Get all 35 Silo's Choice releases available on Bandcamp and save 50%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Languid Swords, Aerial Platforms 1, Generated Homes, Dumbarton Oaks, Priorities USA, Davos / Jobs, St. Sealion (For Karl Marx), 2005, and 27 more.
1. |
Pleasant Ridge Blowout
03:54
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when you get full you'll follow me home
follow me home, follow me home
and when i feel the pull i'll want to say no
put my headphones on, and go out
leaving the bodega i'll be out of my head
out of my head, out of my head
but quiet like an infant left safe in its bed
what's there to talk about?
everything that there is to be broken i'll break.
sorry about your plates, they can all be replaced
and forever like a bullet fired in space
will tumble, not knowing its end
i can feel my friends begin to hold me at arm's length
they say it's not too late: that i don't know my strength
but the only thing that i don't know is how to escape
so it's back to your arms again
like the machinery celestial is realized in the steel and the dirt
the night sky's grand festival of lights all reeled in
to converge in the eyes of an observer on earth
when you've had your fill you'll leave me alone
leave me alone, leave me alone
to wake sick and still on the frozen stone
hoping you're out of view
in the sock drawer there's money for a quick getaway
enough for a bus or a plane anywhere in the states
but the weather and the scenery are all that would change
i'll never be any further from you
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2. |
Escape Routes
02:51
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when you come back on a first class flight
the mayor will take your picture
and i'll wear lilies in my hair - i won't be subject to the laws
i'll don an evening gown & ride the train downtown to wild applause
and use your escape routes
for all the good they do you
you don't need to stay true - we'll pull through
honestly dear without you 'round
i don't know why i'd stay here
as leaves learn to breath and beer turns to ink,
there is no time to even blink:
upon us now's the hour to put our power to evil deeds
"Chorus"
cowardly in love, courageous in hate
the clouds turn white above, the river runs in place
if i never make the jump over the gates
there is a ladder leading up into a bottle with my name in bright relief
"Chorus"
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3. |
Contract Kill
03:21
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it could be north, south, or west of the ring
machinery sits bored and rusted
throw mr. x off the scent when he rings
you learned real quick men aren't to be trusted
so you live alone
and keep yourself to yourself
until the moment of impact
the hollow-point will arc up and descend
and spend its last few seconds intact
flitting across the surface of the wind
'til it sees the man in the cashmere blend
at 17 you were out on your ear
they said, "don't come back til you've made us proud."
you haven't called in 20 years
wonder how they think about you now
a machine - a bird - the picture of stealth
neither seen nor heard nor felt
until the moment of impact
a squirrel in the orchard with its hickory nut
the wedding guests never know that,
while they're losing their shit to "uptown funk" (2014)
you'll be wrapping him in a tarp and shoving him in a trunk
to sleep with the river gunk and the unopened mail
they called you little miss sure shot
a hole in the PVC and a faint mist:
he is both hit and he is not.
dissipated like a will-o-the-wisp?
but what he isn't or is is none of your business
it's just business
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4. |
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you were at harvard for higher math
every sunday you split for the hiking path
you were new england's queen of the dobro
it was the hope of the scene that you'd go pro
our romance was a national tragedy
your parents couldn't wait to see the back of me
just a kid who knew nothing of riemann or weierstrauss
next to the genius you were on track to be
it was the summer of the extra strength tylenol
hunkered down and tried to stay high all fall
wide awake until the day and wait for the headaches to fall away
wild nights! wild nights!
we sailed the globe before times got tough
then we drank, and pawned off all the sailing stuff
some nights all that we have is each others' love
those nights you must wonder if that's enough
'cause maybe when i met you i was a man
but now i see the child that i really am
so i sit on my hands much as i can
adrift in a world i don't understand
wild nights! wild nights!
you need a new set of halls to roam
and i see voicemails from cambridge left on your phone
though i have no idea what i'd do on my own
i know that eventually your first love always calls you home.
it was the summer of the extra strength tylenol
hunkered down and tried to stay high all fall
trying to stay, what have you gained?
maybe this isn't our proper domain
maybe when i met you i was a man
but now i see the child that i really am
a heart in port makes its plans
and takes to the sea - compass in hand -
wild nights! wild nights!
