1. |
Porch Light
03:27
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The double halo porch light squints
At the morning like
A glow worm fighting sleep
I know you came over last night
Perhaps I didn't hear the bell
Or you decided not to ring it
But the air was steeped
But the air was steeped
But the air was steeped
This morning
In the old world
I still have your favourite cup
I conjured up a brew
Rallied of bergamot and you
Like a retired famulus
I raise a sunny smile in thought of all
The places you sawed me in two
And the air was steeped
And the air was steeped
And the air was steeped
This morning
In the old world
I found a younger breath
fresh as the year that I thought
I had lost it
The double halo porch light squints
At the morning like
A glow worm fighting sleep
But the air was steeped
But the air was steeped
But the air was steeped
This morning
In the old world
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2. |
Three Horn Face
04:12
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My second favourite dinosaur
That I think about a lot
Calms me when I’m wired
Is the triceratops
Eight hundred teeth
And the size of this bus
Winding through the suburbs
Always late, but never lost
Always late, but never lost
You poke your head above
The end of the world
And they call you horn face
Horn face
Three horn face
And my favourite dinosaur is the one they haven't found
Still quiet in the ground somewhere and there's such a lot of ground
They had music, but not as we know it
Music, but not as we know it
Music, but not as we know it
They laughed and loved and danced
But not as we know it, to the last
Put it in a stone and tell about it
My second favourite dinosaur
I still have the plastic toy
Saved it from a fire once
It knew me as a boy
I saw it in a movie then
A blunt and angry beast
Up against a T-Rex
And I had to watch it bleed
Had to watch it bleed
You poke your head above
The end of the world
And they call you horn face
Horn face
Three horn face
And my favourite dinosaur is the one they haven't found
Still quiet in the ground somewhere and there's such a lot of ground
They had music, but not as we know it
Music, but not as we know it
Music, but not as we know it
They laughed and loved and danced
But not as we know it, to the last
Turn yourself to stone and tell about it
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3. |
Tide
03:07
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I don't worry about my sadness
I know that it comes from love
There's a dreamy kind of drowning
You have left deep in my shell
And I know
You can't hear me
You can't see me
I can't simply come around
But I know
Time's an ocean
It weighs nothing
Till you're out there inside
And I know
The world is better now
For it having rolled we two
In the tide
But I worry about your sadness
It attends me in my dreams
A thumbnail moon over a darkness
Nowhere do land and water meet
And I know
You can't hear me
You can't see me
I can't simply come around
But I know
Time's an ocean
It weighs nothing
Till you're out there inside
And I know
The world is better now
For it having rolled we two
In the tide
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4. |
Tracing
02:10
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I am seven, transfixed
By the picture book scene
Of dinosaurs grazing
In a Mesozoic mist
Their round backs
Lined with the teeth
We loosed and left overnight
In the hope of silver
The trees of vivid green
Burlap trunks rising
To a canopy sprawled
Neat as nana’s knitting
There’s an ad break
And I am asking
Was she scared
Waking next to him
Poppa, in the grey room
Room of pipes, dusty shoes
Poppa, in the room
Where he died?
The laminate table
Smooth and cool
My school pencils
In a ragged pile
Yes, very scared
She is saying
Holding the corners of
My greaseproof paper
I am seven, transfixed
By the picture book mist
Traveling wet and slow
Between trees
The fauna and forest
My trusty sharp 2B
Is faithful easy
To their edges, but
Oh, the patience of nana
Tearing new sheets
Of grease proof paper
Throughout the night
Just how do you trace a fog?
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5. |
Stegosaurus
04:54
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So much is missing
From that time
The curtains were beige
Or maybe they were white
Somebody was leaving
Somebody arrived
To the roar of a racing heart
I love you
I can see you
It’s not your fault
I love you
I can see you
It’s not your fault
So much is missing
From that time
There was TV in the long room
Or was it the radio on?
