1. |
Host
03:51
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I'm the limp in your gait and the way you hold a pen
When you walk my footsteps echo like an unfinished sentence
I'm the way you say your “oh's”, I'm your neatly folded clothes
You can catch me looking back out from the corner of your eye
If we had the time I would show you what I could never say
I tried my best to hide it, but you're left with the mess of my mistakes
So you try to shake the weight, carve a new path of your own
Tear out every page that went before yours
But you can't hide the line that curves round your smile
Can you keep that for me?
If we had the time I would show you what I could never say
I tried my best to hide it, but you're left with the mess of my mistakes
The mess of my mistakes
And all the while we live through each other
From host to host it travels with us
We can't escape it, it's in our nature
We're just pieces of something bigger
Do you redden at their questions as they pull you to one side?
Behind those gentle faces their eyes scrutinise
For my limp in your gait, my line round your smile
They'll frame you for every tell-tale sign
If we had the time I would show you what I could never say
I tried my best to hide it, but you're left with the mess of my mistakes
The mess of my mistakes
And all the while we live through each other
From host to host it travels with us
We can't escape it, it's in our nature
We're just pieces of something bigger
And all the while we live through each other
From home to heartbreak it travels with us
At times we bloom into a brighter colour
But before long our time is over
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2. |
Magnolia Walls
04:27
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Waking up in darkness
It takes some time to realise where I am
Unfamiliar corners
My half-emptied suitcase on the floor
Another year, another room
With magnolia walls and fireproof doors
I’ve given up on dreaming of something more
It used to be fun, living in a dump
Romanticising, talking big
But years down the line it’s getting tired
I thought I’d have moved on, instead I’ve just moved around
I've just moved around
I haven’t stayed still and yet I feel I’m stagnating
It’s hard not to take it to heart
I long for something solid underfoot
So I can move on, move on
Move on
Shoulder to shoulder
With a million other strangers
From my little box
I can hear straight through the walls
Into other people’s lives, other people’s arguments
Other people’s babies crying in the night
And we’re all here alone together
Playing musical houses
And if this is a game
I want my go again
I want my future back in front of me
Another year, another room
With magnolia walls
Draining the colour from it all
I haven’t stayed still and yet I feel I’m stagnating
It’s hard not to take it to heart
I long for something solid underfoot
So I can move on, move on
Move on
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3. |
Stay
04:11
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With seconds to spare
You hopped the last train
Hid in the bathroom
And you don't know her well
But she said you could call
If you needed
And the calm was a shock
You've had trouble sleeping since
What if you're still there?
So you always pack light
In case you better run
Don't get too close to anyone
But I'd like you to stay for a while
If you can, if you're alright with me
I'd like you to stay for a while
If you can, if you're alright with me
With seconds to spare
I find the right words to calm down
The alarm bells in your head
You've a right to be on guard
When I tread too lightly
We fall down the same trap
When it hurts, when it hurts
When it hurts, when it hurts
Do you wanna run, do you wanna
When it hurts
I'd like you to stay for a while
If you can, if you're alright with me
I'd like you to stay for a while
If you can, if you're alright with me
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4. |
Giant
05:51
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Rows on rows of houses, trail off into open fields
Freeze frames in the window, glimpes of what might have been
And every name they call of every little stop
Between here and there is like a language I thought I'd forgot
And as we pull close the feeling in me grows
I wanna slow it down but my mind's already there
Stepping off the train, no sign awaits
Following the way back, my feet stutter and fail
What did I expect, some fairytale kingdom
Where you step out like the giant you are in my head
Is this where it began, an ordinary town?
Familiar as my palm but it all looks smaller now
Is that all you've got?
A weak handshake and hello
I came fully armed
But oh, the silence has me now
Oh the silence has me now
So look me in the eye, finally level with mine
I've dreamed this moment over, but our words fall short
What did I expect, some poetic reckoning
Reckoning
As you shrink to size, no longer looming tall
I'm free to go so why do I feel I've lost?
Is that all you've got?
A weak handshake and hello
I came fully armed
But oh, the silence has me now
Oh the silence has me now
Oh the silence has me
Is that all you've got?
A weak handshake and hello
I came fully armed
But oh, the silence has me now
Oh the silence has me now
Oh the silence has me
Rows on rows of houses
Trail off into open fields
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5. |
Night Diving
03:59
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Winter nights draw in like a purse tightening
I spend my evenings
In the soft glow of the screen
TV ads cast shadows on me
I don’t dare dream anymore
Cause waking up hurts more and more
Ignore the call, the tug on my sleeve
Pulling me back
Who was that? Diving straight into the night
Drunk on anything and everyone
Squeezing every hour dry
The journey home was a mission
The next morning a blur, rushing to work
Laughing at ourselves
The future felt so open then
The street calls out a name like yours
I double take, wait at the window
For a glimpse of us, instead
My grey eyes stare back at me
We drifted apart
But do you feel it too when the year moves?
