1. |
On Top of Mons Moro
01:50
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We sprayed sunscreen on you but this time the light came through the leaves, then through the sprinkler. But this time it wasn’t water, it was balloons. And you danced through the spray but this time the drops carried you away to the moon. How the moon people laughed when they saw your swim shoes and one piece. But you came to be like a god, so they all wore swim shoes on their three feet, on their purple legs, on their pyramid bodies yellow with fur, with eyes on the ends of their antlers.
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2. |
Excavator
01:47
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I walk out the door and look at my street. An excavator’s digging up the sewer line. My car’s blocked in so I take a peek what’s underneath the street. See what I’ll find. A stick, a stone, a sign for the end of the road, a shoe, some goo, a kit to make homebrew, a dime, some time, a single doorbell chime, a dress, french press, philanthropist largess, a cure, manure, a child’s thought so pure, a bat, some scat, a faded welcome mat, my state, a date, the courage to tempt fate, a wrong, mahjong, a song to sing along.
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3. |
"Everybody inside"
01:15
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4. |
Soft Robot
03:30
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My battery died and still you tried to wheel me home cuz no one needs to be alone and I need you. My body is fried and still inside I’m trying cuz nothing’s gonna bring me down but all my 1s have turned to 0s. So I try and I wait as I watch you walk away. And I’ll find it now, forget again, break it apart, screw it back in until I’m never gonna see you again. I’ll find it now, forget again, break it apart until I’m never gonna see you again again. You take off my right arm and replace it with your own, hammered iron replaced with bone. The left arm too. And after a while of trading iron for sinew, what’s you is me and I am you, and who can say who is the clone? So I try and I wait as I watch you walk away. And I’ll find it now, forget again, break it apart, screw it back in until I’m never gonna see you again. I’ll find it now, forget again, break it apart until I’m never gonna see you again. I’ll find it now, forget again, break it apart until I’m never gonna see you again. I’ll find it now. I’ll find it now. I’ll ooo.
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5. |
CF
03:57
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When you sacrifice yourself I steal away and consecrate and sacrifice myself and go down to Jebediah’s house. We’ll shuck some corn until the morning, laughing as we go, and go meet the man made out of wood. He needs some culture, needs some novels, needs new MP3s please. When you sacrifice yourself I steal away and consecrate and sacrifice while I am wandering back. Gertie thought she was a bird and flew to Dropsie, Abu Dhabi, met a cat who’s gray and black drawn with a single-minded pen by a lucky fellow who tripped and fell while wondering what Chris wears underneath his rusty brown hardcover tome that crumbles on his fingers while his mind still rings: When you sacrifice yourself I steal away and consecrate and sacrifice while I am wandering back.
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6. |
"Meanwhile"
00:31
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7. |
"The words"
00:31
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8. |
Am I Helping
01:51
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Once I prayed to a ghost then it laid down right beside me saying, “Help warm my chilly toes,” so I tried cuz I don’t want to go to sleep. Am I doing this right? Am I helping tonight? I’ll try to feel and know you. I’ll try to feed and grow you before you’re gone and you float away through the sheets and through the bedframe, back to another day when the air was safe and everyone could sleep. Am I living this right? Am I helping tonight? I’ll try to see and show you. I’ll try to seed and sow you before you’re gone. And the things I pray matter less than how I say them. So yeah, I’ll warm your chill away, if you’ll hear the ghost inside me.
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9. |
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10. |
Barroom Angel
02:57
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“Take a ride,” the angel says to me. An angel spoke to me and I don’t buy it. One last time the angel spreads their wings and says, “Just leave your things. C’mon and try it once.” So I put my pizza down and wrap my hands above their wings, beneath their arms. And then they stand too many feet above the ground. And right before they flap they look at me on back and say the words they sing when they play harp, “I wanna see you tonight, outside, untied. I wanna see the world the way it is. The world the way it is. I wanna see you tonight, outright, uptight. I wanna see the world the way you wish. The world the way you wish.” Then we fly on top of buildings and I look down and see my dad. And I say, “Dad, I’m on an angel.” And he says, “I knew one day you would.” And I say, “What? How could you know that?” And he says, “I know that god is good.” And I say, “Oh.”