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5. |
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i saw you through a thick fog
on the footpath and quickened my jog:
what brings you back after all these years?
you dropped out when the money ran dry
and all of your courage and cunning combined
couldn't pay rent, so it's back to the basement
& i broke down on christmas
everybody's feelin' it these days)
so i went back to work
that's where i saw the bomb in the briefcase
and i thought, well,
if i tell they'll have my hide:
you don't get to choose your side.
our old haunts are all vacant lots
the bookstore sold, the thai restaurant went under,
james never made it out of trouble
got his dreams dashed in a big white room
got his head bashed in by the midnight crew
and the co-pay never seemed to come through
and i got beat up in a frisch's
everybody who married is using
was this supposed to be easy?
maybe we've just got a talent for losing.
when the votes are cast, cuts scabbed,
and the eyes have dried,
you don't get to choose your side
but you can always change your mind,
though you can't rearrange its wires.
and we drank wine, on the old bench, just like old times.
i don't want to spend my whole life falling through the fire
the ice thaws, the burning will stop,
but the lukewarm just have to go back to the top
and start over
over again
suburbs ferment. city tensions come to a boil
what's thrown up must come down
what's buried will leech into the soil
every step feels locked
every hand feels like it's tied:
you don't get to choose your side.
you don't get to choose your side.
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6. |
Sussex Vampire
03:01
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didn't recognize you
cuz you weren't acting in a way i thought my savior would behave
though you made wonders
they were as base as anybody
drunk and swearing at the sun as it dips beneath the waves
ismene, ismene
where you go, you can't stay
where you stand - there you will lay
this right is in the wrong hands
who drives the drivers?
i have breathed water in the past and i can get the skill again
and what ails the healers?
though we have no heroes anymore
we still have hiram's plaster casts and hey! look at the gills on them
ismene, ismene
this you cannot wish away
you made your stand - now make your play
"Chorus"
move off to bury secrets in the sand
what quarter will we keep when drought comes to the land?
move off and bury cities in the sand
what quarter will we keep when drought comes to the land?
"Chorus"
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7. |
Louisville
05:04
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i never knew the town where i was born
nor the 2.5 years i was there for
all my memories begin further up north
you went off for school. brad went to war.
i stayed in the city. we were so poor,
that night i got sick the ER doctor swore i would die
i showed "all the signs"
how could you live somewhere so flat?
and how could you marry someone like that?
and why did i stay in the city of seven hills of my own free will?
and how do you know if you have what it takes?
i've seen so many better ones break,
how do you know if you have what it takes?
that night i got sick i had the strangest dream,
and i wanted to call you, but i knew how that would seem
so i wrote you this letter
but i might as well be talking to the drawer
i was up at the north pole, hit by a sled
coughing up blood - effectively dead
an angel spirited me back to a familiar hospital in louisville
"Chorus"
trudging through slush on the way to the bus stop
you've got a crush that no brush can dust off
better scrape the rust out of your heart and learn to trust love
too broke to pay for rent and food
sleet soaks your face and your winter shoes
just hope you don't croak on the way to the interview
and how do you know that you have what it takes?
when the ice breaks open and skyscrapers shake
how do you know if you have what it takes?
how will you know if you have what it takes?
how do you know if you have what it takes?
i'm just up in deer heaven with the dear saints now.
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8. |
I Didn't Give A Damn
03:58
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the model's nipple bold against the greying winter sky
and i am shaking from the bitter cold here in the helicopter
jane is steadying what's left of tom's arriflex against her eye:
this one goes out to all the editors and photoshoppers
parties she hosted for the agency before it dropped her
once our pictures hung behind glass in the heart of OTR
forcing the hyde park browsers into conflict with their bougeois taste
and hastening, we thought, the start of revolution via art
(but 3cdc had their own ideas about the place)
then god gave me the grace to throw those bitter dreams away
and i'm sorry but i hope you understand
your heart was hot for chilling deeds
i went along unwillingly
and i'm sorry if TITLE OF SONG
we clung tight to each others' arms at the mayor's party through a haze of drugs
our mini-cameras beaming footage that the van outside recieved
and then jane's string of pearls unwound onto the persian rug
& tugging on my sleeve, she suggested that it might be time to leave
& i was never good at sticking to the plan
in the midst of nervous fits i found i could not keep my wits about me
and i'm sorry if TITLE OF SONG
we're just spoiled little kids who never had to learn how to live
stupid smirking gits with camels hanging down from our lips
hearts and budgets shrunk, but our plans kept along, growing big,
and one day i found TITLE OF SONG
the signal's given through the walkie talkie and away we go
the news crews aren't here yet but soon night will fall so our window's getting small
so jane trains the camera on the nudes down in the fields
as they form into the shape of a giant grinning skull
so i'm sorry but i hope you understand
your heart was hot for chilling deeds
mine was set on baser needs
so i'm sorry if TITLE OF SONG
i swore that i would follow you to the bitter end -
as quitters win, that i would be your final friend
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9. |
Simple Gifts
05:03
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the trees' empty branches threw their shadows on the street
in the mellowing dusk we were dead on our feet
there was nowhere on ludlow we wanted to eat
so we got in your car and we cranked up the heat
you took reading road north from uptown
past where china cooking was before it shut down
karl called for a ride so we turned it around:
he's drunk in some bridal store, trying on gowns
when you sell out, there's no sign - there's no tell -
you hooked up your phone and played "heartbreak hotel" (1956)
and we drove off through evendale as the snow fell
if i never grow old or grow wealthy, oh well.
