Get all 9 Ian Craig releases available on Bandcamp and save 65%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Untethered Demos, three demos, holding my hands out: (2008-2016), Integral Domain, accelerator / tax collector, the evidence, winter: stepping stone, autumn: different latitudes, and 1 more.
1. |
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take a break
live life apathetically
you already work too hard
find solace in a parliament
so full of flavor
enjoy life's toxicity
and turn a blind eye to care
your smokey hands will wipe the sweat from your eye
and light up the night
through a filtered beacon so tight
you say you're addicted;
and i think you're just indifferent
so lie to the people who care genuine
fail to uncover your spot so blind
fill anxiety take reigns
as every artery clamps down
drive above the speed limit
let the hazy mind run free
stand in direct defiance
as serotonin levels fall
and turn a blind eye to care
use smokey hands to draw the blood to your brain
and light up the night
with culture's hook-and-sinker delight
you say you're addicted;
and i think you're just indifferent
so lie to the people who care genuine
and say it's not already conditioned
you kill yourself with every drag
and i know you missed me, because i'm not just like them. yeah; i was just like them.
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2. |
i remember
02:09
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i remember saying to her
that one day, all your bad deeds
and all your manipulative tendencies
would catch up to you in the end
i remember telling her
that one day the truth would reveal
and bear its beautiful head
where the real villain is concealed
i never asked for forgiveness
and truthfully, i don't care
i never expected things to be the way they were
thought you might owe that to me
i remember the spit in my face
the one day you threatened me
threatened me so physical
and i lied to her for you
saying it was an accident
i never asked for forgiveness
and truthfully, i don't care
i never expected things to be the way they were
thought you might owe that to me
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3. |
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it's been three weeks
since i packed my life into
small boxes with valuables
and small boxes marked fragile
like my heart, my heart, my heart
and you've sung so many melodies
and they dive right into me
like a songbird's plight over sinking seas
where you found me, the sturdiest branch on the tree
when my days are all passed by
and when my brain decides to move on
the world may be a delusional mess
but you'll be a perfect mistake
i won't let them in on what we make
it's been three years
since i've packed up my life
into some false sense of security
where never strives to be
your light in my life, where i'm set free
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4. |
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there is no sound
and there is no me
i'm cloaked in my pity
to disappear from the surface
area we had figured out
and believe me, it spoke volumes
split it open, check it and believe
for if to see is to believe
then to be free is to breathe
there is no ground
and there is no me
i'm blanketed by my own greed
to disappear off the surface
area i had so figured out
and believe me, you spoke volumes
split it open, check me so you believe
for if to see is to believe,
then to be is never to be free
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5. |
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today i spent my time in jail
rather metaphysically speaking
as it was not the traditional
6 x 6 solitary confinement
handcuffed by my own means
ripping apart my own seams
clawing away my own skin
this is a terrible place i'm in
while it was not exactly jail
i rationed like a murderer
trading cigarettes and forcing down
all the bread and water i could handle
handcuffed by my own means
ripping apart my own seams
clawing away my own skin
this is a terrible place i'm in
so i rest up against the floorboards
longing to evaporate like steam
into the thick seattle morning fog
and let the headbeams stop me in my tracks
handcuffed by my own means
ripping apart my own seams
clawing away my own skin
this is a terrible place i'm in
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6. |
you know who you are
02:14
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speaking of hitting a wall/path
how has life been going for you?
or would you rather not speak so candidly
so openly, so freely, you liar
while i'm hitting the same wall
falling into the same traps
it's a minor push that makes a fall
not too thankful for you all
so don't play hard to get
i'm an old dog but i still sit
(you know who you are)
to think you're even in my life
to think i even wanted you to be my wife
(you know who you are)
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7. |
implementation
02:05
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I was sitting, waiting on the tide to change.
Trying to get you off my mind.
Perhaps it’s time for a change of pace.
Perhaps it’s time to write an abstract.
Be the abstract. Kill the concrete.
And I run around through finite fields.
And I see through all your little lies.
For where perfectionism dies, so does the worker who tries.
For where perfectionism dies, so does the worker who tries.
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8. |
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this line is drawn
and it's tempting me to cross right over
your pull is strong
and i've lost myself to get lost in you
a velvet touch
throwing down my compartization
and i'vm crying now
rain on window
tear on bedsheet
i'm collapsing quickly
how picaresque this falling action!
lead me down the oregon trail
they've got it right
my hands are burnt
an oven heart and veins of fire
reduced to sweat
changing from your post-coital release
my hands fight back
tear my skin and get me off this world
my mind is numb
and i've given in and crossed over the line
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9. |
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lost between hours
i studied under your watchful eye
with youthful exuberance
and slow studied steps
you groomed me
you were a comb for my messy hair
a paper towel for my messy face
until one day when rubber met road
bearings incorrectly cast
i fought back
clearing shelves, tearing notes, punching mirrors
i wanted to forget my face
i wanted to remember my name
you died
and the sun bit extra hard
i ignored my feelings
stole your notebooks
and etched my name in the margin
i looked into a mirror
i longed to forget my face
by making sure you would remember my name
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10. |
instrumental #2
01:56
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11. |
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little bites kissing my shoulders
the air is dark and this cigarette is my lantern
earth under my feet so solid
and so firm
i'm invested in your orchard
plotting points
firstfruits and lilacs
you are my foundation
you are my everything
lattice points, cold feet and whitewater
i'm so nervous
and i am so afraid
the whole is greater than the part
and the hole is deeper from the start
and discovery is all hyperbole
it's all hyperbole, yeah
you are my foundation
you are my everything
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12. |
pathetic excuse (me)
02:06
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breaking down all my lines
to segments of various lies
noticing all my failed tries
through the veil of your binds
who will love you?
you're a pathetic excuse;
a half-hearted truth
finding solace in your game
and holding on to every blame
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13. |
ocean radio wave
06:44
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so how far away?
when will my transmission fade?
radio antenna, alert the station
push the cash flow
and drone and drone and drown
so numbskull
send in the fax
and stay by the line
provide the cash flow
let musicality diminish
then when my transmission fades
how far away will you be?
laughing into an account
checking this, saving that
be the cash flow
let the radio drone and drone and drone
let originality drown and drown and drown
deep in the ocean
there lies no radio wave
strong enough to harness you to shore
so die for the cash flow
i loved you 'til you were just like them
and drone and drone and drone...
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Ian Craig Columbus, Ohio
Math dude by day, weirdo musician by night. Runs Little Pigeon Tapes.
Ian Craig recommends:
Nate Kinsella is consistently the most inspiring, original and multi-talented musician going in the JOA family tree. Enjoy!
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Discontinued Perfume
by The Caribbean
The best avant pop group there has ever been, and ever will be. I wish I could be the lyricists and musicians these three are.
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There are no words. Beautiful, forward-thinking pop with powerful imagery and sonics.
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