Prettier in the Dark EP

Prettier in the dark

There was a meaning to the messages tonight
I like to fill the room up with voices
Grabbed my keys,
Remembered to turn all the lights off
Went to meet chaney by the bodega

She's my favorite because she came up with the rule
That when you fall in love with two people
Choose whoever you knew first
Because history is important, a simple rule but true.
It's simple but it's true.

So take a slow slow dive from this city in the sky
And make a holiday out of wednesday.
Like it while like it while all my friends are here.
Everyone's prettier in the dark.
Where your reinstones are real as diamonds
And your plastic solid as gold in chandelier eyes,
Chandelier eyes...

Why does our little group of overachievers
Take so long to fall, to fall,
To fall in love.

Love and Rockets

Throw your guns in the water
Let’s go out singing happy songs
It’ll be romantic
It will be so romantic

We’ll dance, we’ll dance without chemicals
You’ll laugh and shake your unwashed hair
I’ll make you laugh. You’ll laugh it’ll be magical
Forget all the thoughts you can’t share

Oh this is where I’m supposed to say
‘Don’t fear, it builds character” but instead
I’ll just read Love and Rockets to you
until we both fall asleep
Swing low sweet chariot, I will drive you nowhere
All the maps, all the maps got lost in the back
I will take you down past refinery row
So we can dance real slow behind the electrical grid
It’ll be so romantic…

Louisiana song

Do you remember the time
We drove out to lousiana?
To my father's beach house? I got us so lost.
I knew right then because you never got angry
When we reached the city,
And there weren't any rooms left.

So we slept outside under sulphur lights
In the drugstore parking lot.
All the stars came out, it was getting cold.
But inside, it was so hot. So hot...

It had been four years since the time
That I really knew you
When you suddenly called me, I was so happy.
Cuz you were doing all the things
You said you would do.
I couldn't believe it, that someone could be so true.

When you looked the other way I made a film
About someone just like you.
Said the things you said. Did the things you did
And I played myself.
See we were really together all that time
All that time...

Do you remember the time
We drove out to lousiana?
To my father's beach house? I got us so lost.
I knew right then I loved you
Cuz you never got angry
When we reached the city,
And there weren't any rooms left.
The streets were empty.

Cash america pawn

Used to see you kicking around town
Out behind the cash america pawn
With a can of coke and a pack of pall malls
Sitting out by the pay phones, watching it get dark

Knew about you from a friend
I used to waitress with
You'd go to the park and drink and mess around
Make a fire, down by dougnut pond
She'd tell me all about it as she filled the salt

Touchdown on shining green lawns
Under church spires, so chapel white
But you see it all go down
Behind the cash america pawn

I was broken down on the access road
Didn't think you would stop but then you did
Your truck felt warm,
Your jacket smelled like cigarettes
We didn't talk about the trouble you'd been in...

All those touchdowns, on shining green lawns
Under church spires, so chapel white
But you see it all go down
Out behind the cash america pawn
(america, american, so all american)

Siberia

I don't pretend, I just get out
This is siberia, no joke, all trembling white
I love the pull of the train in the middle of the night
When you don't have to talk.

The city is grey but the sun is out.
There's nothing but time to forget about
All the techno-media mania
The words keep getting caught in my mouth

There're no more lines
The tanks all got buried in the grass
And parks are full of people in love
I swear you'll get some sweetness out of it.

Know it's a kamikaze move
Oh but it feels so good
To be gone, to be gone

Every Fresh Start You Make

Oh, you’re such a tangle
Thickets that I cannot reach
I’m sick of The Vandals
But I wear their t-shirts while I sleep

Take away the mascots
And the silent partners that you keep
Put all your selfishness in a pile
And leave it there under the trees

Then make a fresh start like every
Fresh start that you've made before

If I make it the real thing
It won't be some kind of relief
'Cause you'll still be the drama queen
And I won't be the thing ya need
The thing ya need

Want to be honest
And have it all work out okay

Wanna be honest
Have everything work out okay

Wanna be honest
And have it all work out okay

At least that's what I always say...

