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1.
A Mote Of Dust 04:00
lyrics
We don't belong to our memories The past can twist the knife but it can cut you free It's 1:19 in the morning, I'm pouring gasoline A hundred miles from your house, do you ever think of me You smoke another cigarette & we eat leftover wedding cake And we drive a road carved from Billy Corgan's heart For all we know this could be a big mistake But we don't care, as restless as we are Hope can be swallowed like light underground But everything we ever do comes around In ways we could never imagine or dream to be found You said, "We're on a mote of dust flying through the universe" How fast do you have to fly to escape the earth To be untethered from the gravity of an ancient curse Hope can be swallowed like light underground But everything we ever do comes around In ways we could never imagine or dream or expect or predict to be found In the absence of light we can follow the sound All of the love that you give comes around In ways we could never imagine Do you trust your compassion
2.
Anyong & On 02:43
lyrics
I'd wait for you but I think you're over it Nothing I could do would be enough I'd look for you but I can't handle it The ghost of you just hurts my heart too much Five reasons that your parents said That I was a man of little consequence Four thousand miles from my house to yours Three weeks spent sleeping on your floor Two years following a dream that ends With a few cold lines of chat messages I don't care if you keep the ring But I don't want you to send it back to me Why do I care, why do I give a shit I was never gonna save you from your fear I'd take you back if you could swim a bit I'm not gonna drown in someone else's tears Five reasons that your parents said That I was only ever gonna be your friend Four thousand miles flying to your door Three weeks spent lying on your floor Two nights in the mountains of Tennessee Dreaming you were coming home to me I don't care if you keep the ring But I don't want you to forget Me
3.
La Passe 03:02
lyrics
I wish that I could put you on a plane so I could see you I wish that I could put the fire out inside my brain Cause all I do is miss you A grindcore show in downtown Montreal Anarchist books & crusties line the walls Garçons et filles in the pit Scream about French Canadian politics & I don't understand a word at all Second sunrise spent in Montreal A piano at the top of mont Royal The city wakes in starts & fits A future we can't predict & I can barely see it through the fog When you look into the California night Do you see a spectrum full of stars Does it feel like heaven & all of its heavenly delights where you are Or does it feel like a shadow that follows but never changes form I turn my face to the sun & it's almost like your warmth
4.
The Past Rearranges Itself Like A Dream 02:22
lyrics
You don't have to stay if it's not what you want There are times everyone faces the dark A house without walls & you're swimming with sharks You can rebuild but how do you start The past rearranges itself like a dream If love never smiled we'd never know grief A diver that disappears into the sea You can count down but don't count on me Hope gets us there but what sees us through Why do I hold back when it comes to you The things I believe are so paper-thin I'm on the outside of you looking in Wade through a narrow of grace & regret The water that rises up to your chest You said you don't know how much deeper it gets You can go under but you won't forget
5.
Hide The World 04:05
lyrics
The sentimental breeze of September Springs the summer from my knees I'm drained & discolored as the leaves You spin me around & about Until I can't tell true north from my south A heart so wild that it could hide the world for a while A secret smile that could wipe the past from our eyes I'm blind in the dark & the sand Trying to find the trail to your hands There's one more thing that I could never understand They say that a heart can't stay broken forever But what if it never gets the chance A secret smile that could wipe the past from our eyes A heart so wild that it could hide the world for a while Let's go for a ride The desert is moonless & quiet You could fall asleep & lay your head by my side It won't last forever I just want to remember What it's like When you say You've put too much into this life And can't walk away I know that you're right But when I say the words I don't want an answer I just want to be heard A heart so wild that it could hide the world for a while A secret smile that could wipe the past from our eyes I'm almost blind
6.
Youth Decays 02:48
lyrics
There's evil that you know A heaven that you don't How far you gonna fall when it's out of your control Are you caught up in a storm Does it toss you like some tiny stone Every time you're lost you face the dark alone People that you know with intentions that are good Break your heart with words like "It all happens as it should" She said "Dreaming is easy, the hard part's jumping in" I said the hard part is surviving with no way to make amends My life went up in flames on a bridge around me It flashed before my eyes & left me wanting Beauty fades, desire changes Youth decays & friends become strangers When I dream of you it's over way too soon It fades faster than it should When I dream of you it feels bigger than the moon It aches longer than it should When I dream of you it's never quite as good as when I'm with you
7.
Kawaii Kitty Cafe 02:55
lyrics
I met you on 4th St outside the cat cafe A winter where I lost myself, the year that you disengaged Your eyes flaked with dust like some undiscovered jewel My face was flushed from the cold & I was smiling blankly like a fool Some cats hide, all of them are hungry, Fanny Pack's clipped ear Some dream of missing eyes & the masters who left them here The weight of your hand on mine flipping through pages in a picture book The way you say goodbye leaves me gutted & rotted out like wood No one knows who you are until you show your heart No one knows who you are when you're a work of art You are, you are, you are I love you as much as any stranger could As much as anyone who's ever disappointed you The way you say goodnight warms me like a stone And I don't want to face the end of this terrible year alone No one knows who you are until you show your heart No one knows who you are when you're a work of art You are, you are, you are
8.
i miss you irl 03:44
lyrics