Spark lights across the wire door
The floor drums, spoon on the edge
Of a cold soup bowl
A coat on a mirror
Dust on the mirror, rain on the coat in the dust
On the mirror
Your cheddar pressed and laid in the trap voice
Never ever sprung
I love you
I can see you
It’s not your fault
I love you
I can see you
It’s not your fault
So much is missing
From that time
Stegosaurus, Brontosaurus
And the ones that could fly
Hanging by a fishing line
Double-knot on double-knot
The sitcom laughter swell
The eraser pencil’s anger at
The impossible algebra
The don't tell
Don't tell
Don't tell
I love you
I can see you
It’s not your fault
I love you
I can see you
It’s not your fault
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6. |
Old Lovers Lane
04:16
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To get to old Lovers Lane
I went the back way
Through the orchard
Burned at summertime
Flailed and charred
Against the grey
Where the wattle was, remember
We climbed at night those days
And yellow dusted
Glowed so after
I wanted to hold you again
To feel your hair in my face
I wanted to hear me say your name
The way the birds proclaim
Their joy at making morning
To get to old Lovers Lane
I went the back way
Above the armory of rooftops
Two fences clung by chain
Hoodies, strollers, pacifiers
Brand new teeth are coming in
It's biting weather
He doesn't answer
I wanted to hold you again
To feel your hair in my face
I wanted to hear me say your name
The way the birds proclaim
Their joy at making morning
To get to old Lovers Lane
I went the back way
Where bouquets
Sprouted from the trees
At the gravel and bend
After Saturdays
Before the bridge into the pines
Their deathly tender hush
Go any further
Get lost forever
I wanted to hold you again
To feel your hair in my face
I wanted to hear me say your name
The way the birds proclaim
Their joy at making morning
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7. |
Election Night Nana
03:19
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Nana says, Nana says
We vote for our abusers
Because it feels familiar
Because it feels like
They won't do it this time
Nana hurls, Nana hurls
A shoe at the television
What about the kids?
Talk about doom a generation!
We are running out of time
Ooh, look at them there
In blood stepped so far, and
Reloading their thoughts and prayers
Nana shouts, Nana shouts
Wipe the smug off your faces
What about your prisons?
What about the stolen generations?
Will nothing ever change?
Ooh, look at them there
In blood stepped so far, and
Reloading their thoughts and prayers
Nana paces, Nana paces
The people in this country!
A nation of stupid
Think more about the football
Than they do about the future!
I came here with nothing
But a suitcase and nightmares
The people get to sleep here
But no-one dares to dream
Nana says, Nana says
We vote for our abusers
The lines on the graph
And those shapes on the map
Are all our secret traumas
There's always four year's time
Ooh, look at them there
In blood stepped so far, and
Reloading their thoughts and prayers
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8. |
Light Pollution
03:57
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There were more stars
In my childhood skies
Granddad would say that
Each was where the dead went
Pointing out his sister there
At the tip of a work-worn hand
I started to count, but I
Quickly ran out of names
And I think that I cried
For losing my place in the sky
But his soft old jacket embraced me
When you move to the city
You won’t see so many, he said
But they will all still know
All still know that you are there
Granddad, are some of them the dinosaurs?
Granddad, then what's a shooting star?
When you're dead so long do you get tired
And want to come back down?
And I think that I cried
For losing my place in the sky
And he lifted his pipe and he told me
That, I don't know
There were more stars
In my childhood skies
I loved Granddad's story
Much more than the science
I think that I cried
For losing my place in the sky
And his soft old jacket embraced me
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Brendan Bonsack Melbourne, Australia
"Bonsack has one of those voices that fills a room with golden light" ~ Nkechi Anele, Triple J Radio.
This is a selection of Brendan's preposthumous works. For more music please head over to brendanbonsack.com.
Brendan Bonsack recommends:
A striking array of samples.
go to album
An hypnotic and thoughtful collection of music from this talented artist, such intelligent blending of old world acoustic and new electronic instruments. Mesmerising!
go to album
Everything's Coming Up Roses
by Dear Plastic
The dark lyrics, the haunting unaffected vocals, the lush silence between notes. Gorgeous music.
go to albumIf you like Brendan Bonsack, you may also like:
The Same Mistakes
by Hot Left Pole
Soft-as-a-whisper folk music, with spiderwebs of guitar and vocal melodies as comforting as a lullaby.
go to album
Whispery indie folk from the UK, “Hard Work” cradles soft and gentle vocal melodies in a nest of acoustic guitars.
go to album
Phototherapy EP
by Fahim Rahman
A collection of twinkling bedroom folk-pop demos from Fahim Rahman that arcs from hushed intimacy to sweeping cinematic emotionality.
go to album
