Get all 5 Cantalouper releases available on Bandcamp.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Screens for Decor, Rounding Error, Reproduction, Mandrakes, and Drool.
1. |
Parking Lot
02:55
|
|||
your car was cold your breath was hot
we pulled into a parking lot
the sun was weak and grey and not a star
i thought that i would be set free
my overripe virginity
was clamouring to finally be destroyed
all knotted up and tense
so sure it would make sense
and all the motion sickness and shaking would be worth this
i was so ready, then you spoke
you said it was a cruel joke
and one you're sorry somehow went so far
i almost cried, apologized
you said, "don't worry, you'll be fine
there'll be someone who's so much better soon."
that was how long ago?
and still i lose control
and take back others to make better versions of that same scene
like some parallel universe could be reached if i just rehearsed
how to stick skin in anywhere our anatomy would allow
we learned long ago peeling back figures hardbacked upon our laps
grey eggs sponges and ovaries never dreaming we would believe
sex as interesting
so if you ride with someone hot
don't pull into a parking lot
unless you know exactly why you're there.
|
||||
2. |
Katydid
03:55
|
|||
katydid
you're just a kid
let's close our eyes and count to ten
she went and hid
the katydid
and you won't find her here again
so search the attics for the yearbooks cards and letters
better find her on the water pitching past like screams of laughter
as it's echoing...
and of their choired voices none can push her lost songs from their throats
but you keep peeking through your fingers listening long
like katydid did did
you're such a kid kid kid
let's close our eyes and count to ten
she went and hid hid hid
the katydid did did
and you won't find her here again
in troughs and crests no more transparent turned to ridges gold with light
she waits just beneath the surface where she'll hide the best she can
and katydid did did
you're such a kid kid kid
let's close our eyes and count to ten
she went and hid hid hid
the katydid did did
and you won't find her here again
cause katydid she did she did
cause katydid she did she did
cause katydid she did she did
cause katydid she did she did
yeah, katydid.
|
||||
3. |
Kindergarten
03:59
|
|||
letters held upsidedown
you can't spell "christmastime"
birds are dead, froze outside
don't let them see you cry
so tell me that they'll resurrect, that's why they look lifelike in death
all posed and waiting to unfurl frostbitten wings and migrate to
a place where they can raise their young and sing and sing till we join in
that new creations all revert to what they were it doesn't hurt you're sure
roaring past the rockets burn, some spaceship doomed to not return
the flash of light, the fuel spill
they killed themselves, as heroes will, to save you
the last time that you saw her was the last day of your childhood
you dropped your books and then looked up the crowd had opened now it closed
just like a sea so long ago got tired of its miracle
and crashing in on all pursuing, horses, chariots in ruins
please don't sing. lullabies
won't keep us safe tonight.
letters claim that the dead all arise,
but they've turned into pictures and stories and sighs...
|
||||
4. |
Stuffed Animals
04:35
|
|||
babababa, babababa
babababa, babababa
babababa, babababa
in stories we can't forget
where stuffed shapes came to life
let's name all the animals
the sounds they make we'll try
in the crack of every action
each withholding separation
how the light gets in, within us
bundles tangles interlaces
startled at our own reflection
in the window we were looking through
babababa, bababababa
who will bring us animals to name them now?
babababa, bababababa
is their language getting hard to hear somehow?
bababa, bababababa
are we fascinating when we're fertile?
in stories with tightened plots
and characters that die
arising, they must converge
to mark the afterlife
when we're circling a spiral
till we reach the point that fleshes
out the word that's growing fullness
blots the mammals, birds, and fishes
from the lists we made to tame them
to divide them till we saw right through
babababa, bababababa
what is left that's written that will make their sound?
babababa, bababababa
when the letters' angles wearing down are round
babababa, bababababa
where our fists unclenched are opening a womb
so speak like you wanted to, sleep like you wanted to, will that reverse the curse we're in?
so speak incoherent and sleep embryonic in your scared bright world too raw for sin
corneas and irises will take
from all other names the one we love the best
all these sounds made countless times before
will be made the first time pushing from her chest
all the animals
the sounds they make we'll try
|
||||
5. |
1986
04:08
|
|||
i bought you some flowers, it wasn't romantic
they came wrapped in plastic and labeled "with love"
you'd have thought it so silly to see me deciding
the bouquets, the price tags, and no way to choose
oh what an illusion
you care how your grave
looks to passersby from the highway today
i brought you a postcard that read, "The Atlantic
is Simply Fantastic- This Time of Year!"
the letters start swimming, the numbers stop saying
that we never made it, so maybe you're there
oh what an illusion
those dates would ever move
or push apart farther, if only we could prove
that there're stones that can roll out
neath artificial lights
with choirs and candles, they're far away tonight
far away, far away
i watched the tide breaking, the kids were all frantic
dressed bright in elastic, some happy, some sad
with their sandcastles flooding, erupting, destruction
is one kind of heaven we all will meet in...