An unlocked heart & cemetery gate Sinking in the dirt over Walda Crossley's grave Does the spirit rise from the body right away A trail of chicken bones & broken CRTs Lies I tell myself but all I want is to believe An ache for all the lives that I no longer dare to dream You said “Sweetie, I missss you Can I see you tonight? Can I spoon you?” Everyone I love has left this ugly town Blew a kiss towards your door & heard an unfamiliar sound Cleaning up my shame like it's a dog I drag around If you could sing the notes of my name one more time If I could feel your heartbeat race like a bird approaching flight I'd relive every moment in a year of sleepless nights "Baby I need you I miss you in real life Can't make it without you" Drake said in 6pm In New York There are nights I wish I could go back in life Not to change shit, just to feel a couple things twice The way your tiny fingers used to lock in mine Melting snowflakes in your hair at 2AM that start to shine Does anything that dies ever come back to life Does it ever come back to life
9.
I Could Describe You As Places 02:47
lyrics
I miss you most in the night You're the wind that travels the spine A heart that can melt without heat In the frozen desert of your eyes I'm driving away from your house A smile that fades over miles Spun gold leaves my window Drifting through the western sky I could describe you as places You're the city, you're the wild The sand under moonlight You're the narrow, you're the climb I'm taking flight & leaving this all behind So let's say goodnight for the very last time You're a hundred adventures Killer of tarantulas & snakes You're the swing at the trainyard The hollow by the gate The door that leads to the dark Is open when I'm with you The Spirit Of The Forest Is always in view
10.
Let Mortal Tongues Awake 03:54
lyrics
One Sunday in July me & Cyndi met A ballerina after a show She was breathless - full of all the grace that you'd expect Her skin was cold as melt from the snow The curtain rises with the crowd's applause & cheers Cameras flash like headlights from a car A pixie cut & fang marks left behind her ears A supermarket bouquet in her arms If I tell myself that I can hold together Am I living in an empty moonless night Does everything that dies stay dead forever Does anything, anywhere come back to life A vampire only needs an invitation first The ageless doesn't want to hear the truth Decades come & go and death is not the worst When the world only belongs to the youth I turned to Cyndi & I whispered in her ear "We were beautiful once, I swear to god" The dancer got into her car & disappeared We stepped into the heat & then we walked If I tell myself that I can hold together Am I living in an empty moonless night Does everything that dies stay dead forever Does anything, anywhere come back to life "Der Tod umgibt uns. Wir sind alle nach seinem Willen. Die Flüsse fließen weiter um uns herum." If I tell myself that I can hold together Am I living in an endless moonless night Does everything that dies stay dead forever Does anything ever come back to life All I ask is that I hold myself together There are nights that I just want to live for us For a while I swear I felt it last forever But only til the honey turned to dust It always turns to dust
11.
If Your Heart Is Free 03:55
lyrics
I can see you smile from a block away Through dirty windshields & Market Streets that shimmer in the rain It's brighter than the light above the clouds between the time zones That keep us separated If your heart is free I can never lose A flight path in my head that always circles back to you You never have to feel alone There are nights I don't forget Your hair & Toms are summer-drenched You kick them off on the punk house floor & hold your knees against your chest East coast sobs & dead end jobs are drowned out by the love call of the west When you're here with me I can never lose A trigger in my brain that always pulls me back to you My heart will always be your home There's a word that lives inside our hearts That we can't pronounce & that is who we are Of all the love I've lost & found You're the only one that's never let me down If your heart is free I can never lose A flight path in my head that always circles back to you When you're here with me I never have to choose A trigger in my brain that always pulls me back to you We don't ever have to be alone
12.
Night Of The Woeful Countenance 03:18
lyrics
The party's almost over but I don't feel like going home Your last Christmas in the city, we don't have to be alone The apartment's gotten colder without a heart to keep it warm The radiator's frozen Hell if I'll ever know What you're doing now or where you go If I never see you again Will I ever be forgiven Do you want to take a ride? We can talk until we're sleepy We can drive to your parents' house thirty miles out in the country In the glow of the stereo, your face is so pretty The song was "Two Of Us On The Run" Hell if I'll ever know Who you're talking to or where you go If I never see you again Will I ever be forgiven I'm still holding your fingers The scent of dried sweat & faint liquor I would have kept some of those promises If I could only remember You were Sancho Panza Tilting at windmills you would never see I was Jason Bourne in the sequel Burning pictures of Marie

about

Sometimes disappointment blinds you to the gifts you've been given & the grace your efforts could never earn. The dozen songs on "Half Life", culled from the eight EPs I released this year, didn't keep me alive but they remind me of the moments, places & people that did.

Compiled between pages of Joan Didion & Jane Hirschfield, episodes of Nathan For You & leveling up in Final Fantasy XV

Written in Notebook #3, a Field Notes book my cousin gave me last year & Google Keep
Recorded to iPhone
Photo: Ben Franklin Bridge, Philadelphia 12/6/2016

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released December 15, 2017

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That Dream Was Our Life image

That Dream Was Our Life Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Introspective & prolific, James Cuartero AKA That Dream Was Our Life has been making music as a solo artist since 2014. Described as "a thinking man’s songwriter who stays away from the trap of being defined by a single genre", Cuartero has released fifty EPs, six compilations, & numerous singles over the past ten years. No t-shirts though. ... more

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