released October 23, 2020

written, produced and mixed by kyle wall
drums: shane o'hara
pedal steel: roy williams
strings: duncan wickel
mastered by josh bonati

--

“carnivore (in the cellar)”

tell our ghosts to raise the sails
and burn up the troubled ones
under ruby red apples
watching the dead come around

devolution is a carnivore
a white wolf turning grey
devolution

sleeping out in the barn in the twilight of the ones we love
sleeping off every snakebite


—

“lion”

sleeping inside the mountain’s lying mouth
there’s a wind in me that no tide’s ever seen
you’re a lion to me

waking up to see the headlines in the clouds
as the crows sing, i suffocate trying to find the key
you’re a lion to me

it’s been a dry week, conjuring up some skin
my masterpiece, this sunken beauty
you’re a lion to me

—

“jitterbug/dust”

chrome turns black as the honey drips up into the breeze
at the devil’s window, a whistling grifter sucks up every seed
a jitterbug caught me spying on the oldest living queen
she’s half-deaf and silent, and never had any need for gravity or speed
is it dust or the violence in us? oh baby, i lie to the ceiling

the desert ashes on the list of words I’ve never learned
like absence or static as history rips me from the highest weeds
andrea, i’ll be honest and i’ll let you read my words
they’re as swollen as I am, the sidewalk’ll sing this chorus ’til we are old

i forget what you said is living under the bed
Remind me ‘fore we’re dead, I’ve been so lost in this head
is it dust or the violence in us? oh baby, I iie to the ceiling

—

“wreck”

you're a wreck, oh what a wreck
begging to be led out to pasture
dakota's been killing me
i'm gonna lose it

in a sense, this county is blessed
with poison in the rain, the rain that raised you
dakoat's still killing me
i think i've lost it

it's rare to feel the air
swallow you whole and desert you

—

“dressed for war”

as clouds shrink the shore
take a look at the skies and bolt the door
of the highways flying north
the frail have given up and dressed for war

our black hole’s out of sense
damaged and delirious
and if our bad dreams send us ashore
the devils’ll spark a holy war

—

“undead eyes”

recognize the living room
that brings the light inside
us through our only door
as spiderwebs are humming,
old machines are running news
to settle up the score

the truth is that the lepers
tip the island waiters
better than the marine corps
though they have the upper hand
they can’t help but
tear up peering at the shore

the seagull’s die out
and the pilots’ll roar
and the choir’ll tell ‘em
that undead eyes see more

a river runs under
our uninvited angels’
hidden alabaster life
we’re anxious and it’s rolling
deep into Wenatchee
growing so alone tonight

we dream of lighting candlesticks
and snorting vitamins
and rise to such a bore
if this wasn’t such an
awful age to die in
dust would seep into my pores

the seagull’s die out
and the pilots’ll roar
and the choir’ll tell ‘em
that undead eyes see more

recognize another room
to bring the light inside us
something cold and bright
the spider eggs’ll come
and new machines’ll run
into a day without a night

—

“scapegoat mare”

blowing up,
as a matter of fact it's dust
beginning to hear horses
brown scapegoat mare

apparitions erupt
out of egg white curtains
watching the dead fly
'round this fucking town

leaving half your body
and exiting the frame
as the horse follows you home
brown scapegoat mare

—

“up in the sky, there are flashes”

no celestial bodies left to know
wasting years winding down
the road as ashes flow
derelicts abandoned long ago
a skinny dip, a lesson learned
a flock of indigo

when gravitation needs a brighter glow
try to laugh, try to laugh,
it’s hard I know (here)
mirrors reflect all that come and go
sex, paint, absences,
an angel born in snow

patterns shamed into cracking
up in the sky, there’ve been flashes

we’re gonna die here but we won’t be afraid
it’s so deranged, It’s so deranged
the mountains we remember

patterns shamed into cracking
up in the sky, there’ve been flashes
paler figures would lavish
praise on the work of our captain

—

“spine (in fear of the rain”)

now that you know, if you go i’ll go further
well it’s just my luck
tonight i’ll dance with no one in particular
if you’re gonna watch me clean my clocks
it’s raining now and if we go out
it’ll dry me out

tonight i’ll leave the windows open for you
well it breaks my heart
to see you sulking alone
baby, it breaks my goddamn spine apart

when i think of you, it fills me up to see you
out dancing through the night i met you

once a year i decide to kill something
i decide to kill something
the fears that drift on and infest these songs

—

“relief”

like a mad dog gnaws
on the soles of feet
something’s stirring
hell, here’s to relief

when it comes in morning
you’ll shed your teeth
you son of a bitch you, find some release

in the dirty weather
the dead mermaid screams
earning a damp living
trying to find some release

hell, here’s to relief