1. |
Sunday Best
04:32
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No one’s paying attention
We can do whatever we want
Soaking wet and the rain’s coming down in sheets
Hold my hand, it’s cold and I need your heat
This city’s indifferent, let’s make out in the street
We’re the last of the lovers
Golden at first dawn
They tried to tear it all down
But nothing binds us
Yeah, we can’t be bound
No one’s paying attention
We can do whatever we want
Let’s buy a bottle, yeah, let’s walk around and drink
I got this formula, I swear that it helps me think:
Movement + alcohol makes everything shrink
We’re the last of the lovers
Golden at first dawn
They tried to tear it all down
But nothing binds us
Yeah, we can’t be bound
No one’s paying attention
We can do whatever we want
I’m not sure if we’ve been blessed or depressed
Second-guessed even in our Sunday best
We should leave this town, it’s always been more mid- than west
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2. |
Spotlight
04:01
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I dream I am speeding
Careening towards a cliff
White-knuckles, sweating
Every muscle clenched
Shot toward the sun
Like a heat-seeking missile
A hijacked synapse
Streaking through these temples
The pavement is icing
I’m driving, I’m sliding
My words disappear
As I am typing
The doors have all opened
The neighbors are prying
The pavement is icing
I am fighting off dying
The moon is a spotlight
Talons at midnight
Oh, these small blue pills
Equal nighttime rest
Foggy windshield
And a pillowy headrest
Lazy river womb
An umbilical lifevest
A heartbeat slowing
To a trickle in my chest
Round here, lover
I’m carving out my name
The hunter steadied his rifle
And he’s pausing to aim
Everything is finite
This is a zero-sum game
Steal from me, brother
I’ll love you all the same
The moon is a spotlight
Talons at midnight carry me away
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3. |
Mirrored Mouths
03:54
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Our backs turned we weren’t paying attention
It circled the house and apathy crept in
It stuck to the shadows now it sleeps in our bedroom
On top of the pillow like a weight that we can’t move
Lover, there’s always a start
To the growing old, to the growing apart
What will all the dilettantes whisper
In the desperate ears of boa constrictors?
Mirrored mouths and swollen lips
Talking shit, yeah, they’re talking shit
Lover, there’s always a start
To the growing old, to the growing apart
Trace the heart / my blood is dark
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4. |
Shapeshifting
04:01
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I watch him try to reach back
But nothing’s there
Yeah, I watch him reach back
Into darkness and dead air
It’s like a spotlight slicing
Up the black night sky
It’s the slowest surrender
It’s one thousand goodbyes
This is as lonesome as the Indian Ocean
Watching something get broken in slow motion
So I sit and I listen
I can’t pay attention
It’s the longest division
Slow as glacial attrition
It’s the graying of matter
And maybe nothing matters
All the shapes keep shifting
This fog isn’t lifting
This is as lonesome as the Indian Ocean
Watching something get broken in slow motion
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5. |
Our Friend Matt
05:16
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All my friends, where have you gone?
Pictures of you all still up on my walls
I can barely remember ever being apart
You’ve all disappeared but you still got my heart
And our friend Matt was right when he said,
“This is all there is. There’s nothing behind and nothing ahead.”
Raven, my raven, will you follow me home?
Raven, my raven, together we roam
You’re the loneliest companion I have ever known
Dark and lovely, a friend to fly above me
And our friend Matt was right when he said,
“This is all there is. There’s nothing behind and nothing ahead.”
Tracing our fingers around the rings of an oak
A comedy dark, a humorless joke
And our friend Matt was right when he said,
“This is all there is.”
