Back in Time
(Collection of songs from many years ago that turned into a concept about how society measures time and what that says about any given culture.)
Most of the time I would just jam on my acoustic for an hour or so while watching sports or something else, so it took a long time to go back and revisit these saved audio files from years ago and time stamp the parts that sounded interesting to my ears now.
This album especially took a great deal of time and patience, but I think I came out with a group of songs that flow together very well. The process really showed me that creating these songs was like putting together pieces of a puzzle, as some audio files were from five years ago or longer and some were new ideas that came to me at the moment. Maybe it’s a different approach to songwriting but maybe it was ultimately meant to be constructed this way all along.
The mood of this album was loosely inspired by Atomos XI by A Winged Victory for the Sullen, as I was listening to that a lot during the editing process.
BACK IN TIME
1 - Strings (intro) All things must pass, daylight on a string All things must pass, daylight on a string (v1) Villain out of focus Littered in a fallacy Grieving unprompted Living insanity A gentler conversion Cradled catastrophes Recenter, repurpose Visions strung in three (chorus) Fable restored, better sleep on the floor Fall flat, collapse, surface, relapse Swindled smiles sooth denial (v2) Breaking in vampires Taken by the scenery Awakening headlights Venomous jealousy Shaman at an impasse Political forgeries Deleted all contacts Twenty-twenty, blind together (outro) All things must pass, daylight on a string All things must pass, daylight on a string
2 - The Faithful (v1) Started out panicked and grateful Without the voice of doubt Thoughts conspired to tear the foundation Spotted sleight of hand (v2) Faithful shouts, censored vibrations Sainted, token blights Guarantees gripped to the grapevine Fucked inside the light (outro) Just a glimmer strung together Just a glimmer strung together
3 - Time to the Sullen (v1) Dogs on delay A flight fooled instead Floats the unlocked door The warmth of misfire (chorus) Like time to the sullen Escape from the function Unplugged, unaccounted Like critical culling (v2) Tours to the cure Rewound with the guilt Instigate the sense The scripted chameleon
4 - Relativity (v1) Binge on the light when seasons won't greet Ring out the flame of pain selective Dance on the wire, sleeping deprived Weak appetite, sung for their lives (v2) Drowned paradise inside the mind Ad parasites of flesh-eating diets Merciful pills, pusher contrived Ignoble intent of the ancient supply (chorus) Looking for a sign of life to build an enemy Looking for a sign of life to build an enemy (v3) Firefly freed, upgraded lies Left to the crow, what other sky tonight Like the meek on the throne or blood from the stone Soil unspoiled down to the core
5 - The Madman’s Daily Unequivocal Comedy (v1) I left my mind I left my body One eye wide Streaming in and out of time (v2) Veins of time Grace inhabits Mystic's pride Claiming every passerby (v3) Manic drives Daily respite Weight to guide Writing faster in the rhyme (v4) I left my mind I left my body Forty nights Sealing evidence of fire
6 - The Hostage (v1) Mashing pills to shock the thrill Asleep for weeks, seducing scenes Cracked collusion classified For history incentivized (v2) Repaired reflections on the frontline Perfect the passage to piss the fates Like innocence conscribed to darkness Hostage of the acolyte (outro) Back in time (no rules for breaking out) Back in time (looting the buffering) Back in time (psychic dysmorphia) Back in time (riding the animus)