m as surprised as you
I am in pieces now
I don’t know what to do

I ran above ground
From that subway sound
Got sick near a choir of children

I put all my trust 
In an M60 Bus
But nerves run my life
I can’t kill them

It’s in your sorry eyes
You thought you knew me well
But I’m American, man
And you just can’t tell

And New York’s so small
I’m as surprised as you
I am in pieces now
I don’t know what to do

M60 Bus

It sits in a photograph of mine
With trembling hands
It traces the sides

Whenever it dreams
It’s wasting its time
And whenever it falls
It’s falling behind

It sits on the A to Ozone Park
But a day on the train’s
A day in the dark

Saving its cash
And losing its mind
Whenever it falls
It’s falling behind

It’s almost like it didn’t know
There’s no next time

You’re shivering man
Awake in the dark
I’ll give you my hand 
I’ll give you my heart

Apple in Back

They told me to think a lot
And to count on the things that I've got
And repay the trust I find in kind

But oh that didn't seem so great
I stripped myself to fighting weight
I admit I have lost track of time

What's so great about you right here?
A twelve-year-old mind of thirty-odd years
Haven't I shown myself true?
What's monstrous in you?
Didn't I wear it all proudly? 
Didn't I? Didn't I?

Let's get drunk like Americans out on holiday
They'll find me vomiting there in their alleyways
Just when they really thought they knew me well
I'll prove 'em right and wrong they can never tell

It's getting late; we're getting old
No champagne eyes, no hearts of gold
Just deep in the belly of something strange

No sense in putting your trust
In a ride on a Grehound bus
As if anywhere else could make you change

Yes I do take it seriously
If you're asking what's happened to me
Haven't I grown to survive?
Do I call you to cry?
Do I stagger 'round blindly? 
Do I? Do I?

Let's get drunk like Americans out on holiday
They'll find me vomiting there in their alleyways
Just when they really thought they knew me well
I'll prove 'em right and wrong they can never tell

It’s there, but you don’t yet see
The greatest generation’s got nothing on me
No picture frame can hold my cause

Drunk Like Americans

Written by Matt Longo
Mixed and Produced by Aady Pandit and Matt Longo 
Mastered by Joe Lambert @ Joe Lambert Mastering

Engineered by Aady Pandit
Additional Engineering by Nolan Thies, Carlos Fonseca, and Jake Lummus

Matt Longo: Vocals, Guitars 
Aady Pandit: Additional Guitars 
Yaniv Taubenhouse: Piano; Synths 
Jay Rodriguez: Saxophone 
Paul Longo: Additional Guitars 
Andy Roninson: Fender Rhodes; Wurlitzer 
Brad Koegel: Drums 
Yonatan Levy: Bass

The Guesthouse

Written by Matt Longo + Paul Longo
Mixed and Produced by Aady Pandit and Matt Longo 
Mastered by Joe Lambert @ Joe Lambert Mastering

Engineered by Aady Pandit
Additional Engineering by Nolan Thies, Carlos Fonseca, and Jake Lummus

Matt Longo: Vocals, Guitars 
Jonny Lam: Pedal Steel 
Dan Fagen: Saxophone 
John Raymond: Trumpet 
Andy Roninson: Piano; Fender Rhodes; Wurlitzer 
Yaniv Taubenhouse: Mellotron 
Paul Longo: Additional Guitars 
Brad Koegel: Drums 
Yonatan Levy: Bass

I’ll survive as a child
All hungry and wild
Life overwhelming is life at the start
I’ll rise up in my youth
Seek personal truth
Fiction alone to fill up my heart

Soon I will wake in the morning and open my eyes
And say, "Oooh, summer day
The dawn of my life"
Soon I will drown in an evening of lovely black sky
And say, "Oooh, summer day
The dawn of my life"

Yes, I’m grinning again
Here with all of my friends
Grace without witness is death on the vine

Acting selfish for years
To be perfectly clear
Giddy with freedom and flush with my time

Soon I will wake in the morning and open my eyes
And say, "Oooh, summer day
The dawn of my life"
Soon I will drown in an evening of lovely black sky
And say, "Oooh, summer day
The dawn of my life"

Death in a Field

Written by Matt Longo
Mixed and Produced by Aady Pandit and Matt Longo 
Mastered by Joe Lambert @ Joe Lambert Mastering

Engineered by Aady Pandit
Additional Engineering by Carlos Fonseca and Nolan Thies

Matt Longo: Vocals, Guitars 
Yaniv Taubenhouse: Piano, Organ 
Sam Minaie: Upright Bass
Brian Sanders: Cello
Leonor Falcon: Violin
Tomoku Omura: Violin
Allyson Clare: Viola

Well, I think I'm gonna 
Pack it in my brothers 
I think I'm gonna 
Pack it in my friends 

It seems this life is just too lonesome 
And it's getting hard to pretend 
I think I'll take that ride I don't know when 

There's nothing in this world that I need 
There's nothing in this world that needs me 
So I think I'll take that ride I don't know when 

I thought I was gonna 
Fix myself on Sunday 
Thought I was gonna 
Fix myself today 

But every week rolls by 
And it seems I am the same 
I think I'll take that ride I don't know when 

There's nothing in this world that I need 
There's nothing in this world that needs me 
So I think I'll take that ride I don't know when 

Hold it close 
Love nothing 
Keep it all inside your soul 
Soon your family will be calling you back home

Your Family

“Wooden Cave -- easily one of the best, if not the best album of this horrifying year so far -- does what so many of the best albums do. It creates a unique artistic statement that's a pleasure to hear from start to finish but includes plenty of ugly truths and harsh realities. Matt Longo isn't immune to the horrors of the world, but he knows how to wrap them up in gorgeous, lush, sophisticated songs.”
-Chris Ingalls, PopMatters (9/10)

“That Thin Lear album is amazing.”
-Robin Hilton, NPR Music

Thin Lear

Pinned to spotlight

Popular tracks