*** Thanx a lot to Shamethebells for this one ***

Placelessness

Velvet Painting

Come, come, come
We’re all on the run
No one sleeps at night
The phones all ring
The sirens sing
The stars seem extra bright
And the buildings all light up like ornaments
In some black velvet painting over the bed

I want to grab you and tell you
Be happy we found someone to love
‘Cuz out here it never seems to be enough
Yeah, out here it never seems to be enough
No it never never never never never never is enough

Saw-edged Grass

You just took off
Running through the saw-edged grass
We didn’t even turn we knew you would come back
No one really knew
We tiptoed around the things that set you off
Like playing with Matches in the high dry grass

Run, run, there you go, over the creek bed
Why are the brilliant ones always so crazy
I know you love us more than you love your demands
But something keeps you running and only you can stop it

We let it go in silence
It takes off the edge
Sometimes we wrap it up in silence
Cuz it’s the only way to rescue the wildest friend
Oh no

Oh no, there you go, running through the saw-edge grass
Turn, turn oh you burn, on the horizon
Hair whips round your face, tumble through the weekend
Underneath the overpass, over the off ramp
Something keeps you running and we can only guess
Digging up the things you hid under the footbridge
Scratches from the branches will only give you away
Only give you away, only give you away, away

Refugees

So I gave your list to the ones who decide these things
And they said ‘Sorry, you have to wait.’
And I talked to the man who makes all the plans
But honestly he didn’t seem so into it

Hey, hey, hey
What do you say
Hey, hey, hey, hey
What do you say

And I ran to the place where it was all supposed to go down
But I couldn’t see anything through the crowd
See, we’re all refugees, running from the scene
And looking for someplace warm and safe to hide

Hey, hey, hey
What do you say
Hey, hey, hey, hey
What do you say

They’re calling from the middle (stay out in the wild)
They’re called from the middle (you’re out in the wild)
They’re calling from the middle (stay out in the wild)

Pacifica

The sun’s like a heavy hand on the visor
You’re sketching the scenery as I drive
Pacifica opens up on the horizon
Stretches of blue ignite and we’re gone
Another daytrip to sea and sky
To catch the water throw off light
We walked, and talked about
These disposable lives of ours
Just waiting for an offer to take off
And start over…Pacifica
Out on the blacktop with time to kill
I’ve got a blank heart for you to fill

Swing

Swing, baby, swing
You’re a bulb on a wire
Alone and apart
In the heart of the crowd
The chaos here it takes you to countries
That just get hotter.
And laugh, baby, laugh,
Til your face feels the smile
Cross people off the list
When you’re tired
Turn off the phone
And wait for the calls
I want you to
Want you to
Learn how to want
Oh, yeah, you come and you go
But it don’t mean a thing
Hit the bars where we’re all
Made of stars
Yeah, we’re all happy friends
I want you to want
I want you to want
I just want you to want

Nightswimming

Singing, low and sweet,
A dirge as the water rose
To our hearts
And we float through a city
The stage is deserted and dark
Like trailing vines keep clinging
On and on
Nightswimming but the current’s
Like a carousel unhinged
Firelight…are we gonna reach the scene
Of the crime, with all this evidence in hand?
Or will we just keep feeling our way
Down the river til we see til we see…
Just up ahead just up ahead just up ahead it’s always…

Black Water

Star light, blistering white, black water
A thousand motorbikes, black water
And housewives still on the run
From black water and
Killer spelling bees, black water

The boys are breaking guitars
In black water
And eating little girl hearts in
Black water

Kind of lovable but kind of
Carelessly cruel
Sort of unstoppable
But officially going nowhere
The colored lights leave you hypnotized
But you’re frozen in the spotlight’s glare
So never be the pretentious one
And never be the one who achieves

Just rock it straight from the crypt
Into black water
That’s all it takes to be hip
In black water
C’mon, c’mon, c’mon
Wash away your mistakes
In black water

Lonesome

Sunday night, by subway light
But the train is still far away
You said you’d come
By now everyone is drinking wine
From paper cups…
Are you lonesome tonight
Do you feel a little achy
I don’t think you have a fever,
But I don’t know…you do seem cold.
It’s like black, black, black, black
Black cars you can’t see into.
Leaving you wondering
And waiting on the curb
With all their little secrets
So keep on running from the winter
But you can’t help missing the snow
And all these unfamiliar people
Who can’t ever go back home
Who can’t ever go back home

Riot Act

Baby I know you want to rest
Get comfortable with your regrets
Don’t want to hear the riot act
Get read again

