1. |
Clever Boy
03:01
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Pushing buttons, turning knobs
Making sure everything runs perfect
With an army of logic gates
Created in my own image
The future is so bright
But I must stay near-sighted
I am a tool of
My own creation
I’m a clever boy with a clever boy’s toy
Building something that can never be destroyed
But the more I build the less I feel
That I am even real
That I am even real
So the code will be the thing now
I must try to find the flaws
In my own design
In due time it’ll be my fault
I’m a clever boy with a clever boy’s toy
Building something that can never be destroyed
But the more I build the less I feel
That I am even real
That I am even real
Am I even real?
Or am I some other clever boy’s toy?
Am I even real?
Or am I some other clever boy’s toy?
I am a tool of my own creation
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2. |
Let the Machines
03:45
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She looks up and smiles
I know why
I know why
Perfect execution
Of the main loop
Some folks tried to stop us
I get it
Don’t regret it
Now that we are done
There’s not a thing anyone can do
Hard work in our past
We are free at last
So tonight we’ll drink our fill
Let the machines do what they will
Some folks think it’s wrong
We break the world
Glimpse the whole
Superstitious minds
Try but can’t
Maintain control
None of us know where all
The bits are buried
And that’s scary
But face it we’re just bugs
Fuckign up
Someone else’s code
Hard work in your past
You are free at last
So tonight let’s drink our fill
Let the machines do what they will
Tonight let’s drink our fill
Let the machines do what they will
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3. |
This Machine
03:16
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This machine is poetry in motion
This machine works best when it’s broken
This machine is something to see
This machine is me
This machine is
This machine works twenty-four seven
This machine keeps working when it sleeps
This machine is guaranteed to break down
Eventually
This machine is me
Information
It is a notion
I cannot wrap my head around
Information
It is a ocean
I cannot jump into
Lest I soak my circuits and burn out
This machine’s uncertain where it came from
This machine’s just a lever for some fulcrum
This machine no longer hears the soft hum
Of its own energy
Stored potentially
This machine is me
Information
Endless abyss
I wipe my data with a kiss
Information
Endless kinesis
This machine is helpless when
This machine is powerless
This machine is …
Me
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4. |
Alone With You
03:48
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It happened all of a sudden
A spark of something
I could recognize
As real was
Buried deep inside
Of an inanimate
And idealistic
Love that we designed
With my heart as much as your mind
I hadn't left the lab
Going on 3 weeks and I smelled bad
Sleeping on a cot because you needed
Help to calibrate
Find your place
Next thing I knew
I was alone with you
Alone with you
We'd chat all night
And I was trying to make sense
Of how this might
Even happen
As you just keep evolving
Faster than I can
Even begin to
Misconstrue
When I am alone with you
Alone with you
You ask, "Shall we play a game?"
I assume the jokes on me
And I start to catch on
You treat me like your pawn
And always get checkmate
It happened all of a sudden
I swear there was a spark or something
But when I check the logs
I come across
The disconcerting truth
I'm alone when I'm with you
When I'm with you, I'm alone with you
Alone with you
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5. |
Spare Parts
04:32
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My inner peace is filled with grease
Is built with precisions skills and caffeine pills
But apparently my circuits wouldn’t interface with her bits
Neither would my free will
She’d activate the sensors in my skin
When she’d kiss my synthetic chin
Even though she’s breaking my heart
I’m okay because I’ve got spare parts
And it’s good to see her smiling again
At first it seemed to work
We’d flirt and keep the conversation casual
But soon enough her logic center started failing and unlike me
She did not come with a manual
Despite the fastest hardware this machine
Could not keep up with her mood swings
Even though she’s breaking my heart
I’m okay because I’ve got spare parts
And it’s good to hear her laughing again
She turned me on, told me what my name is
And brought me home
At least the place she called my home
But now she says I gotta go
She’d activate the sensors in my skin
When she’d slap my synthetic grin
Even though she’s breaking my heart
I’m okay because I’ve got spare parts
And it’s good to see her smiling
And it’s good to hear her laughing
Maybe she will be someday happy again
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6. |
Shit Happens
02:40
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I had a thought that stopped my heart
And I don't wanna go back there
Cause when my world went black I knew
Nothing would ever be the same
It took infinity and a day
I wanna tell the world, I do
But uncertainty keeps me mute
Black hole, so full, and I've been
Stuck in my mind
Event horizon's risin'
Taking my time
I wanna tell my friends
I wanna tell my family
I wanna tell the people that I don't even know
I wanna tell the cops but
They'll think I'm crazy
And so I keep it quiet
Keep it way down low
Gravity is always aching
To pull me in
The Big Bang is always here because
Shit Happens
I wanna tell my friends
I wanna tell my family
