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Spells Before Earthquakes

by That Dream Was Our Life

/
1.
Highway 10 03:52
lyrics
Highway 10, Highway 10, so close to where you used to live A room of neverwinter nights in a city full of light Highway 10, Highway 10, shadows cast over the west The direction of decline, graffiti saints & painted vines Can you leave a memory behind We repeat ourselves a hundred times I don't believe in destiny or signs But I can see how you could change my mind Highway 10, Highway 10, falling backwards once again Is love another name for the pain that's in your way Highway 10, Highway 10, lying dreamless in your bed We can try to make amends for fantasies that we invent Can you leave a memory behind We repeat ourselves a thousand times I don't believe in destiny or signs But I can see how you could change my mind Highway 10, Highway 10, the future that it represents I wish that you'd come back to me but you & I we are not free Highway 10, Highway 10, where dreams go to meet their end It's the closest to escape I'll ever get Can you leave a memory behind We repeat ourselves a million times I don't believe in destiny or signs But I can see that you could change my mind You could change my mind
2.
This Is How It Ends 03:08
lyrics
This is how it ends In summer heat & wind The water's flooding in Even ghosts abandon ship They only haunt the ones who live Charmed by your city once again Tracing circles on your skin A light I can't resist I'm holding you but nothing sticks I know that we won't win This is how it hurts Perfume clinging to my shirt Blood descends over the earth A hand rises from the dirt Half-measures never work This is how it dies Eyes burning dark & wild A flame loses half its light Can you bring it back to life With the magic of a smile The only one who asks about me The only one who ever knows a thing about me When you had something to tell me Two years disappeared beneath me This is how it ends You've got a shiny life to live Steps you can't retrace A name you cannot say If you stay all is forgiven The only one who asks about me The only one who ever gives a damn about me When I had something to tell you I didn't say it just to hear you say you love me too
3.
Poets Always Know 04:04
lyrics
You were a fixed point In the solar system I was an astronaut deployed A shuttle on a mission Another trip around the sun Fades like the afterglow Does it fade for everyone Poets always know We try to catch the light And find that we're inadequate Is the answer in the quiet When words fail to resonate Black holes & expectations Collide like dominoes Will they dance like constellations Poets always know Exploding stars that sink In a well of gravity We're not stronger than we think We're as strong as it should be I know you can't believe it The war's already won I know you love to see it The Lorde's work is never done Waves you follow in the dark Like negatives exposed Can you trace them in the Sparks Poets always know
4.
Oblivion 04:01
lyrics
When her brother died my mother said "Everyone's gone, I'm the only one left" Frozen in place, curled up on the ground Watching her branches of family burn down I still think of Sarah trapped under the ice I still think of Mark & the last time I cried Angels asleep in emergency rooms Like Roman soldiers at Jesus' tomb There's always a consequence By choice or by accident When I meet myself Will I know the difference between oblivion & all that was left undone We believe that our days will be full forever We like to imagine we'll grow old together When we close the door for the very last time I'll be at your wake but you'll never see mine We look for the lesson, we pray for the gift We hold on to stories in order to live There's only room for love in this world When it's said & done We're all amateurs There always a consequence Regardless of innocence When I get to hell Will I know the difference between oblivion & all that was left undone Grief knows no distance

about

TDWOL 31 // SPELLS BEFORE EARTHQUAKES

Sad bops for a lost season: East Los Angeles graffiti, performative withdrawal, impossible expectations, private grace, & public grief. Before I fell asleep on the last train from LA to San Diego I watched the lights flash across the window and wondered how long I'd continue knowing so little about art, or people, or the future.

It's a summer swoon in every sense xx

Written between pages of Ben Lerner, Joan Didion, and Kristen Arnett, and while listening to new music from Alex Lahey, Blood Orange, and Kate Tempest.

credits

released August 30, 2019

Written in Notebook #4 & Google Keep
Recorded to iPhone & edited in Audacity
Photo: Highway 10 overpass, City Terrace CA 7/14/19

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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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