1. |
The Forsaken Ground
07:54
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Born enslaved but slaves to what
To god or grave to gloom or glut
Our idle hands cannot relax
When idle hearts feel voids so vast
And all alone in finite time
We wait as if at Sinai
Where the consequence of restlessness
Is misdirection made manifest
Born enslaved but slaves to what
From Pharaoh's first to Canaan's cusp
The brevity of numbered days
Compels that we find things to praise
Our idle hands cannot relax
When idle hearts feel voids so vast
So we elevate the asherim
And build up the baals
As if to say we'd rather whore
Our lives to lust
To idols from the dust
And reap defeat for a reward
Born enslaved but slaves to what
To counting days until life is up
And in my heart there is no end
To idols made by my own hand
A siren song they sing to me
Reject the land sail out to sea
Forsake the ground on which you stand
And cast away you feeble man
Impossible as it would seem
Their tauntings do call out to me
And if I sail in search of them
Will I return or meet my end
As I elevate the asherim
And build up the baals
When I am such a faithless whore
When life is lust
To every speck of dust
Yet I weep when defeat is my reward
Round and around
Do we go round
Like me at sea
Do we go round
We do
Until we tear down the asherim
And burn every baal
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2. |
Nowhere, No One
06:28
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Peering down
On the people below me
Pitiful pawns
The humble meek and lowly
Flowing through
The veins of this city
Where would I be
Without their complacency
The things that I've done
To get to where I am now
Blackened my heart
Still growing blacker somehow
Life above the law
Is the greatest joy I've known
Now that I'm here
I cannot be brought low
But mortality comes to everything
And now I find myself questioning
How will I harness the power
That dies with my body
That rots in the grave
There's nothing new anywhere
Chasing the wind
The sun rises
The sun sets
Nothing new anywhere
Nothing under the Sun
Nothing no
Nowhere
No one
Peering out
At the pleasures before me
Everywhere I look
Indulgence worth exploring
Feeding all
The hunger within me
Fleeing all
The sorrows of the reality
Wanderlust
Sings a sweet lullaby
A vagabond's life
For a vagabond state of mind
Indulgence
Is the greatest joy I've known
Seizing today
For tomorrow we grow old
But mortality comes to everything
And now I find myself questioning
How will I relive the pleasures
That die with my body
That rots in the grave
There's nothing new anywhere
Chasing the wind
The sun rises
The sun sets
Nothing new anywhere
Nothing under the Sun
Nothing no
Nowhere
No one
Mortality comes to everything
Tell me what have we
Tell me what on Earth have we
Entropy will crush humanity
Tell me what else can be
Tell me where go you and me
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3. |
The Memory of Warmth
06:56
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Everything is slowing down
The days are growing shorter
The time has come
To gather for the winter
Every trunk and branch
That's been severed by my hatchet
Is just bark and wood
But precious when I need it
The dormant trees
Contrast with the endless white
And burn and image in my sight
That remains when I close my eyes
And they look like a crowd
That's looking for the answers
To the storms of life
And how to live through the winter
But like the memory of warmth
It slowly fades from my vision
No time to dwell now
I need to gather up provisions
How do you word
The feeling inside
When you know what's to come
And yet it's strangely still outside
Now the snow is picking up
And the winds are growing stronger
A fire burns for now
But for how much longer
And if I run out of wood
Tell me who will find me
And if the winter relents
Will this house keep standing
All tattered and torn
An image of the march of time
A place once indwelled
But vacant and left behind
And how do you endure
A siege from the outside
When it seeps in through the cracks
And it's growing cold inside
A house crushed into dirt
Will spring forth from the Earth
A house not made with hands
Will ascend when time ends
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4. |
Freeze / Thaw
04:58
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Snow and ice
This low and fickle heart of mine
It's all it can do
To fall from and fail you
But like the Sun warms the frozen ground
When the spring finally comes around
You soften my heart to your law
In perpetual freeze and thaw
I recall the times when
Your call fell on my deaf ears
The sound it made
Was profound but disobeyed
But like the Sun warms the frozen ground
When the spring finally comes around
You soften my heart to your law
In perpetual freeze and thaw
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5. |
Tributary
03:04
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6. |
Counterfeit Ways
04:55
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Knowing what was to come you hedged your bluff
Was leaving your first estate really not enough
In hatred for your mistake you gave birth
To a movement underground but over the Earth
I want to see you burn
I want to see you pay