And evenings sprawl ahead
They're someone else’s playground now
Who was that? Diving straight into the night
Pouring words, spilling time
Like it’d never run dry
I want it again, I want it again
The city a new territory
And you running alongside me
I want it again
I want it again
I want it again
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6. |
Flood
05:31
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Are those really my words
You've carried with you?
I was cruel
Without thinking
First a trickle, I dismissed as a dripping tap
Then from under the door frame I see the carpet getting damp
As the water rises, my stomach sinks
And all the ugly truths I’d long stored away
Float past in plain sight, mocking me
I was so secure, sealed inside this brick and mortar
Spotless surfaces, no trace of past mistakes
Kidding myself into a dreamless sleep
But it only took your letter
And then it all came flooding in
Are those really my words
You’ve carried with you all these years
I was cruel without thinking
Does my ignorance still ring in your ears
A rush of blood, I blush to remember
The careless conversation you overheard
Slamming doors, punching walls, your silent scream erupting
My tongue tied, your red eyes, the unexpected hurt
Up to my neck in this dirty water
There’s nothing to gain from wallowing in blame, so I climb the stairs
Sitting on the roof the streets below a strange canal
With everybody stranded salvaging their prize possessions
Sink beneath the surface, we’ve all got things we’d best forget
Are those really my words you’ve carried with you
I was cruel, now it’s me I need to forgive
And I will keep this token to remind me
That I was cruel, and I promise that I won’t forget this time
I won’t forget
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7. |
Rear View
04:15
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We piled out onto the street
Our heads full of ourselves
The sweat barely dry on our skin
The noise in our ears still ringing as we
Look ahead to the next thing
Our dreams feed-back
Loud until
We sleep like babies on the backseat
And how could I not look back?
The sky's on fire
It's just the smoke in my eyes
Making the view seem blurry
The motorway hums its lullaby
There's only one way but I'm still
Carrying all this weight
It's heavier on my own
It's heavier still
As I turn to the empty passenger seat
Reminded of something funny
We did when we did it all in sync
And I can't help but linger
Passing our old turning
The corner shop where we'd stock up
That bit by the river we lay down our plans
And how do you do it
Travel light, look straight ahead
While this weight in me
Now my anchor, now my chain
It's heavier still
As I turn to the empty passenger seat
Reminded of something funny
We did when we did it all in sync
It's heavier still
As I turn to the empty passenger seat
Reminded of something funny
We did when we did it all in sync
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8. |
Somewhere in the City
04:16
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Somewhere in the city you make your way home
Hurtling through darkness towards, I don't know
We make our own maps that fade as we go
The same little places we to and fro
A tiny club I've not been to before or since
That night you were there
Exchanging shy glances
Reaching a fork in our roads and the question inherently posed
Is it that time already?
Is that it?
Are we so tied up that we can't stray
From the road that's laid out?
Straight and narrow
The never ending countdown to more of the same again
Is that it?
Are we so tied up
That we can't stray from the road that's laid out?
Straight and narrow.
The never ending countdown
To more of the same. Is it that time already?
Behind one of these lights have you made it your own?
Are you settling in for the night or were you just passing through
We're all travelling in parallel
Our eyes barely meet
And as the night spills over into the morning
And the hangovers rub shoulders with the yawning commuters
I lose my train of thought
Do I ever cross your mind?
Is it that time already?
Is that it?
Are we so tied up that we can't stray
From the road that's laid out?
Straight and narrow
The never ending countdown to more of the same again
Is that it?
Are we so tied up
That we can't stray from the road that's laid out?
Straight and narrow.
The never ending countdown
To more of the same. Is it that time already?
Is that time already?
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9. |
Scraps
03:10
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There's a wine stain on my pillow
From when we sacked off work to drink in bed all day
It makes me smile when I see it
It makes me wanna do it all again
And I'm stumbling down
Yeah I'm circling around
I'm stumbling down
Yeah I'm circling around
There's an old note in my pocket
It's just a list we made to pack for a weekend
And yeah I know that I should bin it
But I can't bear to lose the last scraps of us
And I'm stumbling down
Yeah I'm circling around
I'm stumbling down
Yeah I'm circling around
And around and around
And around
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¡Ay Carmela! Bristol, UK
Bristol & Swansea based indie / alternative trio.
Songs about memory, love, and housing.
90s rock influences, but with jazzier elements in the bass, and intricate drum grooves.
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