lyrics:

There's a stranger in the kitchen
Laurie's on the floor
Lacey paces back and forth
She can't take it anymore

There's a finch trapped in the bathroom
And the widows guard the doors
Fly away, fly away no more

I'm staring out the window
Laurie starts to snore
The stranger hangs his hat
And Lacey paces 'til she's sore

There's a raven in the basement
Reciting lines you've heard before
Fly away, fly away no more

Fly away
Oh, fly away
Fly away no more

Now Lacey starts to stumble
The stranger strums a chord
Laurie finally rises
Screams, I've had this dream before

There's a martin in the closet
There's a broadside on the door
It says, Fly away, fly away no more

Fly away
Oh, fly away
Fly away no more

My heart begins to stutter
My eyes begin to pour
As Laurie and Lacey chase the stranger out the door

Now Lacey's in the front yard
And I'm strumming on the porch
Laurie scatters seeds
And strings some words between the chords

There's a birdsong in the treetops
But I can never see the source
Fly away, fly away no more

Fly away, fly away no more

Recorded at home in Santa Barbara, CA
Music and lyrics by Chris Dunsmore
Artwork and design by Chris Dunsmore and Angie Ouellette

Fly Away No More

To Be Human

The Occupant

Film

We're Running

The Subject Of Dreaming

Another stay-at-home song written and recorded while sheltering in place. I've been trying to get stuff finished and recorded quickly, without thinking too much about getting it "right."

Anyway, if you ask me, this guy is failing to see how good his version of quarantine actually is.

Written and recorded at home in Santa Barbara, CA
(with a little bit of lyrical help from Modest Mouse)
Artwork and design by Angie Ouellette

Heaven (Question Mark)

I've always shared small apartments with my partner, but I've been thinking more about our tiny shared space while we shelter in place.

I started to play around with this song's chord progression while my partner was working a few feet away and realized I should either play in the other room or make sure I wasn't being a distraction. In a way, then, the song's a collaboration, a duet between the two spaces we were trying to hold together.

Written at home in Solvang and Santa Barbara, CA
Recorded at home in Santa Barbara
Artwork and design by Chris Dunsmore and Angie Ouellette

A Stopping Place

Here's another song from a stuck-inside point of view.

I've been thinking about how mindwarping it can be to watch the world from such a small subjectivity, through a constrained frame, at a time like this. Sometimes it's easy to slip into the mindset that I can do, see, acquire, feel, or know everything just by moving my thumb and finger a bit. That kind of manipulation can make light, which is needed in dark times, but it also has the potential to be destructive.

I've been thinking about that Daniel Johnston (RIP) verse:
"Try to point my finger
But the wind is blowing me around
In circles, circles"

Written at home in Santa Barbara, CA, with Angie Ouellette
Recorded at home in Santa Barbara
Artwork and design by Chris Dunsmore and Angie Ouellette

To Steal Fire

About this track:

Here's a little tale of lovers tested by a potentially temporary separation that's made a bit more permanent by disaster, the kind of disaster that closes down borders and cracks open conversation.


Lyrics:

Last time I saw her I told I just couldn't leave
She pulled out a cigarette and smiled when she lit it for me

And now I've got some time to make a lot out of a little thing
The color of her skin where it used to touch her ring

Where I'm sitting all these leaves look just like the sea
They rise, they sigh, they wave from across the street

I picture her somewhere in a boat at the end of the world
Consulting old maps and diving for a long-lost pearls

And me, I'm just dancing with a glass of gin
Counting my cigarettes
Trying to figure out where heaven begins
And where it ends
Or what's left

I was all alone when they finally closed the borders down
She was just outside of Denver in a tiny little tourist town

She called me from her hotel room. She said, "The end is near"
I laughed and told her, "I don't know. I say we give it a year"

She said, "I made it to the Rockies, and I found a little bar at the top
"They had all night karaoke, and I sang until they made me stop

"Then I drove down the mountain thinking I was heading back to you
"Then I sobered up in Denver and remembered I had something to do"

Then I heard the ice clink in her glass of gin
As she lit up a cigarette
I said, "I'm trying to figure out where heaven begins
"And where it ends
"Or what's left"

She said, "I wish you could've seen me drive, honey, the screws shook loose"
I said, "I wish I could've seen you sing. You always knew what to choose

"But I can never make up my mind. I never get it right
"Anyway, what are you gonna do in the afterlife?"

She said, "Me, I'll just sit with a glass of gin
"And light all your cigarettes
"We can try to figure out where heaven begins
"And where it ends
"Or what's left"

Credits:

Written and recorded at home in Santa Barbara, CA
Music and lyrics by Chris Dunsmore
Artwork and design by Chris Dunsmore with Claire Taylor