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11. |
Gemini and the Giant
02:56
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And so I’ll lay here with my head in the snow and both my feet deep into the undertow and dream of you drawn in the stars up above, the only one, the one, that I ever have loved.
Oh yeah-ee-yeah-ee-yeah-ee-yeah-ee-yeah,
in the stars up above.
Oh yeah-ee-yeah-ee-yeah-ee-yeah-ee-yeah,
is the one that I love.
Oh yeah-ee-yeah-ee-yeah-ee-yeah-ee-yeah,
in the stars up above.
Oh yeah-ee-yeah-ee-yeah-ee-yeah-ee-yeah,
is the one that I love.
But don’t let me walk away from the moon and sea. I’ll try to rearrange if you’ll rearrange with me. But don’t let me be amazed by the ocean deep. I’ll try to be afraid if you’ll be afraid with me.
And so I’ll lay here with my head in the snow and both my feet deep into the undertow and dream of you drawn in the stars up above, the only one, the one, that I ever have loved.
Oh yeah-ee-yeah-ee-yeah-ee-yeah-ee-yeah,
in the stars up above.
Oh yeah-ee-yeah-ee-yeah-ee-yeah-ee-yeah,
is the one that I love.
Oh yeah-ee-yeah-ee-yeah-ee-yeah-ee-yeah,
in the stars up above.
Oh yeah-ee-yeah-ee-yeah-ee-yeah-ee-yeah,
is the one that I love.
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12. |
"Get out"
00:33
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13. |
Your Words
04:46
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Hi, I am your house.
I’m all the walls and all the piping.
Hi, I am your yard.
I’m all the rocks and all the siding.
Hi, I am your car.
I’m all the wheels and all the buttons.
Hi, I am your town.
I’m all the folks just doing something.
Lah-di-dah-di-dah-di-dah-di-dah-di-dah.
Bup bah bah. Bup bah bah-di-dah-di-dah-di-dah-di-dah.
Hi, I am your state.
I’m all the signs and all the mapping.
Hi, I am your job.
I’m all the folks that you are helping.
Hi, I am your air.
I’m all the birds and all the pressure.
Hi, I am your song.
I’m all the notes and all the measures.
Lah-di-dah-di-dah-di-dah-di-dah-di-dah.
Bup bah bah. Bup bah bah-di-dah-di-dah-di-dah-di-dah.
Hi, I am your life.
I’m what you choose and what you’re given.
Hi, I am your words.
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Afterwall Brookings, South Dakota
Jon Bakken's basement tunes.
He's an elementary orchestra teacher who also makes Tiger
Meat, a website & zine about the best South Dakota music. tigermeatmusic.com
With Eliza Blue, Jon recently released an EP of rough drafts from their upcoming music theater collaboration called The Grass Widow.
Jon has a wife and two kids who are way cooler than him.
... more
Afterwall recommends:
My favorite album of 2022.
go to album
Water Music
by Alex Massa's Water Music
Incredible music, important message.
go to album
The Wake Singers
by The Wake Singers
Straight up rockstars.
go to albumIf you like Afterwall, you may also like:
Two dozen 12-string acoustic improvisations that feel undeniably haunting, like lost transmissions from ancient Appalachia, rediscovered.
go to album
Erudite chamber pop that hearkens back to the elegant and experimental production of the 1960s, swinging from melancholia to playfulness.
go to album
if no one else cares, why should I care?
by Good Good Blood
Pairing lo-fi indie rock with silvery folk instrumentation, the self-described "bedroom pop wizard" casts a cozy, poignant spell.
go to album
