Wow. That's intense!You kind of wrapped your arms around Kali -predator and prey. perpetrator and victim all in one soup.Now, for me, the intensity of the music makes sense with the lyrics.I'm stunned. It's powerful.What a bold reach to go after being the murder and the murdered.It's so big. You seem like such a mild guy, and totally-for-real zen roshi and then you have this inside you too?  I love that.  I love this "song".

Written, Performed, Produced by Jesse Cardin In Gray Forest, TX
Mixed & Mastered by Warren Ross in Santa Barbara, CA

LYRICS
She paints colors she wants the world to see
Whitewashes others she thinks she should not be
She is afraid She'll find violence inside.

Pass your cross to me
I will bear it for us both
So good we will be

She stretches canvases of the purest white
But creates nothing cause she never paints at night
She kills the shadows where the devil likes to hide

I reject this narcissistic sacrifice and
I will wake from this messianic delusion

Pass your nails to me
I will drive them in myself
So good I will be

Pass the spear to me
Let your damage heal my eyes
So glad I can see

We can break free
From this shared delusion 
Come with me and
We can share the grace of a wider life.

Good

Written, performed, engineered by Jesse Cardin

LYRICS
I hear the sirens coming down
My frantic feet stab the pedal into the ground
Someone's giddy digits fingering my guts
Smell of smoke means that the fire of justice comes

Peering out from eyes of predator and prey
The sun wants no part in my redemption today
Judgment passes forth from every face
Confirming my expulsion from the human race

I hear the sirens coming
I feel the judgment coming down

Now I know what it's like to have committed murder
Now I know what it feels like

I feel my spine curling serpentine as I
Huddle underground clutching at my crime
The smoking gun burns a black hole in my hand
While down at my feet all the tiny crooked bodies land

I hear the sentence coming
I feel the axe blade falling down

Now I know what it's like to have committed murder
Now I know what it feels like

I am the victim, I am the villain, I need a hero
I am the judge and I am the jury, I need a martyr

I hear the baby crying
I feel the good life dying away

Now I know what it's like to have committed murder
Now I know what it feels like
Now I know what it's like
Now I know what it's like
Now I know what it feels like

Contempt

All performances and recording by Jesse Cardin in San Antonio, TX.
Mixed and mastered by the marvelous Warren Crone in Santa Barbara, CA.

LYRICS

I'll walk the trail that leads below
To escape this happy home
Unlock the fire in my bones

There is a comfort in this place
It's the way the ashes taste
Though I never meant to stay

But the fire burns me
But the fire burns me
But the fire burns me.

I know an ember glows in you
Do you feel the burning too?
Don't deny what you know is true.

I'll stoke the fire concealed within
Til it burns off all your skin
And melts the idol you've been worshiping

Rage, rage, rage, rage.

If you can't follow me below
Keep your warm and happy home
Safe with the devil that you know

Please don't blame me, I never asked for this
Please don't hate me, I never wanted this. 

Let the fire burn you
Let the fire burn you
Let the fire burn you.

Let the fire, let the fire, let the fire, let the fire
Let the fire, let the fire, let the fire burn me.

Descent

All performance, production, mixing by Jesse Cardin.

Many thanks to these providers of free, high-quality instrument samples:
Kontakt
Project SAM's The Free Orchestra
Spitfire Audio's BBC Orchestra 
Spitfire LABS

Lyrics adapted from Tam Lin, Child Ballad 39-A.
A good translation by Steffen Mallory can be found here: https://www.deviantart.com/wylielise/art/Tam-Lin-traditional-media-484326245

Encounter at Carterhaugh

I play all instruments and do all production unless otherwise noted. Most songs are mixed and mastered by the inimitable Warren Ross in Santa Barbara, CA, unless otherwise noted.
Thanks for listening!

Contempt

Jesse Cardin

Recent comments

Lewisbuchner

Related tracks