1. |
Electric God Scenario
03:13
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And they'll cheer
For your amusement
These outcrops
The congregation
Before long
I'll disappear into this noise.
And so I will cheer
For my own amusement
These robotic beings
They have all been created
By another unknown civlisation
For our use
Did you hear this wonderful news?
Did you hear this wonderful news?
Will you proselytise
For our frowning amusement?
The less we try the less we fall
I'm Africanised
I'll drink the world content
So loathesome and so worrisome
Now I'm hanging on to these willowy branches
As the tide recedes back to where I was standing
And another unknown civilisation falls silent.
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2. |
It's Binocular
04:34
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I profess that I don't know
Regressed and obsolete
We will huddle in these old rooms
Know that I will escape
We are gonna sever these old branches
And progress slowly on
We are gonna sever these old branches
And babble on and on
Computers babble
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3. |
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4. |
Crying Elegant Zero
04:11
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Will you give us such an obvious sign
for all the closed ideals and the narrowing light
Full to burst with the modernist ease
Your pregnant thoughts;
swaying limbs in the decadent breeze
We will reshape this guilt into rainbows and all
To hypnotise these fools into love
Will you give us such an obvious sign
For us to ransom off these disparaging nights
The constellations break by my hand
For the debris to burn
The debris to burn
We will reshape this guilt into rainbows and all
To hypnotise these fools into love
And I will let you take hold
of these reigns and never let them go
Into this proverb I fall down, lost
An anthemic new horizon of such beauty
Has shown me, oh!
So much more!
So much more!
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5. |
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Sitting inside all our lives
Waiting for death to arrive
The terrible ticks of the clocks
For hours and hours we will watch
I am another unknown
speck on these formative notes
Everything that I will be
Breaching this terrible peace
Onto the waves of your shore
Trickling down through these old rocks
Mechanical fires shooting sparks
Mechanical fires somehow stop
Knee-deep in crumbling spires
Formed out of tangling wires
This terrible binary spread
Over the entire seabed
Wading through this all our lives
Waiting for death to arrive
The terrible ticks of the clocks
The terrible ticks of the clocks
Onto the waves of your shore
Trickling down through these old rocks
Mechanical fires shooting sparks
Mechanical fires somehow stop
If I were a kind man, boundless in my well-intentioned stride
(onwards tick the clocks)
This would be forgotten, this would be a well-intentioned lie
(onwards tick the clocks)
But I'm not, so I'll sit here
(onwards tick the clocks)
And this cold time will end here
(onwards tick the clocks)
No I'm not, I'll just sit here
(onwards tick the clocks)
And this cold time will end here
(onwards tick the clocks)
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6. |
Soft Sheets
03:31
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And all this sweet relief is drifting over me
Into its squalid teeth I'm falling rapidly
And weakened by this journey I collapse into your arms
My breathing labours on through restless legs and arms
Despite the joy I've found all this becomes undone
And weakened by this journey I collapse into your arms
Choking and calling out all night
All of this carbon monoxide, oh
And the sheer weight of your silent and sober disappointment
All this will quietly fold
This frenzied smile of mine
This body spent and tired
This promise that I made
This promise I will break
I bury my head in these soft sheets
So the knot in my stomach won't be seen
And the sheer weight of your silent and sober disappointment
All this will quietly fold
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7. |
These Little Saplings
02:40
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And your gaze burns into the ground
I'll never know what your eyes say
Something hidden inbetween the cracks
that will never see the light of day
Sprouting up through the pavement
These little saplings
Wilting in the urban air; never to tower over us
But for all the hope this sight will bring
This is a place from which we'll never move
Sprouting up through the pavement
These little saplings
Sprouting up through the pavement
In cursed rows
But oh, the anger in that furrowed brow
Ekeing it's way from your cold, cold heart
I never know exactly what to say
All this feels so futile at the end of the day
Sprouting up through the pavement
These little saplings
Sprouting up through the pavement
In cursed rows
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8. |
Coop
03:19
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9. |
Parallel Bars
02:24
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They put me into a sack
And wheeled me out to sea for a swim
I’m falling over myself
To get wealthy and handsome and educated
I’m waiting for the moon to give birth the stars
I’m waiting for my go on the parallel bars
I will dance and you will applaud
Well don’t be alarmed
It’s just another chase at an airport
Sirens and car alarms
Don’t distract me from the task in hand
I’m waiting for the moon to give birth the stars
I’m waiting for my go on the parallel bars
I will dance and you will applaud
