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Faces from the Static

by Ian Marquis

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1.
Touch down on broken glass I know that this will pass Touch all the broken skin Beaten brass is paper thin Down and down and down again Garments burned and soil turned Down and down and down again I'm gonna find you... I'm over the mountains And I can't land But baby, I'm gonna find you A burden of proof On an innocent man Oh, but they never mind you My father sent me off to sea With a broken back And an apple tree She is an ark in a wounded land But the hangman knows That you laid your child in the sand Down and down and down again
2.
Call you up, are you okay? I'm already on my way I hope that I'm not out of line But I think about you all the time If you go left when I go right Well, maybe you can spend the night I don't mind if you haven't got long I just want you to listen to this song 'Cause I'm afraid of growing old Wasted pages and years I've sold I bite my lip when I can't speak I turn my head, and I grit my teeth Cause there's a face that I love But I don't know what it means A mouth full of brass tacks and gasoline But if you get up and shut the light You know I won't put up a fight This dance is such a fright You know I'm not one to fight I don't care if I'm alright Just help me make it to the night Call you up, are you okay? I'm already on my way I hope that I'm not out of line But I think about you all the time If you go left when I go right Well, maybe you can spend the night I don't mind if you haven't got long I just want you to listen to this song You've got a face that I love Oh don't you know what I mean My heart full of marbles and saccarine But if you just let me hold you tight I think I'm gonna be alright This dance is such a fright You know I'm not one to fight I don't care if I'm alright Just help me make it to the night
3.
Slow Down 03:18
You broke a window and you crept into my mind I am alone inside four walls of glass, venetian blinds I laid a carpet, see, you can't remember me A pail of paint to hide, your hand, a bucket, turpentine You shouted "slow down" but the cadence is already laced I am so sick of this fucking place They bend us They break us They bill us They make us cry But we are never gonna die We are never gonna die They say infatuation's a dirty lie But we are never gonna die We are never gonna die You broke a door latch and took everything you found I hid my memories in a box I buried underground There's nothing left to see. You don't remember me. A scrap of paper with a name that doesn't make a sound You shouted "slow down" You shouted "slow down" They bend us They break us They bill us They make us cry But we are never gonna die We are never gonna die They say infatuation's a dirty lie But we are never gonna die We are never gonna die
4.
There's oil slick on the sea today Thirty pieces drifting down And these ancient tankers, gone astray You know that brave men die without a sound I didn't want it, you tied my hands to the wheel I didn't want it, I didn't think it was real I didn't want it, you tied my hands to the wheel I didn't want it, but dead men don't feel You'd call me crazy Who am I to blame? Cause I loved a memory Without a name I didn't want it, you tied my hands to the wheel I didn't want it, I didn't think it was real I didn't want it, you tied my hands to the wheel I didn't want it, but dead men don't feel You'd call me crazy Who am I to blame? Cause I loved a memory Without a name You'd call me crazy Who do I believe? Cause these words move faster Than the air we breathe
5.
Venus carved from a block of stone With a hammer hand, this shattered bone Vision so plutonic, made you wrong it Seems unfair to moan about The coarse inclusions in your skin You know I don't believe in sin She said "We're made to die alone, A hammer on my bone" Raise your hand like it's out of style Kinda stings but you make me smile I can't breathe and my skin's gone white But hit me again, this could take all night Venus down in a pit of stone With a hammer hole through every bone Choices so neurotic, shards did not fit Seems obscene to pick apart The splinters perforate your skin I know I don't believe in sin You think you're made to die alone A hammer on my bone Raise your hand like it's out of style It kinda stings but you make me smile I can't breathe and my skin's gone white But hit me again, this could take all night
6.
Underground 04:39
You broke your foot And spent the summer in a cage If fifteen screws can make a man Three or four eradicate an age He dug a hole I was amazed He burned the corners of a page It's hard to breathe, we looked around But I knew there was treasure hidden Underground Your head, cause you don't wanna be found Your feet immobile in the stone Scared of crowds, afraid to be alone Now you don't dare to make a sound He whispers like a drought Can't pay a thousand men To figure out the message When the words are such a mess Underground Your head, cause you don't wanna be found Your feet immobile in the stone Scared of crowds, afraid to be alone Now you don't dare to make a sound Ativan Concrete shoes and Ritalin We slept in Underground Your head, cause you don't wanna be found Your feet immobile in the stone Scared of crowds, afraid to be alone Now you don't dare to make a sound Now you don't dare to make a sound
7.
Cardboard girls and clothes with tags Body parts in plastic bags Paper dolls are made to lend But I thought that you were mine, my friend You're in tatters every day But paper bends, and that's okay Flesh is warm, and hairs will curl But nothing compares to a paper girl I want a girl with paper parts Bristol lips and a foolscap heart I want a girl with a cardboard smile Tissue tongue and newsprint guile Cut a little bit away Don't like the way you fit today This dress-up game, it's always the same You're torn apart when I want to play I've got cuts on all my fingers From the times I played with you Paper cuts from paper memories Paper money, too Paper dolls are made to lend Paper girls who play pretend Paper planes until the end Paper hearts and paper friends I want a girl with paper parts Bristol lips and a foolscap heart I want a girl with a cardboard smile Tissue tongue and newsprint guile
8.
I know you cling to him In case of stormy weather Secure your heart, dear You want to live forever I disappoint you But I don't mean to be clever You should have known me Should know that I know better I know you think I'm lost And you're a beacon for me to find But I've already turned my back And I'm not gonna change my mind I can hear it in your voice The way you talk to me on the phone You say I've forgotten the plan But I know that you really Just don't wanna be alone I know you cling to him In case of stormy weather You should have known me Should know that I know better We are broken We are blind Our lives, a token We don't mind I know I make our conversations Shift in awkward ways I know your knees are worn From hours where you planned my days I know you think I'm lost And you're a cairn for me to find But I've already left the path And I'm not going back I've got something else to find I know you cling to him In case of stormy weather You should have known me Should know that I know better We are broken We are blind Our lives, a token We don't mind We are broken We are broken Our lives, a token We are broken
9.
I could touch But I don't want To erase the world I see And I can feel you there But are you Really next to me? 'Cause I'm a small man I do what I can To navigate the foam You're effervescent I can't tell When I'm alone Dust is all I touch and see I split apart The particles And microgravity And I can feel you shiver But I can't tell If it's for me 'Cause I'm a cold hand A flash of pain Without a matching moan But when these Points of light collide You know you're not alone Dust is all I touch and see The taste of your uncertainty Points of light and air so free Am I to you as you to me?
10.
A piece of Handbreaks and keys, love This ether in the drains Is spinning me around my veins In search of peace, though Hard knocks and free flow This sharp precipitation leads To tendered hearts and furrowed knees And I am not alone inside this room A deadbolt slipped and I am gone And I am not alone inside this room A deadbolt slipped and I am gone I am not afraid, am not contained A latchkey bent, I am gone And I am not afraid, am not contained A latchkey bent, I am gone Tell me how you get so thin Everybody plays to win You'll become the things you fear Tell me how you got so thin Everybody plays to win You'll become the things you fear You think your skin's so clear Back and forth again Back and forth again, my friend Back and forth again Back and forth again, my friend Freeflow Handbreaks and keys, love This ether in my veins Is spinning me around the drains And I am not alone inside this room A deadbolt slipped and I am gone I am not afraid, am not contained A latchkey bent, I am gone Tell me how you get so thin Everybody plays to win You'll become the things you fear Tell me how you got so thin Everybody plays to win You'll become the things you fear You think your skin's so clear
11.
Do you remember The triumph and the sin? Our days ran by Like smoke upon the wind. And laid upon my bedspread Are books with blackened pages. And five miles back The fire burns within. Well, she's not in the doorway. No, she's not in the chair. And she's not at the table. Anymore. My tongue still remembers The juniper and gin; Our recipe The origin of sin. And laid upon my table Are charcoal leaves from ages That I spent wandering Out and back again. Well, she's not in the doorway. No, she's not in the chair. And she's not at the table. Anymore. Well, she's not in the garden. No, she's not on the stair. No, she's not on the left side. Anymore.
12.
We tell everybody these cells Aren't a prison They're just here to keep us safe Oh, you know, these bones don't chaffe, but Night comes, keep your windows open Lock your lips Don't forget to check the sky Even caged birds say goodbye Tiny specks in an open hand Can’t know the nature of a man. We’re trapped between the Earth and the sky And none of us knows why. I know you're afraid, you've said so In the corner When you think that you're alone Bright nightmares and old cologne, well Night comes, keep your windows open Lock your lips Don't forget to check the sky Even caged birds say goodbye Fleeting birds that never land Dream of walking on the sand, But you and I were made for the sky Without the means to fly. A tiny speck in an open hand Can’t know the nature of a man, But you and I were made to fly And we will never, we will never die. Come with me and take my hand. I’ll carry you when you can’t stand. Don’t say “never”. Don’t say “nay”. Somehow we will find a way Come with me and take my hand. We will soar - you know we can. Don’t say “never”. Never land. When you say “Peter” I say...I say... Come on now - we’ll save ourselves. They won’t know. We won’t tell. I’ve got magic. I’ve got spells. I won’t tell. I won’t tell. Come on now - we’ll save ourselves. They won’t know. We won’t tell. Don’t hold back. Don’t you cry. We are never going to die. You and I walk hand-in-hand 30 miles back on the sand. I know we were made for the sky But we don’t have wings And we can’t fly, can’t fly.