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6. |
Slow to Reveal
04:20
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It’s true what they say - it’s all fun and games
Until it ain’t
The devil is real, he’s been walking with us since the apple peeled
He knows restraint & when to wait, he’s on the tip of the tongue, he’s in the nails that she paints
It’s true what they say - it’s all fun and games
Then it ain’t
The devil is real, he’s the perfect pitch in the hog’s slaughter squeal
He’s just slow to reveal himself
Whispers and sideways glances
Billboards of tongue-tied savages
Lemons sweating under the ruthless sun
Idiots smiling having fun
Lemons sweating under the savage sun
Idiots smiling having fun
Yeah, we’re having fun
It’s true what they say - it’s all fun and games
Until it ain’t
The devil is real, hidden within, he is well concealed
There’s a beast inside these city walls, evil lies where my shadow falls
It’s true what they say - it’s all fun and games
Then it ain’t
The devil is real, he’s in her hot, hot breath, he’s the revolver’s steel
He’s just slow to reveal himself
Whispers and sideways glances
Billboards of tongue-tied savages
Lemons sweating under the ruthless sun
Idiots smiling having fun
Lemons sweating under the savage sun
Idiots smiling having fun
Yeah, we’re having fun
It’s true what they say - it’s all fun and games
Until it ain’t
The devil is real, he’s the blacklight in the neon night
He’s just slow to reveal himself
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7. |
All Caps and Quotes
03:28
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In the mirror
In all caps and quotes
She wrote,
“KEEP YOUR SENSE OF URGENCY”
And all her friends got by
By playing nice
Suffice
To say they’re dying carefully
I will fight, I will fuck
I will rise while you’re stuck
I got something to prove
Idle hands and poison tongue
Chase the taste far and long
This cabin fever
It spreads through me
Complacency
Is leeching me
The bleeding has the sharks frenzied
They’re circling around my feet
I will fight, I will fuck
I will rise while you’re stuck
I got something to prove
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8. |
Pontiac
03:27
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With the front windows cracked, the taste of salt in the air
In the sweltering heat his cigarette was a flare
And the glare off the water bathed us in light
Eyes wide with wonder soaking in the sights
Golden, golden in the light
Sun-bleached and bound by revisionist history
Sometimes memories are what you need them to be
You’ll always be in the backseat sitting next to me
Back when our future was still a mystery
Golden, we were golden in the light
Our family name, the blood in my veins
It’s all the same
Pontiac, blue, in the far right lane
It’s all the same
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9. |
Champions
04:46
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I was a child with the wildest eyes
Each day was new
Engulfed in surprise
I don’t know how and I don’t know why
A dullness arrived
It darkened and thrived
Sweet child, I have but one request
When I die, pin a blue ribbon on my chest
When I was child my father retired
I watched him give out
I watched him get tired
Of the days and the nights and fighting good fights
First he lost his bark
Then he lost his bite
I’m a marionette
You can tug my heart
But don’t you cross these strings
Martinet, I will push your cart
I love the honey
But I hate these stings
Sweet child, I have but one request
When I die, pin a blue ribbon on my chest
Suspended from time
Suspended from weight
The blinding golden future awaits
My son, my son, this is a clean slate
My son, my son, this is clean
Sweet child, I have but one request
When I die, pin a blue ribbon on my chest
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Instant Empire Denver, Colorado
Indie rock.
Storytellers.
Chroniclers of the human condition.
Instant Empire recommends:
We All Want The Same Things
by Craig Finn
Craig Finn is our favorite living songwriter. This album is devastating. Perfect lyrics, full of characters and stories you can relate to and beautifully arranged.
go to album
Teens Of Denial
by Car Seat Headrest
No one writes long songs as well as Car Seat Headrest. This album includes their best work to-date. An album you can get lost in.
go to album
one hand on the steering wheel the other sewing a garden
by Ada Lea
Beautiful songs, nuanced lyrics and intricate arrangements. We are loving this album.
go to albumIf you like Instant Empire, you may also like:
Happy Accidents give listeners a taste of their indie pop and indie punk sound on their latest album.
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The Muncie Girls frontwoman uses folk punk to explore deeply felt personal themes.
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Frantic Semantic EP
by Grow Rich
Fuzzy and swirling shoegaze soundscapes from Indonesia full of emotion and DIY spirit.
go to album