|
||||
6. |
White Noise
03:02
|
|||
we used to say my prayers at night bless everyone exactly like
you always have except that time the cars collided took their lives
my cartoon sheets wore out too fast and with them went my reverance
requests i made were word for word the same the night their bodies burned
you must have got my voice mixed up with all the rest it's all white noise
so should i trust in rock and roll because its sounds are loud enough you will hear?
|
||||
7. |
Crybaby
03:35
|
|||
when it hurts go and find someone who's littler than you
be sure that it's eye for eye, and it's tooth for tooth
spread the shadow that you cast like an angel of death
just ball your fists and scatter all the skippers and the swingers
you're the underbelly of the yard
there's a crybaby crying hard
how you hope that their eye socket's gone all black and blue
all surrounded make them flinch, till they're sure you'd be two for two
spread the shadow that you cast like an angel of death
sign your signature and authorize it's all part of the mission
they have to learn you're playing hard
there's a crybaby crying hard
you're the underbelly of the yard
there's a crybaby crying hard
there's a bully and he hit so hard
there's a crybaby crying hard
there's a body broken bloody and scarred
there's a crybaby crying hard
there's a bully and he's standing guard
there's a crybaby crying hard
you're the underbelly of the yard
there's a crybaby crying
|
||||
8. |
These Little Deaths
05:23
|
|||
i'm going to wake up with you someday
with the incubator on
and when we do it's going to seem like we've been breathing always
when the watery stars all formed
and grew merging to become twin incandescent suns
can you believe that there has ever been a brighter one?
i'm going to name you for her someday
every shell cracked open warm
and when i do it's going to seem like she's been with us always
recapitulation's gone
all matted running off your wings won't ever fly
before you spread them watch your brothers and your sisters cry
so sorry Flannery
that you had to die
we've tried inventing
how you would reply
to bearing violence, those preserving all the worst
remains of grovelling for our trust
then each good man was hard to find,
connected now, they've been assigned
to make sure our identities
are tangled up with these beliefs:
1. we must protect god's righteousness
2. it's no coincidence we're blessed
the sperm's all boiling towards the eggs
the heaving masses leaving dregs
the failures all too numerous
to fathom all these little deaths
oops, we're too close! we need commands
so general we'll understand
that's there's a plan, that there's control
that Truth itself was not the goal
so let's speak in majestic tones
of this desire that burns our bones
but not for being satisfied,
it's just to keep us crucified.
|
||||
9. |
Sleepyhead
05:38
|
|||
i can't really tape all the suicide notes ever wrote
end to end and then watch them unroll as i
soothingly read every line while you're tucked
in your bed
sleepyhead
protecting, preparing you for all the shocks
growing up, finding out that you've gotten so caught
in these snares and these toils and dangers you swore
you'd avoid
you'd avoid
so go to sleep, the morning will come
but first it's time for nightmares, for nightmares
all begging, "please, get filled up inside.
we'll teach you death forever and ever."
she fell asleep before i was born
so wake back up, it's brighter and brighter
take flesh, you ghost, and read all her stories
strung end to end, they're better and better
|
||||
10. |
||||
you came of age and nothing happened
no one realized they were laughing
hardest at your observations
and you can't afford to pay them
half and half will make a pair
if it's true love, or so they swear
so how are you responsible
for what you are if you're not whole?
well in an age onscreen romances
always work when they take chances
it's so urgent i determine
how i grew too cautious for them!
and that grows so fascinating
there's no time for concentrating
on the pulsing beating world
surrounding you, surrounding me
and all those organs we won't mention begin
to make you wonder why they evolved through your skin
you know what's wrong, they're all alone
it feels so good to have it solved
with nothing that you could have done by yourself
and all those organs we won't mention
don't seem to be very good at evolution.
|
||||
11. |
All Grown Up
04:48
|
|||
i don't know how we found out that everyone will
take their clothes off and turn toward a mirror
some of us know we're ugly, but others look good
why's it matter if they break the rules?
it's just to get on television
it's just to prove that they're not sinners
are children the people we can't be again because we have so much left to prove?
the traffic keeps inching on, don't think too much about where it goes out of your sight
the branches look heavy, they're hanging so low
isn't it nice to think we won't strip them?
though the snakes are all talking, we've outgrown desire
we won't procreate now without purpose
it's just to stay in revelations
that tree makes us take endless chances
all grown up, whatever once pulsed deep inside of us it's time to learn to neglect
cause we won't grow young enough we want the worst what's ours and who wants to get born again???
i don't know why it's throbbing and pulsing inside
it must be chemicals or illusion.
|
Cantalouper Columbia, Missouri
Cantalouper started as an idea which became a story which became shoe boxes of cassette tapes that became a band that made
records with tours of DIYs and clubs across half the US which built friendships and led to a festival that ran for three years.
Then it trailed off for awhile.
... more
Streaming and Download help
Cantalouper recommends:
If you like Cantalouper, you may also like:
Bandcamp Daily your guide to the world of Bandcamp