And I’ll fighting fit you will be sore
I’ll be the king and you will die by the sword
I’m waiting for the moon to give birth the stars
I’m waiting for my go on the parallel bars
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10. |
Good Morning Sky
03:04
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For all that I have said before
This isn't what I wanted
Standing here in your splendour
This isn't what I wanted
I listen to the maddening birds
To cover up the battle
Of squeezing into this template
Like thread into a needle
Good morning sky, the chirping birds
Before this will arrive I'll save myself
Hallowing the morning cries
(somehow)
My alabaster morning eyes
(dry out)
No, this isn't what I wanted
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11. |
Waypoints
03:14
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Before the day is done we will arise and turn you into dust
Inside this cold, dark evening
We are waiting, freezing
Behind the sweetest features
We are clawing fingers
Before the day is done we will arise and turn you into dust
I will not leave this garden
Where I exhumed these bones
Under these shadowy trees
I feel strangely at peace
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12. |
This Vacuum
01:51
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I felt the harsh summer leaves brushing against my feet
The thick cloud cover parted in my bitter gaze
And the sun broke out through a tiny gap
and illuminated the empty space beside me
This is not even the winter
This is not even the winter
but in this vacuum it feels icy cold
and it's spreading faster than I can take
I try but I can't move my legs
As my hands freeze I close my eyes
And all I can see is you
in someone elses arms tonight
in someone elses arms tonight
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13. |
Accession Wires
04:03
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This is the best that we'll ever give
And they're here in my hands
For me to sculpt, for me to direct
with their silent demands
But I'm enthralled
for us all
And the confidence in my voice
Is an endangered creature
Struggling to cling onto life
For it's tiny tenure
But I won't show this at all
And all that I'll say will be negated in all these blank stares
And all that they'll say won't be related to anything that I know
As all the soft grass outside the window
Will shape the contours of my imperfect gaze
The cores of apples rotting in the afternoon sun
Will all disappear in the eyes of the young
And know this is your beginning
In time you will let this all fall away
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14. |
So You Sing
03:18
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Corrode corrode this image
Fulfill fulfill your old daydreams
Corrode every image
With all your old daydreams
And this will be the
last thing that you think
The sunlight breaks through the window
And makes you want to sing
So you sing
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15. |
Open Day
04:02
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I was young, frightened and standing on my own
in this place I'd never been before
You were plain, unassuming and I didn't think twice
when our eyes met across the floor
A voice in the room, a mouth that keeps opening
and words that mean nothing to us
And after some time you're moving towards me
through this ambivalent applause
I never saw you again
As shocked as I was before it began
not quite knowing what to say
What could I give, to offer to you
to match this maternal grace?
We move through the halls from building to building
I can't quite remember which ones
When I think of this day it's not of where we went
but the excited smiles of the young
I never saw you again
Now an hour had passed since you first came to me
in this place so far from my home
I stuttered and scrambled through a hurried goodbye
when you said you had somewhere to go
And I was so frightened and so unprepared
with so much I'd never been shown
Though fleeting and brief, bound never to repeat
this meant more than you'll ever know
I never saw you again
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The Contortionist London, UK
The Contortionist is me, Andy Hirst; usually alone, but sometimes with friends. We even had a proper band for a while (The
Contortionist and The Wandering Boy Poets).
I've been in a load of bands over the years playing various things: drums in Nixon, The Broken Chairs, and The Purgatory Players, guitar in Situationists, guitar/keys/vocals in Japanese Sleepers and Fall Forwards.
... more
The Contortionist recommends:
Little Victories
by Japanese Sleepers
The only "proper" release by one of my old bands, Japanese Sleepers.
go to album
Deserts
by The Purgatory Players
Bob Saull is a good friend, and a brilliant songwriter. His songs can often be bleak and difficult, yet somehow also manage to be witty and catchy. I played drums in this band for many years.
go to album
Everything Unsaid
by Screaming Maldini
The final album by Screaming Maldini, the best band in Sheffield for many years. Really sad to see them go.
go to albumIf you like The Contortionist, you may also like:
Eat Your Own Ears Recordings EP 2
by Eat Your Own Ears Recordings
featured on Bandcamp Radio Oct 11, 2022
go to album
Quickies
by The Magnetic Fields
The band's latest project includes twenty-eight new short songs that clock-in at no longer than just under three minutes.
go to album
Grizzly Bear’s classic debut gets a 15th anniversary vinyl reissue, with a digital companion featuring a bevy of remixes.
go to album
