Get all 42 Miscellaneous Plumbing Fixtures releases available on Bandcamp and save 25%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of The Ballad of Rusty Crates, The Space Whale of Bantam Lake, callithump, Winter, Gwyneth Paltrow's Dog Psychic presents "Avocado Night Lantern", Dread Filled, No Matter Where We Are, Nope, and 34 more.
1. |
Life is only in pictures
04:48
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A voice in the hall whispers
It was a delight
The players in the band wonder
What did we do right
People at the top pat down everyone in line
Taking wallets and jewellery
News says this seems fine
A woman at the back says hey
What about me
The referee is too busy watching soap operas on TV
Those who should know better kick up a stink
Asking those of us not sleeping
Also please don’t think
I’m backing out of this agreement
I’m clearing all of my debt
We’re laying tables at the gun fight
Harbouring the memories we’re pretending to forget
You can take it to the water
But please don’t get it wet
Life is only in the pictures
It’s the purchases you don’t make
You’re told is all you’ll regret
The lazy electrician says I’ll get to it when I get to it
The crowd that’s slowly forming is having difficulty assembling the kit
The cameras that don’t stop flashing capture culture on the run
But they only hang the ones that wind up everyone
The small print and annotations
Go on for miles and miles and miles
No one has time to make arrangements
Or for polishing the tiles
Your over bearing presence has been
Noted in the files
Life is only in the pictures
It’s the purchases you do make
That will have them rolling in the aisles
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2. |
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All those precious fortunes
All that burns up in the core
All that shines up in the air
She’s all of that and more
All the reading you might have done
All that’s stripped and bare and raw
The million things you’re thinking of
She’s all of that and more
Yes she’s all of that to me
All I ever see
From the stand to down on one knee
She’s all of that to me
From the waves to the bottom of the sea
All the water that you waste
From the roof down to the floor
All the answers to the quiz
She’s all of that and more
All the writings we lost in the library fire
All the broken locks to the safe’s door
The voices that we can’t drown out
She’s all of that and more
Under skies without a wrinkle
Wrap me up in your love
Among the gathered trees green and simple
Wrap me up in your love
Where the birds and squirrels mingle
Wrap me up in your love
Where our worries will soon dwindle
Wrap me up in your love
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3. |
Bottles and baby grands
04:20
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I didn’t need one more reminder
But you threw one in for good measure
One last kick in the gut
One last collapsing strut
I didn’t need one more opinion
But you gave one all the same
One last I know better
One last yank on the tether
And then the sky expands
It fills with leaves
Animals return
With a spring time breeze
This one last trick
Up your heart stained sleeve
Ignoring half arsed echoes
Of come back please
I didn’t need one more look
Of what I’ve seen before
No one last bite at an apple
You’ve long since won that battle
And now your sky expands
And it fills with dreams
Flowers return
With promising schemes
Make another mark
The land can’t scrub clean
Put to bed the questions
About where you’ve been
Cloudy day rooftops
Chimneys like waving hands
You will return here
Like one day touring bands
Like sensible demands
Like the bottles and the baby grands
Like the fanatics in the stands
Just not for long
And you’ll be gone
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4. |
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Recordings now forgotten
Voices discovered
coming up from the bottom
Strange scratches in the mould on the walls
Messages you should’ve gotten
You’re never coming back to this place
But we’re here, rotten and quietly waiting.
Whirs and clicks on the tape
The analogue machines
Grab them and escape
The candle in the cabin is a flickering beast
Each moment time for reshape
You grab at the handle, ignoring the signs
And we’re here, and we wait, quietly shaking.
God gives nuts to the man with no teeth
Despite inspirational posters
Life is anything but brief
and you can’t hang a paper clip on any part of belief
God give nuts to the man with no teeth
Flights of fancy or fury
You took the chances
But it’s not convincing the jury
The foliage thickens around the flower in the rough
Somewhere on the back roads of Missouri
The light is a curious kitten, not long now
we’re here, and we worry, a mess of our own making.
