Calling the Dogs

Lay Low

Spiral In A Straight Line

The Glue

Bambi

Counting Sheep

The Apollo Programme Was A Hoax

Only If I Let You

This was another song I wrote during those same emotionally turbulent high school years in the mid-1980s. If "Breakin' My Heart" was about the immediate shock of betrayal, "Shattered Illusions" dug deeper into the aftermath - that hollow feeling when you realize everything you believed about someone was built on lies.

The opening line "Midnight shadows, a phone that won't ring" perfectly captured those sleepless nights, waiting for someone who was never going to call. I remember writing that verse thinking about how naive I'd been, how I'd "built castles on empty words." The metaphor felt so real to me then - all those promises and dreams just crumbling down.

What I'm proud of in this song is the pre-chorus structure. Adding that extra emotional build before hitting the chorus made the impact stronger. "Shattering my world" felt like the perfect phrase to describe how completely someone could destroy your sense of reality when you're seventeen and think you know everything about love.

The bridge represents growth - moving from victim to survivor. "I'm done with your lies, done with the pain" shows that progression from hurt to empowerment that I was learning to navigate as a teenager. The outro ties it all together with "Your love was fiction, but I'll rise from this fall" - probably the most mature line I wrote at that age.

Like my other lyrics from that time, this sat dormant for decades until AI technology gave me the opportunity to finally hear these words with music. There's something magical about bringing teenage angst full circle with today's creative tools. The song now has that dramatic, emotional sound that matches the intensity I felt when I first wrote these words.

Shattered Illusions

A haunting blend of orchestral swells and emo/post-hardcore intensity, unraveling like a drowning confession pulled under by endless waves.

Endless waves

At Home With Owen

The Sad Waltzes of Pietro Crespi

everything about you is somebody else, you're a product of environment and middleclass wealth, and sleeping that much wont improve your health, your interest in me is like dust on the shelf, easy to brush off despite your mood call me a liar ill show you a fake my old man told me to think on my own and im sure thats your biggest mistake watch the sunrise over mt diablo if you even bother getting dressed today you'll avert your eyes neglect the skies i hate it wen you act that way i miss the old you the one i used to talk to the one who kept her judgements at bay will i ever see you again will i ever see you? if you cut out scheduled time you'll find piece of mind trust me its worth your weight in gold and if u think you're fine go ahead follow that line at least none of my friends do what they're told do you look yourself straight in the eyes and think about who you let between your thighs, cut the shit be real with me you're the only one i ever fucking judge, the one who came to school everyday, woke up for the world, practiced honesty, her business was hers will i ever see you again will i ever see you? 

Mt. Diablo

Limelight

Limelight (feat. Manchester Orchestra)

Touché Amoré’s new album 'Lament' is out now on Epitaph Records. Purchase & Stream Now at https://toucheamore.ffm.to/lament.

The Apollo Programme Was A Hoax

Touché Amoré

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