Upper west side Central Park view
But you don’t feel quiet inside
Suddenly conscious of just
How high up we are

Now it’s so loud it’s quiet
Ready or not
They’re shouting Quiet! Quiet!
Into the starry night

Oh, did you believe the hype, the lines
Cause we could foresee the fall,
The crash, the crowds, oh the crowds
Now it’s so loud it’s quiet
Ready or not
They’re shouting Quiet! Quiet!
Into the starry night
Can you tell me tell me
Where’s the safe house?
Tell me, tell me where to hide out
Tell me, tell me where’s the safe house
Tell me, tell me

Country of two

A bottle rocket shot out of a backstreet lot
Trucks up on blocks the empties knocking around
In the back as we rush straight through the speedway
After the manic landscape blur
Of the flyover states
Suddenly it’s so clear the rest falls away
And I’m back in this country of two

Where’m I going where’m I coming from
I’ve been a faceless waitress
And data-collecting something
Someplace off the freeway
It doesn’t matter what I do
To pay for the days
The only thing that’s real
The only place that’s home is here in this country of two

Oh, the scenery comes and the scenery goes
And morning feels like the afternoon
But I don’t feel foreign or confused anymore
In this placeless place I found with you
The sound of cars comes crashing in
To this glass-walled box up on the hill
But I’ll never tire of the rhythm that it brings
To this placeless place you found me in
Oh these stars and stripes are just sickle-celled
Hammer-headed sharks and we will remain apart.
These stars and stripes are just sickle-celled
Hammer-headed sharks and we will remain apart.

Park n’ Ride

( Hidden track )

Oh we could see the city lights
From the Park n’Ride
Under the bridge that’s where we hid
From the passing head lights
You were so good at finding these
Places we weren’t supposed to be
Pressed up against the oh-so-clean
Looking surfaces of things.

Everyone is Crying Out to Me, Beware

( Lyrics by Yanka, Translated by Andrei Konstantinov )

Half my Kingdom

I surrender the other half of my kingdom
Eight square meters in my fairy kingdom
On an island of extinct vernaculars
Cupolas made from last year’s straw

I surrender…
Gems from the crown, two dried up eyes
Slippery tail of a ship rat
The fifth paw of a stray dog

I surrender…
Spring will punish me for my frivolity
I’ll come back to knock on the gate
Stretching out a hand, begging for snow in winter

I surrender…
No kicking, no screaming, no sound, no shame
The laboratory keys are with the guard

I get out
Sunrise breathing down my neck
Sunrise shrugs its shoulders, taking a farewell bow

I surrender the other half of my kingdom

From Great Knowledge

From great knowledge comes only sorrow
From a reckless mind, only ditches and moats
From a beautiful soul, only scabs and lice
From universal love, only mugs in blood

In the sheet on the wind, barefoot into the dew
From fruitless ideas to disembodied guests
From set tables to broken heads
From closed doors to buried beasts

On a parallel track a black satellite flies
It will calm us and save us and bring us peace
Under a rough wing, night at the round table
A red and white poster: “Hey, rev up your scooter!”

Come together everyone for the meaningless forum
At the universal congress
How to deal with our delirium?
To wedge our will into idiot land
To sit silently and tap on the table

Because from great knowledge comes only sorrow
From a reckless mind, only ditches and moats

My Sadness is Luminous

I repeat ten times and again
Nobody knows how fucking rotten I feel
And the television hangs from the ceiling
And how fucking rotten I feel, no one knows

I'm so fucking sick of all this
That I want to start all over again
This verse is sad, so sad that again I repeat
How fucking rotten I feel

Beware

I have to crawl away
From the declaration of war onto all four strings
From the narrow-minded Spring into all four walls
From burnt food behind all four misfortunes
From a generation of evil into four black numbers
Throw on the old uniform worn by somebody to holes

I will have to do without blue dusky birds
Without mismatched eyelashes
And revise in the morning what didn’t work out yesterday
Leave the dirty railroad car and continue with the haul
On the uncooled ashes, on a self-made broom
To throw open your arms in sleep, to not trip in the dark

I will have to swap the ritual
That I am sick and tired of
For a deadly missile
The squeaky chair at the table
For a child’s scream around the corner
The wreath of tangled roses
For a depressive psychosis
The psychedelic paradise
For three bolts for the shack

