1. |
Serve
04:11
|
|
||
A brand new child
Gifted then burned
Sold as special and then returned
A brand new mind
Tongue-twisted and turned
Told to think things not taught how to learn
It’s a jungle vibe
So you try not to get burned
Don’t speak out of rotation
How can we serve your machine?
Join your line
Single file, not a word
This is your education
Join your line
It’ll be fine, not a word
This is your education
How can we serve your machine?
Let’s see what we think you’ll be
Squared circles cut clean
Oh, my darling
Still believe it
They just can’t see
Clever as a flower
Just breathe in
You’ll supersede it
Into the real thing
Oh, my darling
Still believe it
They just can’t see in
Clever as a flower
Just breathe in
You’ll soon receive it
And do the real thing
|
||||
2. |
Sharper
04:08
|
|
||
Everybody's gotten sharper
Not in their brains - just in their blades
Superficially the same
It’s a certain type of hell
An all-too certain type of… game
When it’s predator and prey
Your bandage and your blade
Everybody’s gotten witty
We’ve lost our shame & become vain
Ridiculous and pretty
Ridiculous beyond restraint
It’s a certain type of cell
A possessive kind of… state
When we let ideas own us
And get married to their names
Now I don’t think what I thought before
That’s how I stay out of the war
Everybody is a pity
Gift-given tragedy and shame
Walking blindly in the city
Dizzy stumbling and lame
It’s a certain tone of bell
It’s a ringing I can’t... shake
A crack is splittin' through the center
The ringin’s driving me insane
Now I don’t know what I knew before
Now I don’t think what I thought before
Now I don’t blink when I see a soul
That’s how I stay out of the war
Everybody could get better,
Draw their lines and find their place
Closer with a contoured center
Slow the spiral to a sway
We’re all made of the same matter
So don’t we matter all the same?
|
||||
3. |
Doctor
03:26
|
|
||
I’m calm, but I’m not simple
And I’m breaking a couple rules tonight
You left your smoke in my soul
And you’ve only seen one ripple of my mind
I’m more afloat than I am home
And that became obvious tonight
I’ll stall, but I won’t recoil
You know severity ain't my style
I’m named
When you meet my brain half way
When I write
Do I make my time refine?
I penned it as a toll
Today I’m breaking it down to lesser lines
I wrote it out real simple… just…
Punctuated another page of strife
And it was written as a manual
Or a map for someone maybe to find
I'm calm but I'm not simple
And you've only seen one ripple of my mind
Then the doctor wrote
himself a prescription
A prescription
To stop listening to my shit
Dr. Cohen took a while
To make any sense of it
I’m named
When you meet my brain half way
When I write
Do I make my time refined?
Relay
How you took my breath away
When I write
Do I make my time defined?
|
||||
4. |
Script
04:02
|
|
||
No wall will stop a mother
Fear the flea - don't fear the other
When he's in bed with a lion's head
That wasn't me
I just played them on TV
Fear the flea - in bed with a lion
Did you escape the script?
Did you sound like the actor did?
No wall will stop a mother
Fear the flea - don't fear the other
When he's in bed with a lion's head
I guess it was just riddle
Read as poetry to me
Did you escape the script?
Did you sound like the actor did?
