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As You Lay Sleeping

by Ways Lain

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1.
Hound 05:25
There’s junk in the yard I see it every day I know that it’s ours but I don’t take it away Cause I don’t know where to start I want to clean every part of me And I won’t show you this song even though I want to cause I feel like it’s wrong also I’m afraid to. I worry we don’t belong I tell myself not to put it all on the shelf At least I’ve got my friends And we go out to the movies and we get lost and we get found and we get chased by the big hound and we get chased and we get chased and we get chased Sure, you know me, you know me so well. And sure, the prices one day will fall. And when I go out to the store, I hope I remember what for, I remember what for.
2.
Gap 03:10
I caught a glimpse of the Big Gap as it passed down my street it felt my gaze and stopped to linger outside my window I knew what it wanted and why it was there so I turned in my bed and I let it in and I said Hello Nothing, it’s been a couple weeks. And I hate you, I hate you, I hate you, I hate you. Why are you always there, when I am my most aware. Hello Nothing, it’s been a couple weeks. And I hate you, I hate you, I hate you, I hate you. Why are you always there, when I am my most aware.
3.
Pinch 03:14
I wanna feel you there The pulse of your memory While I feel myself I wanna bring you back I wanna hold you there Like I hold myself I wanna feel the pinch of desire I wanna feel the hot lull of the fire I wanna remember you with my body Anything is possible when I close my eyes Anything is possible between my thighs I will turn this longing into a home and I will never walk through the door alone I picture you everywhere I picture you lost in my hair I picture you staying there I picture letting go I picture putting on a show Through the window I join the chorus, all our eyes squeezed shut I live shoulder to naked shoulder with them there Gorging ourselves on the mystery Anything is possible when I close my eyes Anything is possible between my thighs I will turn this longing into a home And I will never walk through the door alone I will never walk through the door alone I will never walk through the door alone
4.
Pillow 05:49
I didn’t sleep I counted your breaths not with numbers but with mounting increments of awe and loneliness I was your servant while masquerading as your queen and you were my servant while masquerading as my king Our love was barely recognized before they threw us out on the street others are merely daunted where I’m paralyzed and I have walked away unscathed where others have died. I haven’t told you anything yet I lost everything that I didn’t bet.
5.
Duvet 04:08
Time to risk everything I don’t have a choice I’ve intertwined your voice with my voice but please don’t forget I live complete and alone whether you’re with me or you’re not Tonight I lie in the nakedness of your eyes If it’s a trap, it’s the most beautiful trap I hold you so close I feel our skeletons are speaking with each other.
6.
Goodnight 04:02
When we think we've come to the end we realize we have shifted, we have moved. We avert our eyes from each other, we avert our senses, remembering the weight upon our feet. It's our duty to imagine how by cliff the ground surrenders, letting go, as our lungs do of a sigh. Stoically, we walked, we marched the beaten path that ends where lovers go to cast their ballots, pay respects to those who fell and forgot to bend their knees. And when we think we've come to the end, my love, my sweetest burden, and we decide it's not for us to jump... How will we make turning back as true an ending? Beautiful, we back away, we bow our heads in gratitude. It's our duty to imagine how by cliff the ground surrenders letting go, as our lungs do of a sigh.

about

As You Lay Sleeping grew from a few fevered days of composing “lullabies” about all the monsters and magic that surface in the precious time between lying down in bed... and falling asleep. The day is done, but sleep only descends when you’re not looking, and as you lay there waiting, the darkness, the silence, maybe the person beside you, all become active elements in a special kind of landscape where the mind plays about before the curtain is drawn. Some thoughts are so loud they cannot be resisted and they take you by storm. Some thoughts must be coaxed out onto the stage before you can appreciate the role they have to play. The album starts with Hound, which is the most “lucid” of the lullabies, a sort of prayer, asking for forgiveness, expressing gratitude, and laying out some hopes for the future. The sequence of songs then travels through chain of nightly ruminations, from a great fear of nothingness, to desire, to remembering a doomed love, to emotional surrender, at last settling on a simple ballad in which an acceptance of things ending which allows the warmth of relaxation to finally coat the mind. The whole journey is told through the range of tone provided by the cello (Eliza Niemi), the bass clarinet (Barbara Hankins), and the violin, accompanying an old piano, and an introspective voice.

credits

released May 13, 2022

Piano, voice, violin, synth - Amelia Izmanki
Cello - Eliza Niemi
Bass clarinet - Barbara Hankins
Mixed - Louie Short
Recorded - Louie Short and Amelia Izmanki
Additional vocals - Ryan al-Hage, Emma Cosgrove, Victoria Bury
Mastered - Heather Kirby

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Ways Lain Toronto, Ontario

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