We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.
/
1.
All Talk 03:00
lyrics
Sometimes you feel like you've got to fight For every piece of joy you find I know it's hard when it feels like They're out to get you every night I know it's hard when all you want Is just to get some sleep tonight All your life for some sleep tonight Loss is the price for being alive But I don't mind if you don't mind & fear cuts through like the streaks in your hair But I don't care if you don't care It's the first time for a last time Forget the boys who corner you They only want to take you home Forget the girls who torture you They want to make you feel alone Forget the boys cause they're just boys Forget the girls forget that noise Forget the past cause it's just noise Loss is the price for being alive But I don't mind if you don't mind & fear cuts through like the streaks in your hair But I don't care if you don't care It's the last time for a first time Loss is the price for being alive But I don't mind if you don't mind & fear cuts through like the streaks in your hair But I don't care if you don't care Put your face on the wheel & talk all night But I don't mind if you don't mind & fear cuts through like the streaks in your hair But I don't care if you don't care It's the last time for a first time
2.
Every Road Leads Back To You 03:02
lyrics
Broken mirrors, fractured smoke Ballet dancers & bachelorettes You get so lonely, everything's a joke Night spirals like pirouettes Eyes cloudy & faithless When you're lost or you just don't know This world is more than secrets But truth fades like afterglow This is where I lose my nerve I don't know how to tell the truth I don't think that this is gonna work When every road leads back to you Twice my hope is still nothing A whisper from inside the tomb Try to make it count for something I love the way red looks on you This is where I lose my nerve I don't know how to tell the truth I don't think that this is gonna work When every road leads back to you I don't know how to find my nerve I always try to fight the truth I don't know how to make this work When every road leads back to you Sometimes all that we're good for Is a momentary glimpse Holding on to you is like when I wake up & I try to make a fist This is where I lose my nerve I don't know how to tell the truth I don't think that this is gonna work When every road leads back to you I don't know how to find my nerve I always try to fight the truth I don't know how to make this work When every road leads back to you
3.
Is Your Life Electric 02:55
lyrics
Love thrashes in the net Until it's suffocated Best to let the magic go Until it's drained and desiccated Hold a hand over a flame Like a joke that lost its humor As if time could break the spell I'm laughing at the future Failure loops like a movie Shadowless in carbon arc The projectionist slumped over Knows all the cues by heart Cut every fume of fancy With acetate & alcohol When the scenes are all assembled It's a tribute just as false Is your life electric Is it alchemy or art Is it a universe of silent waves, black holes, & ancient sparks It all matters till it doesn't Nothing matters till it does The past is prelude & contrition Throw it in the well for us Fantasies die in the hollow Desires remanded to their cells Celebration for the devils Proud of their little hells
4.
We Won't Read Every Book 02:05
lyrics
Scoop me up before I blow away like sand Try to find a grain of joy before it slips through your hands We won't read every book or open the covers Won't see every film or love every lover At least for today we'll be together The copper splash before a wish dies in the well Sometimes hope's just an echo we have to hear for ourselves We won't read every book or open the covers Won't see every film or love every lover At least for today we'll be together

about

My latest EP NO END drops today! If you're feeling the scarcity of daylight & seasonal depression more acutely this fall (or as someone hilariously tweeted as "extra seasoned") you might enjoy this. Earlier this year I realized that to most people, what you say isn't as important as how you say it & that’s OK. While I love to write & listen to lyrics & obsess over them, they're not the most important thing or in the same league as poetry—they're just words that sound good with music. That's all they are & if they don't they're rather pointless. But I really try to give everything I write a heart & if it doesn't have that, then it's bad art. I think if you write from a compassionate standpoint you can sing about difficult things & the limits of strength, & still find a way out. That always speaks to me more than singing from the point of view of someone who's strong, which I've always found kind of hollow. I just try to write the most honest thing & speak to the most obvious truths I can. What a cliché that is!

Written in between chapters of Poe Ballantine (the more I read about him the more I think he's a fraud but god I love his writing) & Jane Hirshfield (I have been limiting myself to 1-2 poems a day from her latest collection & I am sadly at the end), episodes of the Milo Goes To Med School (super niche & interesting by my friend Anthony) & Eagle Eye (Go Birds!) podcasts, Halloween movies on MUBI (Dario Argento's "Demons" is peak 80s bad but also hilarious & gross), episodes of Mare of Easttown (which I absolutely loathed), & weekly games of The Division 2 w/ Randy (we are starting to play some Back 4 Blood too).

This is the *fifth* & final EP in my 2021 series. Check out the Subscribe link above for more info!

credits

released November 24, 2021

Written in Notebook #4 & Google Keep
Recorded to iPhone & edited in Audacity
The crowd noise in "Every Road Leads Back To You" is from a reading that Kristen Arnett did in West Philly that got moved indoors after thunderstorms hit in the summer of 2019
Photo: Pipeline Rapids RVA 4/9/2021

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

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

contact / help

Contact That Dream Was Our Life

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this album or account

That Dream Was Our Life recommends:

If you like That Dream Was Our Life, you may also like:

Bandcamp Daily  your guide to the world of Bandcamp

On Bandcamp Radio

Fabiana Palladino stops by to talk about her mesmeric debut LP.
listen now