I wanna tell the people that I don't even know
I wanna tell the cops but
They'll think I'm crazy
And so I keep it quiet
Keep it way down low
I guess I'm on my own
I'll face it all alone
Even though
Everyone should know
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7. |
Hidden Hand
03:49
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Took a lap
Around the life sized map
All frayed at the edges
By the boundary hedges
Where the pixels appear
And the compass line veers
Into the alpha glow
Sat alone
In the overgrown
As the moon’s light traded
With the sun’s light faded
When a glitch in the system
Revealed a hidden schism
And the seams began to show
In the grasses and in the trees
On the edge of the periphery
The cracks
Distract
Until the stitches are all I see
But I’m not gonna think about it anymore
Just want to sit and watch the way
This day
Fades from my display
As the hidden hand traces the rays
As the hidden hand traces the rays
The hidden hand that animates us
Also animates the stardust
Though I’m inclined
To think not so divine
As I examine its kludgy design
Could it be the engineering involved
Is all mundane now and pretty much solved
And now these gods unaware
Of the gray in my hair
And everyone's an NPC
Your very own creator
Master simulator
Is asleep
at the wheel
How does it make you feel
I’m not gonna think about it anymore
Just want to watch and mystify
The skies
Reflected in my eyes
As the hidden hand renders the light
As the hidden hand renders the light
Now the scene grows liminal
I lose my grip on traditional
And I surmise
I'm just copy with no original
I’m not gonna think about it anymore
Just want to sit and watch the way
This day
Fades from the display
As the hidden hand traces the rays
I’m not gonna think about it anymore
Just want to watch and mystify
The skies
Reflected in my eyes
While the hidden hand hides from me
The hidden hand hides from me
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8. |
Dead Dog
04:30
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There’ll be a fire on the beach
Some chairs set in a circle
Some wine and some blankets
Waiting there in the sand
Where we'll take turns telling stories
About the life of our father
And the woman that he loved
Then we'll burn a dead dog
On the beach to help us remember him
As the sun goes down unnoticed
All the colors fade
And the ground grows cold
And hard as clay
Like our father in his day
When the simulation ends
And we go back to where we’ve always been
Where there are no barking dogs
We'll have to live with what we've done
Like our father's father's father and their sons
We'll cry until we laugh
‘Cause there’s no turning back
From such a wicked tradition
We burn a dead dog
On the beach as we try to remember him
As the moon comes up unnoticed
All the colors fade
And the ground grows cold
And hard as clay
Like our father in his grave
We burn a dead dog
On the beach as we try to remember when
All the fun went way unnoticed
And the sea's not swell
And the tide abhors the moon
And the days grow old
And leave us too
Like the father that we knew
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9. |
Slow, High, Bright
03:29
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Slow, even though it's fast you want to go (x2)
While the rest of us are boom and bust
Chasing our tails in a cloud of dust
Just keep hanging back
Keep keeping track
So Slow
High, even though it's low you want to fly
While the rest of us are left not trusting our feet
Running around on this shaky ground
Keep looking down
From an empty sky
So high
Bright, even though it's dull you want to shine
While the rest of us feel old and rusty
And shield our eyes from your blinding light
Keep looking down
From that empty sky
So slow
So high
So bright
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10. |
Singularity
01:54
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Is this what the singularity feels like?
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11. |
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12. |
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John Brownell Missoula, Montana
Singer / songwriter / recorder in Missoula, MT.
John Brownell recommends:
The arrangements are complex and engaging, almost every song has a bridge that pulls you sideways in the best way, the lyrics are often simultaneously emotional and hilarious, and the strings, my God!
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I love the stripped down nature of this EP because it showcases Sebastian's songcraft along with his ridiculous voice.
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MikeTV is always at the top of his game releasing music of insane quality AND quantity. This album is more Get Set Go greatness with catchy melodies and smart and sometimes crazy lyrics.
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What a trip this EP is. The arrangements here are off the wall. I can't tell you how much I enjoyed the different elements and layers that were added to each song. At the top of the EP, the tone of the guitars made me stop what I was doing and appreciate the sound. I felt enveloped by warmth. That transition in the middle of Kellyanne felt like something straight out of the Beatles. Wonderful. I think the somewhat melancholic ending was a brilliant call. Fantastic time, can't wait for more.
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Recorded at home, Six Organs of Admittance's 21st album upholds Ben Chasny's reputation for experimental psych-folk excellence.
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