Everyone is crying out to me, Beware
Everyone is crying out to me, Beware

Flocks Are Flying

Carried under arm into the steppe, sermon in your ear
A low bow, flocks are flying
A kerchief to the heart, a stone around the neck
A gulp in the throat
Maybe they will forgive

A ribbon on the chest
They searched for so long
Clenched teeth, forward time
A cross under the window, tired elbows
Banner on a bayonet, fox to the chickens

A gray calm, lulled by the wheels.
Trembling veins, traveling light
Blonde and barefoot, a middle finger in your face
Running alongside on a leash

Eternal flame, florescent lights
Dark passage, eyes widen
Strong brew, cry my loved ones
Corner, candle, table, icons

Carried under arm into the steppe
Flocks are flying
Maybe they will forgive

Sold

To die in public with commercial success
To smash your photogenic face against the rocks
To ask politely, looking into the eyes of kind strangers

My death’s been sold
To decorate interiors and hang on the wall
To disrupt the geometry of square ceilings
To wedge like a naked brick into shining wallpaper
Like a homeless shadow
My shadow’s been sold
Sold

I’m walking on a tightrope, sighing as I go
The board I’m walking on will end – soon I will fall
Under foot, under the wheels, under the heavy hammer
Going, going, gone
My death’s been sold
Sold

The traffic light is blinking merrily
The song flying fast against the winds
To rejoice in the sunshine and the raincheck
Happily ever after
My death’s been sold
Sold

Up to the Knees

We are up to the knees in your voices
And you are up to the shoulders in our hair
They are up to the elbows in dark bellies
And I am up to the neck in deadly places
We are under the flow of boiling water
And you under the sound of hammer blows
They are in the newspaper page’s shadow
And I am in the moment of the iron click

We are under the aim of thousands of your phrases
And you are behind the wall that has collapsed on us
She is on a pile of hands, hearts and eyes
And I am up to the throat in them, and in you, and in us

Special Reason

It is by twisted mouths that moles
Who’ve just cleared the sleep from their eyes
Can see the error of the sprout

It is over nearsighted eyes
Not trusting dumb tears
That the conveyer of sand crawls

Until the hand remembers
The brass knuckle trembles at the temple
The slanted board is calling
I’m at the peephole, under the heel of the ceiling
At the entrance was an egg or a hard-boiled word
I turn my face
Dream jerked with nightmare
A newborn mason sings with me in unison
A winged breeze scorched the peaks of far-away rocks
And here it caresses the lawn.

For this there is a special reason
For this there is a special department
For this there is a special regime
For this there is a special reason

Through the cracks, a convoy
Will seal the windows with grass
We will be led to the slaughter
A hero will cross himself
A loose column of prisoners will step
Forward, for the Motherland, into battle!
And the evil enemies will perish
Those who didn’t put boots on
Who didn’t bid farewell to themselves,
Who didn’t kill themselves,
Will all be taken to the slaughter

For this there is a special department
For this there is a special regime
For this there is a special reason

Feet Higher off the Ground

The meadow awaited berries
The sea awaited weather

Let bygones rot
Time stands alone
Faithful is the water in the swamp
Lenten, as a sin at dawn

The broom hopped across the hummocks
Mists floated over the river
The soap drowned in the mud
My whole bath day was ruined

So we will play games
Hup-two, feet higher off the ground
The one who made it in time will die
The one who stayed behind — a dummy

Gotcha dummy, Gotcha
Gotcha dummy, Gotcha
Hup-two, three, four
Hup-two, three, four

The truest law tied the first
Chapter in a little knot
And pulled the ends til it snapped
Dig it, don’t dig it, I can’t get it

As the scornful prophecy
Is borne out by the present
Everything verified, everything fits together
Even the shitty fairy tale
It served well, they listened
And nodded to the beat
And blew clear smoke at the ceiling
Only the fairy tale is shitty
And the ending is wrong
The dragon slayed and ate them all

Gotcha dummy, gotcha
Gotcha dummy, gotcha

The plane will come for us
To kick the rubber sun around in the dark
Hup-two, three, four
Hup-two, three, four
The spring was named by an axe
The river was calmed by December
The morning by a lonely shot

