Homecoming Queen

Kennst du den Tiger, wie er tanzt in Berlin 
Den tanzenden Tiger, er will nicht traurig sein 

Tiger und La Belle

Before summer is a song from our youth, when love was as bittersweet as a midsummer’s night. It is a youthful pondering on the conditions of love and life – and how at a young age it all seems to call for an intensity as burning as the summer’s sun. All to the accompaniment of those endless summer nights when we were drinking and dancing our young and worried souls away.

The Early Fears is the debut album of nomadic one-man band Nervous City Nervous Self and it contains a broad collection of songs portraying a journey from youth to adulthood. The artist takes a firm grip by the listener´s ear and leads us through the bliss and gloom of a wandering singer´s delightful doom. We meet the struggle for recognition and the quest for purpose, the delusions of failure and the sense of betrayal, the loneliness and the longing for something unknown, paired with a spiritual thirst and a hunger for home. All elements – or fears – that seem to be the predicaments for this or any kind of life. But also, and hopefully foremost, we get to glimpse at an almost magical sense of wonder, fulfilment, and even joyfulness. And at the end of the day – or album – a thankfulness for being alive arises, along with a flourishing wish to do something worthwile and beautiful out of it. 


Before Summer

Artwork by Vladimir Kush

Written 18 years ago.... is what I'll say in ten years.

I’ve been an addict all my life long
to games I can’t win and puzzles I can’t solve
It’s been some kind of sick fascination
to find myself in impossible situations 
-
and this one is one of those
I’m a deep sea fish reaching for a desert rose
I’m a parking lot, hoping that a garden grows
I’m me and you’re you and my only way through is to divide by zero

you don’t like me much but I promise you this
if you knew me better you’d like me even less
If you could see what goes on in my thoughts
I think you’d personally lead the firing squad

but even though I wouldn’t agree
I’m so flawed, I’d assume I deserve it for something
this song just needs to be worthy of suffering 
I just want you to want something you can’t get anywhere except from me

It puts me out of sorts, but I think you’re my twin
and I ought to sue you for copyright infringement
but i’m sure at the court you’d have this winning defense:
my best is your ground floor, you do all I do and more, you’re improved at the core, so I’d best be out the door, with my obsolescence 
-
but you don’t know the thing you’ve offered
for a minute my sadness has an object
before this it hung shapeless as fog upon me
Now it’s fenced in a daydream that I can keep and smother by slow degrees
(And I guess you'd call that "sorrow laundering")

so even if it’s been in your mind
and even if there were enough time
and even if it’s true, what I swear I have seen
what you’d have to do would split you at the seams
-
it’d never be worth the risk
a dream gambled for so much less
just come clean, a daydream is all this is
some scene, from a movie we probably all saw as stupid kids

I’m sure you can tell most of this is an act
It can all go to hell, as a matter of fact
If I even thought this one could be solved
If I even thought the words could be carved
If I even thought I had something you want 
I’d ruin my life for those lottery odds.

Sorrow Laundering (Acoustic Demo)

Act I: The Call & The Walk marks the beginning of the journey in The Burden & The Fire saga. Blending Celtic folk melodies, acoustic textures, and a melancholic yet hopeful atmosphere, this EP captures the emotional weight of leaving home, facing the unknown, and carrying a burden far greater than oneself. Perfect for listeners who appreciate cinematic storytelling.

2. Burden of Gold

Dinosaurs and Meteors

Life is changing
most of the time,
but if you are near me,
I’m fine.

Hope’s not dying
most of the time.
I’ll be right here with you—
it’s fine.

Glowing fragments in the night,
we turn towards the sky,
and I’m holding your hand
while we watch the light.
We are dinosaurs,
watching meteors.
We are dinosaurs,
watching meteors,
hoping everything
will be alright.

A new era
from time to time.
There’s before and after—
it’s fine.

Glowing fragments in the night,
we turn towards the sky,
and I’m holding your hand
while we watch the light.
We are dinosaurs,
watching meteors.
We are dinosaurs,
watching meteors,
hoping everything
will be alright.

If this is what marks a new era for us,
a before and after today,
caused by a comet dividing our past
and taking the old life away—
how is it that we are the dinosaurs
and the comet at the same time?

Are we dinosaurs
or the meteors?
Are we dinosaurs
or the meteors?
Are we dinosaurs
or meteors?

Songaweek 16 2025

Dinosaurs and Meteors

Rides in vain

Intro is from 1946 film ‘Its a wonderful life’

V1:
I saw a shadow in the rain
It spoke to me
It wore your voice and knew my name
Never to leave

PC:
Try to see things from my side
How much I put on the line
I don’t think that you noticed
Doesn’t matter either way
What I do nor what I say
It never did 

C1:
Said it’s pulling me in 
I will let down
Everything you love
Until I’m not around
Don’t step in my direction
Coz all I’ve ever found
Is how to make you bleed from shutting you out

Bridge:
Give me something to burn

V2:
I run but when it rains it pours
Are you surprised 
She hides the clock beneath the floor (8)
I lose the time

PC:
Try to see things from my side
How much I put on the line
Have you ever noticed 
Seems not to matter either way
What I do nor what I say
It never did 

C2:
Said it’s pulling me in 
I will let down
Everything you love
Until I’m not around
Don’t step in my direction
All I’ve ever found
Is how to make you bleed from shutting you out

Said it’s pulling me in 
I will let down
Everything you love
Until I’m not around
Don’t step in my direction
All I’ve ever found
Is how to make you bleed from shutting you out

Give me something to burn

Dinosaurs and Meteors

Tim Hantel

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