I long to see you burn
You and your counterfeit ways
Underneath your thumb a war was waged
Against the hearts of Man until the end of days
And every damaged soul that you have claimed
Adds weight to your doomed and tortured fate
I want to see you burn
I want to see you pay
I long to see you burn
You and your counterfeit ways
Every crime
For all time
For mankind
Every life
You were let go
That we may know
What is a foe
And a foe
That contrast show
A love inside
That overflows
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7. |
Part / Parcel
04:16
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There’s a weight that
Hangs overhead
And the shadow cast
Feels more like lead
Than obscured light
A lifelong fight
But I’m still here
Trying to forget who I used to be
As I look back
The knowledge of
Where I have been
And where I’ve come
Breathes in new life
To triumphant strife
But I’m still here
Trying to forget who I used to be
And all this dragging on and on
Is part and parcel with living selfishly
But I’m still here
Trying to forget who I used to be
Letting you mend my flaws
Mend them
Mend me
But I’m still here
Trying to forget who I used to be
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8. |
Lifetime Ago
06:38
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A lifetime ago when days seemed to come and never go
And everything was lush and green
Down paths I’d go and where they’d wind I’d follow
But only where they would lead
But as time passed I made my own path
And it led me deep into the woods
Where shadows, bramble brush and overgrowth
Were crowding all I understood
I expected to find a clearing up ahead
But soon I was trapped on every side
With no hope and no escape to be known
For I was unreachable deep inside
Til I heard the sweet song of a sweet bird
And everything was made clear
There was only one way for me
To ever get out of there
Let this forest burn
Spark its stone to flame
Burn the old growth down
That the new growth be raised
Let this forest burn
Quench the sin and shame
Burn the old self down
That the new self be raised
Let this forest burn
Spark its stone to flame
Burn the old growth down
That the new growth be raised
Let this forest burn
Set my heart ablaze
Burn this prison down
That my soul may escape
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9. |
No Room for Pride
06:00
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For all of time
We've been spinning in circles
The words of proud minds
Not unlike cosmic cycles
The Sun sets and what once was light
Is but reflection
But each day the Sun brings
A new resurrection
And in our minds these things turn like the skies
So does my pride
Deep inside our hearts turn side to side
So does my pride
For all of time
We've been fighting unseen forces
The wars waged within
Not unlike cosmic courses
The Sun tethers us by
Laws of attraction
But the Moon pulls the tides
In and out in distraction
And in our minds these things turn like the skies
So does my pride
Deep inside our hearts turn side to side
So does my pride
And in our minds your hand folds into mine
No room for pride
Cause deep inside your impulse matches mine
No room for pride
Cause you and I are just a dying breed
And it's alright by me
Cause you and I are dying as we speak
And it's alright
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10. |
Ancient Dreams
06:10
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The plains of Shinar were captivating
And good for taking
And take them you did
The hearts of men were ripe for believing
And in your grieving
Belief was spread
The precepts of Man had one beginning
One imprinting
In that land
The gods of old had one author
But one mother
Hand in hand
Ancient dreams in modern themes
No more thoughts and no more theories
The fallen of the council in contention
Had one vision
Deceiving Man
The proof of deity seen in construction
By divine instruction
A master plan
Ancient dreams in modern themes
My heart pleads for no more theories
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11. |
Monarch
02:56
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12. |
The Unyielding Sea
05:52
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Sails assaulted spin
The rudder bows beneath
And I'm headlong into headwinds
And tossed about at sea
Billows build about
Succumbing to fatigue
And the facade of my own sovereignty
Over my destiny
And so I just let go
Seeking to be freed
From the madness of contending with
The unyielding sea
Floating off at sea
I'm floating off to thee
Nothing left to think
There's no me left to sink
Nothing left to think
No me here left to sink
No nothing left to sink
Nothing left to be
But grafted into thee
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Hill and Vale Ames, Iowa
As hills and valleys show dynamics in nature, so are the sincere existentialist themes of Hill + Vale delivered thru music best summed up by Tolkien: “one was…wide and beautiful, but slow and blended with an immeasurable sorrow, from which its beauty chiefly came. The other…essayed to drown the other music by the violence of its voice, but…taken by the other and woven into its own solemn pattern.” ... more
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