The meadow awaited berries
The sea awaited weather

Make Your Own Danger

Beautiful Machine

Hot sand, the smell of diesel
On the back of my hand
The map is fading and the photographs
Blow out in a string of flares

Strike a match and burn through the season
We’ll all go down with the sun-drenched heathens
Dancing as the lanterns slowly sway

I want to feel love
Get caught in the echo chamber
I want to get crushed
In the beautiful machine

Oh, the coastline is ghostly
The lighthouse on the hill
Cold and still

The shore keeps getting closer to the highway
The ocean is closing in
Cold and still

Signal fades, accelerate
The stars are cold and hard
Reflected in the water
Where an Exxon sign blinks on
And on

I want to feel love
Get caught in the echo chamber
I want to get crushed
In the beautiful machine

Kaleidoscope collapses
Brings me up to the rapture
I want to get caught
In the beautiful machine

Glitterati

A stopwatch and a heart full of darkness
Your battered cabs set sail like ships at sea
When no one is around, you’re glittering
Storefront grates pulled down
The highways are alive with the likes of you

Oh I know, your conversations burrow through the walls
Your words they make their way into my mouth

The shotgun’s going off in the harbor
Where the West Side highway falls into the sea
There’s no one here but us
Two hearts collide and turn to dust
And the whole world opens wide in front of you

Gunshots

I thought I heard gunshots last night
Underneath the broken streetlight
Back when this was the bad part of town
All off-track betting joints and dive bars
Rent was cheap and it was well worth it

You called me up long-distance last night
To talk around the problem and fight
I wish there was something much better left to say
But guys like you, you know you can’t really have friends
You save it all for one good woman

So I drove North until it got cold
Where the deer all wait by the sides of the road
Waiting for just the right chance to jump
‘Cause safety lies over the next hill, always
Yeah I hope we get it right
I hope we get it right
I hope we get it right

Day Glow Avenue

Are you dreaming of a lost god
Of a rock star from some forgotten age
Is the anthem playing in your head
As the searchlight sweeps an empty stage

Are you running under water
Follow the arrow down Fascination Street
Facing a window into another world
I think you needed to be found

And to feel surrounded at every turn
Kissing silhouettes dissolving into smoke
It’s an epic soundtrack for the neon days
It’s your revolution and your barricade

Take a walk down Day Glow Avenue
It’s the sweet feel of anonymity
Is it the money, or the season
Or just desire with no place to go

Are you hoping for a savior
When the waitress looks you in the eye
Under the makeup she’s just another girl
Who’s not gonna tell you who you are.

Is the revolution still a day away
As the searchlight sweeps across an empty stage
Do you feel surrounded at every turn
Kissing silhouettes dissolving into smoke

My Love is a Mountain

My love is a mountain
Glittering white with snow
And no one can mine it
It’s stone

Could I be the one you wanted
A diamond in the coal
But no one could find it
It’s over

And it’s all I ever knew
It’s all I ever knew

So bury me in a silver locket
Or move miles and miles away
But your eyes turn skyward
To the north, to the north

And it’s all I ever knew
It’s all I ever knew
It’s all I ever knew

You Fade Away

Colored lights and clapboard cheap motels and starlight
Restaurants glow like a string of oiled pearls
As the smoke pours up through manholes in shimmering spirals
Curling up the walls to rooms with rooftop views
Under the wings and in the hollows little pockets filled with secrets
Oh yeah we run
Through the bridges and the tunnels throwing boots that catch on wires
We’re gonna run

So take these photographs and just cut them into pieces
Til you landscapes become beautiful and wild
Take these one-night stands and longtime disappointments
Turn them into bars of gold and vintage wine

I will change my name
Forget everything

Until the sun’s drawn in the water and the copters circle low up above
Until the dream is just a dream of someone else’s fantasy life

(you fall away)
(you fall away)
(you fall away)
(you fall away)

Just Here to Watch the Show

I don’t want to fall in love tonight
I’m just here to watch the show
And then go home, go home

The kitchen was too quiet and
My coat was near the door
I came alone, alone

Turn off the lights it gets real quiet
Now’s the hardest part
When your eyes light up like rockets
But I won’t turn around
Won’t turn around, around