|
||||
5. |
Grassdancer
03:44
|
|
||
Spin the ellipse
Outline your hips
Rise dip
Learn to set it on fire
The cedars sang
While the willows hung
The circle had swung
But it had to fall down
Down to your feet
Cruel gravity
Grassdancer
The leaves fell
And you still had to leave
I am still knocked to my knees
Mention my name
Watch the winds change
I am still
I am still knocked to my knees
I am still knocked to my feet
I am still
I am
The cedars sang
While the willows hung
The circle had swung
Grassdancer
Your leaves fell
I am still not one to plead
I know my name
I am still
I am still knocked to my knees
I am still knocked from my feet
I am still
I am
|
||||
6. |
Sweetgrass
03:47
|
|
||
Don’t get stuck in that anecdote
You know I could be by myself
I could be by myself
You know I’d stand by myself
Sweetgrass still sewn through my skin
Don’t get stuck in that anecdote
You know I could be by myself
I could be by myself
You know I’d stand by myself
Don’t get stuck in that anecdote
All of the dreamers - don’t
Don’t get stuck in that anecdote
In spite of the notes you wrote
Don’t get stuck in that anecdote
In spite of the notes you wrote
Inside
Don’t get stuck in that anecdote
Stuck in that anecdote
Don’t
|
||||
7. |
Idiot
03:55
|
|
||
My addictions don't speak
When I find my connection
I think I know it from within
But that ain't no explanation
Now’s
The only time I know
And I don’t know
Much about now
Gambled with my hopes
Rambled with my heart
I took some time to cope
When the plan fell apart
My mistakes have a pattern
It’s the rhythm of my name
Didn’t hear it called
But those curtains closed again
Didn't know my line
And there was stage fright
Almost every night
Don’t wait up for it
Take the time to think this through
My addictions won't speak
When I find my connection
I think I know it from within
But that ain't no explanation
Now’s
The only time I know
And I don’t know
Much about now
Gambled with my hopes
Rambled with my heart
I took some time to cope
When the plan fell apart
Some day you’ll play the idiot
Don’t wait up for it
Take the time to think it through
One day you’ll slay the idiot
Don’t wait up for it
It’ll still sneak up on you
Then you’ll re-display the idiot
Don’t wait up for it
My addictions won't speak
When I find my connection
I think I know it from within
|
||||
8. |
Smoke
02:53
|
|
||
You thought the smoke
Couldn't control you
But if your heart bears a hole
Nah, it won't console you
Nobody's owned
So nobody stole you
We're getting old
Let's not get cold too
You're not what you're told
You're not bought and sold, too
Worth your weight in gold
Whatever that's worth to you
You thought the smoke
Couldn't control you
But if your heart bears a hole
No it won't console you
Nobody's owned
And so nobody stole you
We're getting old
Let's not get cold too
You thought the smoke
Couldn't control you
|
||||
9. |
Firewalk
03:51
|
|
||
Burn as a forest
You've never been a candle
It won't blow you out
You'll overgrow it
So calm and cool
When it's quiet
How would you do in the fire?
If your dreamer turns out to be a liar
Well, it's not your dream
'Til you buy it
So calm and cool
When it's quiet
How would you do in the fire?
If your dreamer turns out to be a liar
You could be free
Try it again
Burn as a forest
You've never been a candle
And it wont blow you out
You'll overgrow
|
||||
10. |
Innermission
03:44
|
|
||
11. |
Think
02:53
|
|
||
12. |
Trains
02:48
|
|
||
13. |
Rambler
03:30
|
|
||
Stepped to the podium without a tongue
You populist preachers
Steeped on a soapbox without a song
Tempestuous teacher
Undefined features
Blown-out speakers
Rambilin' reachers and the bitter-bone keepers
|
||||
14. |
Us
03:13
|
|
||
It won't be what you expect
Your eyes see just a speck of it
It won't be what you thought
Ain't it all been one big experiment
You don't see how it collects
In all the places you wouldn't think to check
I don't flee from any regret
Nobody here has figured it all out yet
There's some if it that we'll never get
Don't wait up for it
Don't wait up for it
I don't need to know for sure
Understanding isn't pure
It won't be what you thought
Less wrong is the best that we've got
You don't know anything about everything
You don't know everything about anything
One day you'll play the idiot
Don't wait up for it
Take the time to think this through
It's baffling
It's maddening
It's confusing
It's eluding
Scratching understanding
But the eyes are so demanding
In the clouds but never landing
It's us
It's confusing
And eluding
In the clouds but never landing
Oh so consuming
It's us
|
Basal Toronto, Ontario
Basal is an experimental solo project that oscillates through alternative rock, dream pop, industrial, and neo-folk influences.
Streaming and Download help
If you like Basal, you may also like:
Bandcamp Daily your guide to the world of Bandcamp