Get all 12 Ben Roque releases available on Bandcamp and save 45%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Mad Andalusia, Charmed I'm Sure, Hatchetfish, The Old Hush, Money in the Doll, Off Your Tiltawhirl, Amuser, Jackals, and 4 more.
1. |
Chandelier
04:03
|
|||
|
Take off what you'll say and close the door
a burning window shows the little world that came rushing in
chandelier like a tear drops on the audience
saw headlines hide your face and a
failed saint hits the ground with all memories erased
it's a likely place we are
it's a simple place to go, where everything shows
and here we are
You wear houses of costumes in a naked room
I get the feeling I'm made up when you look at me
it feels like surgery
someone else is under your tombstone
felt the daylight you let inside me, the sky's raining down glass teeth
but what do you sound like when there's no one to be
it's a likely place we are
it's a simple place to go, where everything shows
and here we are
|
||||
2. |
New England
03:50
|
|||
|
There must have been something there
nobody runs from nothing
the poison orchids appear
the silhouette found you there
dreaming your own weather
the lightning dance on your head
suddenly an ocean sets
there still floats that evidence
I'm standing on a barbed wire fence
You assume undertones
of New England in my bones
and nail my past to my eye
a mannequin on the line
disembodied words you define
buried life back in time
You're cynical of the sunrise
staining glass reveals your mind
the only world is hard to find
The faces fade inside your name
got it all, and got away
|
||||
3. |
The World You Leak
03:27
|
|||
|
Just open up and leave yourself buried beneath how you seem
She's dancing on the grave, but the way out has nothing to say about this place at all
She's crossing out the eyes of a parody in life's disguise
Don't you realize dead eyed character smiles in spite of his lines kept alive
And I don't have a say, I just don't have to save a thing
Now my body is free from me
What's gotten into you? Is the world that you leak somewhere new
You don't know where you've been, passing through someone's barbed wire friend who's been waiting for you
You've been saving your days for the one you became to her
Now my body is free from me
You've been hiding in me while I'm opening up to you
Now my body is free from me
|
||||
4. |
Broken Clock
04:01
|
|||
|
The ceiling fan took off my head
the queen of hearts drew my name out of a dream
one more past the 12th floor and how will I
know when the sky's an open door?
there's no sign of life in heaven
the one that's surrounding me
she don't say a thing
and I fear that I know what she means
love's not the only thing we have here
but there's nothing more for us to share
so where can you go to be alone and inseparable?
you say for once we'll make it home
the broken clock will snap its jaw back where we're caught
I'm saving the rain to bottle up in the grave
flowers rot above me
the love that's got into me
she don't mean a thing
|
||||
5. |
Panic & Reach
04:32
|
|||
|
Closing remarks are trampled with applause
war is at my door
the word’s intent to hack up a meaning
no one there was sure
the days all dawn on accident
and a guess is as good as the world
listen up and tell yourself
the arrow in the air won’t fall on you
because you didn’t put it there
panic and reach for nerves shrouded and vague
lying across the tracks
one mind defined by plastic procedures
and there’s no going back
said you don’t recognize
your own life underneath this light
it sickens me you tell yourself
the arrow in the air won’t fall on you
because you didn’t put it there
somehow the lights have all gone from the sky
I just need one to sweep up by
silence alone will keep us up all night
all is by your side
all is by your side
passing by your side
|
||||
6. |
Circular Fuse
03:36
|
|||
|
So you're the one, she says solemn and grave
she got your canvas in hand with the flame
melted paint leaves you standing in the frame
Maybe the one you want buried your name
in all the places you haunt in the rain
dying word in the air too scared to breathe
So you're the fuse burning the view
endless and used it's the truth turning circles on the loose
you're nothin new
Figures that all you know is what she stole
She shot the ground where you stood full of holes
burn your clothes to be sure of your new role
Funny you swear you got no place to go
she took the road in your pocket lined in gold
curtains up, let this character explode
So you're the fuse burning the view
endless and used it's the truth turning circles on the loose
you're nothin new
You never needed anything to burn down
let your endless fuse just turn around
long as you never wake up this town
|
||||
7. |
||||
|
Roll that orange straight into hell
you polish the peel from your nails
red lips bloom when I look away
“Who’s buried in the garden,
feeding the flowers your name?”
the part a piranha throws up
give me back my skeleton
one of us will eat the sky
the other one won’t wonder why or lie
a mask dissolves the face it’s upon
to face me with fake amnesia
who listens to a drunkard’s prayer?
a ladder led you to some air
where you’ll have to live with yourself
the part a piranha throws up
give me back my skeleton
one of us will eat the sky
the other one won’t wonder why or lie
I’ll make you into nothing
|
||||
8. |
Say the Line
03:06
|
|||
|
The lines that hold you here
are tangled in the mirror
I'm floating face down on the lake
the glass is no mistake
I'm fading
the eyes are busted seams
where no one is awake
once I was a liar
The sight is sore enough to keep a bad joke up
explain that we all return to steam
from icy coma dreams
I'm sleeping beneath the crushing deep
shipwrecked acting cheap
once I was a liar
spinning on a spire
passing through the choir
on a wire
vulture eye machine
breathing in the wall
once I was a liar
dancing on a wire
passing through the choir
birds circle the spire
passing through the choir
on a wire
|
||||
9. |
Scare
03:46
|
|||
|
Slip off your shoes and let's walk home
she danced along the country road
between the holes of lightning bolts
we’ll fill them up with rain and pepper wine
and fireworks on the toothless skyline
It’s impossible she says to me
to fold the street into origami
but the moon’s a lens projecting movies
a silver screen will bury everything
we’ll follow flowers up from the garden
They’re lining up to lose their minds
so long as they don’t know, they’ll be just fine
the photograph’s alive in her eye
we’re looking for a place to put in frame
but nothing here has ever stayed the same
|
||||
Ben Roque Burlington, Vermont
Noir/Lo-fi influenced musician, author (The Midnight Cabaret, Calliope Steam, Living Paint), and collage artist.
Booking/All inquiries: ben.belldrive@gmail.com
If you like Ben Roque, you may also like:
Other Better Places
by Fraidycat
Charming and catchy lo-fi jams from Brooklyn's Fraidy Cat.
go to album
Not Getting What You Want, One Step at a Time
by Imp of Perverse
Getting some serious Dean Wareham vibes from this Texas bedroom project that’s anything but lo-fi.
go to album
Yucca Street
by Alexei Shishkin
Forged Artifacts announce the sophomore release, available on limited gold cassette, from lo-fi Portlander Alexei Shishkin.
go to album
(the dog tape)
by Alexei Shishkin
featured on Bandcamp Radio Feb 10, 2015
go to album
no roof no floor
by Scout Gillett
Scout Gillett’s woozy indie rock coats the sound of college radio past in a marvelous lo-fi sheen.
go to album
featured on Bandcamp Radio Apr 10, 2018
go to album
Kid Trails returns with a new EP of breezy indiepop, full of watery guitars and gently-weaving vocals.
go to album