karl was making one hell of a scene
they would've called the cops had we not intervened
he stumbled outside and said "next halloween
i am going as myself from 2013"
at thanksgiving dinner they told us to grow up
our families they weren't all that pleased that we showed up
karl opened the window and leaned out to throw up
we're young and we're ugly and we're ready for our close-up
we dropped karl off safe at the liquor store,
bought some wine to pour out on the living room floor
for our friends who had come and those who'd gone before
through heaven's bright shining celestial door
our noses were numb and we walked glove and glove
down the lane as the sky turned to charcoal above
all i can give you is what i don't have much of:
my time and my money, my luck and my love
it's icy outside so we shut the windows tight
strength for today and bright hope for tonight
and turn around in the old feeble light
'til by turning and turning and turning we come around right
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10. |
In Babilone
04:42
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(from "the gold carriers")
when He first saw me i was 23
a dime-store nihilist in borrowed burberry
i had my autumn fling and a flask of gin in the library
i was on my bike just passing through
i'd taken to riding around town just for something to do
saw the cd thrown down on este avenue:
"r&b hits: volume 2"
back then i didn't know what i wanted
they took me in, into the fold
to that house in the west that was their hidey-hole
they showed me the rites, yeah, and the bodies, yeah,
and the painting that they stole
it was sketch of Your form in the smoldering core
of a courthouse on fire, 1884
i am a thief and a liar and a boor
but You could make me so much more
just then it was all i wanted
i've done things that i'm not proud of
satan get behind me
i'm a villain and i want to go somewhere the truth won't find me
i've got nothing left to tell the others in my story:
see you all in hell.
keep a seat warm for me
so i can't say, was it luck or fate
that i had my old walkman in my bag that day?
pulled off the way, popped the cd in, pressed "play"
i saw the city in one glance as i'd never seen it before:
all the forests and factories completely transformed
God spirited me up, i was cut by the stars
i saw the moon meet the river, the towers meet the earth
and then He showed me His streets of Gold:
it was all that i ever wanted
i've done things that i'm not proud of
satan get behind me
i'm a villain and i want to go somewhere the truth won't find me
how can i face my friends and family?
i know they wouldn't get it
so i turn back to my former gods
and i ask them for forgiveness:
right now that is all i'm wanting.
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11. |
Ismene
03:53
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long before your angry eyes will open again
& long before your soul will rise like a helium balloon
i will drive up 75 in the cold winter wind
& i will pray that that awful day won't come anytime soon
pour out some brandy on the frost
& i'll drink one for your life and causes lost
but your spirit stays mad
it chases and it exhausts
i can't fight it, i can't fight it
i can't fight you off
i dirtied off my hands for you
though i'm neither tough nor brave nor true
the right thing, well, it didn't feel that right to do
i don't want to spend my whole life fighting
then just have death claim me too.
after today, i'm done - i'm done with that advice you gave, saying,
"ismene, only cowards stay to bury the brave"
well you've had your say.
now stay down there in your cave
and don't get up.
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Silo's Choice Chicago, Illinois
jon is a normal guy who is a clerk at a normal type of store. he likes new age music and the beach. he has long hair, for now, but that could change, for instance if his hair were to get burned on the stove. that can happen at any time. he plays music.
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