Tell the front desk
I think there are ghosts in here
From inside the walls or the chimney
All becomes clear
I can hear them judging
Every move I make
I can hear you following
Every step I take
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5. |
Run so far
03:50
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Run so far x 3
I’ve run So far
Get away x 3
Get away by car
And it’s all
Out in front
Of us now
And it’s all
Just the flicker
Off the bow
Wrap this up x 3
Let’s wrap this up
Pay no mind x 3
It’s all used up
And we’ve found
The gears in the weeds
And we’ve cheered
At the few scattered deeds
Race
If you must
But I’ve got this
And in my own time
I will face
What I must
And I’ve got this
Hide away x 3
Let’s hide away
By my side x 3
And there, you’ll stay
And it falls
Into place
Without warning
And there’s a breath
In the spaces
Between mourning
Chase
If you must
But you can’t catch this
Brace
For what comes next
And I’ve got this
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6. |
A singular human
04:12
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He grows his hair out for Jesus
He claps his hands for the judge
He hopes the weather never changes
They keep pushing but he doesn’t budge
He had a pelican breakfast
He’s got an alligator smile
The bridge is out and the river’s rising
He’s going to be out there for a while
Carrying the shadows
He climbs out on the wing
Hiding from the drinkers
Relishing the sting
He hollers at the conductor
He’s got a seance to attend
He’s waving a rain stick at the bookie
He’s a fixture to the end
The singular human experience
The singular human experience
He breaks first but nothing’s decided
His pockets stuffed with useless receipts
He’s someone important’s second cousin
He never remembers anyone he ever meets
He likes his bread and butter puddings
He’s got a telltale sign
They’re barking orders at his bus stop
He waits patiently in line
Jumping out of the shadows
He picnics on the wing
Riding over to the thinkers
Presenting her the ring
He’s a nuisance around teachers
He’s got an ordinary friend
He’s calling numbers at the bingo
He’s a fixture to the end
The singular human experience
The singular human experience
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7. |
Way past five
04:03
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It’s 150 dollars worth of savings
But you haven’t got 5
You’re barely alive
When the rabbit runs home with peculiar cravings
It’s way passed 5
Another voice says survive
Skin like the wings of a dragonfly
Mind pointed at a different satellite
Eyes like the sky over Seaford
An hour before the cliff faces night
Another day you’re alright
It’s already been redesigned away from its original purpose
And it only had 5
And it’s been a long drive
Get written up for a mistaken change to the service
Quietly count up to 5
Grab your coat hit the dive
Mouth like the carpet in an abandoned theatre
Signals to your fingers long overdue
Stack the bones up into some working structure
Collar up, cap down, no one can tell that it’s you
Another day and you’re through
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8. |
Room & board
04:15
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Underneath the old buildings of ancient schools
Surrounded by creaky open top desks and confiscated toys
There he sits, the dust covered man
Doing everything he really enjoys
His ratty woollen mitten hands
Wrapped around a mug of perfectly brewed tea
A moth eaten checked dressing gown draped over a thinning frame
There’s nowhere he knows that he’d rather be
And he sips
And he sighs
How long has he been here
Grandfathered in
And happily ignored
Still on the payroll
After all these years
All the books he can read
Plus room and board
You may think it all changes, and generations grow weaker
The news in the air growing bleaker and bleaker but he’s
Here to tell you it was forever this way,
there’s not much that we learn
There’s no back in my day
The children are still a mess, annoying and ragged
The teachers condescending, deeply wounded and haggard
Gardens still need tending and he still has to mend the slate on the roof
You better leave now if you can’t handle the truth
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9. |
Tame monsters
03:50
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Tame monsters
Learnt the rules
Picked up the tools
And headed out East
Fame dealers
Scene stealers
Rounding the edges
In the heart of the beast
Curious youngsters
Buck the rules
Upgraded the tools
Heading for a shiny future
Lost balance
More challenge
Sand down the spikes
Of a dwindling culture
Listen to
pragmatic voices
Everything here
Are no win choices
Find your own peace
Within the confines
Too much rest for the wicked
Too many crossed lines
We’re living too long
There’s nobility in knowing
When to move on
We’ve established the pockets
Of where each of you belong
No flag on the planet
Can cover up what went wrong
Give the next ones the wheel
Abandon the throng
Oblivious gangsters
Demanding the bricks
Ration the chips
Hear them laughing on their way to the gates
Angry breeders
Line readers
Accumulate boxes between
Not so significant dates.
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10. |
Noises
03:38
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You’ve been making your noises
Everybody knows
Nows the time for silence
Just watch how it grows
You’re intentions are preposterous
You’re demands fall on deaf ears
Understand the words you’re saying
Are not what everybody hears
Round up the usual suspects
Line them up to explain
That others clear pleasure
Doesn’t have to be your pain
You’ve been making your bones
Everyone can see
The harder you work out loud
The less it impresses me
You’re arranging the flowers
But the holes are still down here
We all let you get on with it
Hoping we all disappear
Break up the day
With a quiet moment for noises
Launch into a performance
Featuring all of your poises
A collective sigh of relief
Is all you can hope to achieve
When the noise you will ever make
Announces it’s time for you to leave
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Miscellaneous Plumbing Fixtures New Milford, Connecticut
Songwriting and banging your instruments together
The main thing I love to do is write
songs. I pick up various instruments from ukulele to piano, accordion to percussion and electric guitar to harmonica and bang them about to try and get close to the noises I hear in my head but the writing comes first.
... more
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