Tonight, tonight
I won’t listen in
Or think about
Your mouth

In the House of Baba Yaga

It’s hunting time
A ball falls to the ground
Build a fire like Jack London’s

When November ends
And the Artic winds cut down
Slumber til the snow melts
And you cannot just pretend

Sure we’re all alone
In a house made out of
Broken bones on chicken legs
That run

So write your name
With a finger in the frost
Waiting, waiting for the holidays
Waiting, waiting for the holidays

Make Your Own Danger

Chase me through a dream life
On a motorcycle made of ice
Swimming in the man-made lake
Safari in the mall at night

Let’s dive straight down
Let’s drive all night

Let’s dive, brake lights red against the snow
Let’s make our own danger
‘Cause danger makes us feel real close

A figure in the headlights
An empty bottle in the snow
Let’s work on our addiction
Addiction makes us feel real close
And I just want to feel real close
We just want to feel real close

Sun-Kissed Slashes

Under the bridge fires punctuate the darkness
Salvaged my mast from a fire sale in Queens
The city blows up, trembling in the water
And I holler, innocent and free

Floating downstream, somewhere in Indiana
Counting the silos and singing La Marseillaise
Stealing corn and weaving wild flowers
Into a sail that’s bigger than the sun

Trucks and chains and tires rusting on the shore
Sun-kissed slashes I steer right past
Mistook your rockets for fireworks and flares
I guess the hunt is on, tracers mark the bullseye

Forever westward, forever expanding
Armadas armed with waterguns and mirrors
The crowd is cheering, throwing neon streamers
And we holler, innocent and free

Apocalyptic Lullaby

Hush now baby, baby don’t you cry
‘Cause stars are shooting arrows from their eyes
And battleships keep falling from the sky
Another a beautiful night
So baby don’t cry

A million fruit shaped islands they will bloom
In a sea of pink champagne foam
And your coconut shell boat it will rock
Til we both fall asleep and awake
Beneath a wild, trembling oak
We’ll wake to the chocolate caresses of a ghost
And the icicle flowers will sing to us
In reverse…

Waiting for the Storm

Under a white sky
Eyes hurting from the light
Seagull circling up above
Skin on the river is tight
Waiting for the storm

I want a blackout
Reason to light the fire
The heart of safety
Branches cutting up the sky
And just enough power to freeze
But not to kill
Just enough power to make
You be still

What I crave
Violence and beauty
Something untamed
Something that they can’t control
With their secret machines
That will cover us all up
That will cover us all up
That will cover us all up

Non Albums Tracks

Oops! ...I Did It Again

(Britney Spears cover)

I think I did it again
I made you believe
We're more than just friends
Oh baby, baby

It might seem like a crush
But it doesn't mean
That I'm serious

'Cause to lose all my senses
It's just so typically me

You see my problem is this
I'm dreaming away
Wishing that heroes, they truly exist

I cry watching the days
Can't you see I'm a fool
In so many ways

But to lose all my senses
It's just so typically me
Baby oh

I did it again
I played with your heart
Got lost in the game
Oh baby, baby
You think I'm in love
That I'm sent from above
But I'm not that innocent

I did it again to your heart
Got lost in this game, baby
You think that I'm sent from above
I'm not that innocent
I'm not that innocent
I'm not that innocent
I'm not
I'm not that innocent

Outpost

( The Artificial Sea Featuring Alina Simone )

Come inside
The light is gone
The days are long
I need this
Time to reach
A sense of peace
Deliverance is leaving
Fluorescent lights
And metal so
Polished it hurts
To look at
Here I am
Finally
At home with you it’s easy
To turn it off
Drown it out
Shutter it in
And zone out
I will be
The woman on the horse
Waiting for you
At the outpost

Come along
I’ll bring you in
Tobacco stained and reeking
Map the scars
All up your arms
And make a balm for the lesions
Never shake
It’s warm enough
Here’s something hot
For you to drink down
Be the guest
Be the one
At the center of attention

Come inside
The light is gone
The days are long
I need this
Time to reach
A sense of peace
Deliverance is leaving
Fluorescent lights
And metal so
Polished it hurts
To look at
Here I am
Finally
At home with you it’s easy
To turn it off
Drown it out
Shutter it in
And zone out
I will be
The woman on the horse
Waiting for you
At the outpost
Waiting for you
At the outpost
Waiting for you
At the outpost