about

Faces From The Static is my fourth full-length album.

I told myself I would take a bit of a break from music after finishing The Man Forgotten - but I couldn't stop writing songs. Within a month, I was getting new ideas, and by December of 2011 I had two tracks roughed out (Paper Hearts / Paper Friends and Triumph and Sin). Others came in the months that followed (Heisenberg, Revisited and Help Me Make It To The Night, to name two). I struggled with this album more than I ever have before. I built up a pile of dozens of demos. By the one year mark, I had pretty much nailed down my track list, but I still had a long ways to go.

Now, a year and a half after I first began, the album is finally complete. I feel like I started recording as one person and finished as another entirely. This album has truly been a journey for me.

I'm immensely proud of these songs. I hope you enjoy them.

Many thanks to Owen Young, Eric Marden, Fia Fortune, Matt Chabe, Mark Ricketts, Leslie Bowman, Rodrigo de la Garza, and Senora Esteban for their ears and feedback as I worked to put this all together. When I get the physical copies printed, your names will be on the inside.

credits

released July 1, 2013

Written, recorded, and produced by Ian Marquis.

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Ian Marquis Portland, Maine

My songs are tiny ecosystems: self-sustaining, self-contained, intricate, and densely layered. I'm captivated by found sound and immaculate production. I sample my own work. I chop up my guitars and create arrangements I could never have played. I treat my voice like an instrument, pushing and pulling it in otherworldly directions. I polish each track until, sonically, it feels like it sparkles. ... more

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