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Vaporware

by Phantom West

/
1.
I'll be sent into the sky On a stack of steel and flame Though I won't understand why Everyone will know my name Perfect creatures overhead Tracing out an orbit's line They're the first that we shall send Perfect creatures for all time Found astray on a cold, cold street Found a way to complete the destiny of me A way to burn a path into the sky (chorus) Now the light from the outside's blocked Now it's dark, I'm without a window next to me I'm afraid but I can't stop what i can't see (chorus) When I fall back down to Earth A light in the sky and my trans formation complete now As ash and dust, I will touch your sleeping brow
2.
Fault Lines 04:27
I heard a whisper on the waves From across the galaxy A tyrant dashed the children on the rocks I heard a rumor of genocide, so far away I felt the tremor of the land (saw forever) but I never heard the cry (of the millions) I can't understand why the brave ones bend (but they never break) Or how they can withstand the cold when i just retreat I heard a rumor in the crowd (just a whisper) They've come to take someone away (just a traitor) The gallows was assembled, the tethers fixed (who am I to scream?) Who am I to scream? I couldn't see it anyway I felt the tremor of the land (just the shaking) but I never heard the cry (a whisper underground) I don't get why the satellite stays in orbit (broadcast misery) Or why they stand and brave the faceless horrors when I just quail (How can i understand this tale I'm told when I can hardly hear How can I comprehend this tragedy when I can hardly feel) I heard of dissidents detained (just a whisper) Their bones and flesh locked in a vice (just a whisper) I heard the crackle as their bodies break, just a whisper (just a whisper) Of autumn leaves across the way I felt the tremor in your hand (just the shaking) but I never heard you cry (like the millions) I don't understand what it says to me (broadcast misery) Or why you stand and brave the faceless horrors when I just recede
3.
4.
Superstition 03:18
So helpless before this obsession The cruelest parody of you in my head Now is the time Just open your mouth and close your eyes Then hit the switch and let the mask aside Side by side Watch the shipwreck float away Better the button than the long slow fade So fearless before this explosion The bloom on the skin
5.
I spent the afternoon Dying in fits and starts While the leper machine made Careful notice of my progress Protected by saturday In a tuesday morning haze While the media man speaks in tongues To the masses what he reads on the pages Tear the transmitter down Make a terrible sound Who knows what they'll say next? We'll put your ass in context Tear the transmitter down Unroll the avenues To welcome the evening crew The town is on fire And we don't remember what to do The king and the queen are back Society's heart attack With a serenade from the lips Of the prophets and the phony sages
6.
Strike a match on the wall hold it up to your flushing face then let it fall Come in a haze of blue smoke and burrow right under my skin take control Pushing back to the wall a cry and a shout in the hall swear I'll remember it all Breathless oaths of love and protests it's never enough absorbed in the ceilings above Strike your fist on the wall and hold it up to your twisted face then let it fall Draw the blades that you stole that burrow right under my skin and lose control Pushing back to the wall a cry and a shout in the hall I just want to forget it all Breathless oaths of love absorbed in the ceiling above from where they could not be wrung
7.
Concorde 03:25
How can I contend with the defects in my head? Just carry me down, pretty machine to the runway's end We never knew when the underground station moved never knew what it's like to fail These cloudy days when we can't see beyond the haze birds will try to outfly their burning tails How can I contend with the waves that make me fall? Just carry me down, pretty machine to the end of it all Long before we moved on they said the old constants were gone nothing to be understood They'll know it's true that we didn't know what to do because what we've done did no good How can I conceal that the eschaton is overdue? Just carry me down, pretty machine where I left you Someday we'll shine like a gem in an alien sky maybe then we'll be understood They'll know it's true that we didn't know what to do because what we've done did no good
8.
in the glow of a strobing match light cloth drawn down to hide all the sky in your sad eyed head pupils open wide came the poison then to kill you and all that's outside came the poison then to save you from all that's inside after all you will be forgiven cleared of every shame in the dark where the nightmares rode you every one the same even once in the darkened bedroom did you call my name? put the pictures in your pocket for when the time came I should rest here on the hillside by the edge row in the shade I can feel your absence ache in my side watch your love rise on the fire with the ashes will we see you in the colors of the sunset?
9.
Miranda sees the canyon's edge the hours tearing down the day She will pass the golden trail that she must walk without us Miranda sees my faith give way and knows my life's in disarray Once so warm by my side but she must go without us Miranda breathes the ocean's gray color seeping down her leg Future read on a cold glass slide that she must see without us
10.
If we assemble as we're told along the dock side will there be any mercy left for those who hide? And in the forest you can be another trail a pair of eyes they'll never see under a veil The furrowed brows all through the crowd portray a fine dread already counting who among us will be dead And on the edge of town we'll meet and make our plans Will you, my love, take to your feet or take a stand? And in the dunes along the beach you can conceal A souvenir to future's reach under the seal And on the edge of town we'll meet and make our plans Will you, my love, take to your feet or take a stand? And in the silent snow a peal, a fell report It's just the end of all appeal just time cut short

credits

released November 22, 2011

All songs written by Timothy A. Clark
Except "Leper Machine" written by Daniel Hengeveld, Timothy A. Clark, and Courtenay Gasking
Published by Phantom West Music, ASCAP

Vocals by Timothy A. Clark
Except "Leper Machine" vocals by Timothy A. Clark and Christina Clark

Cover Photo by D.H. Parks
Cover Design by ANODE and Daisy Zhang

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Phantom West Los Angeles, California

From the dreamlike instrumental and electronic sounds of the 2005 album Chimaera, the noize/industrial/dance remixes of The Rain Expedition EP in 2006, the highly varied synth-pop, darkwave, and hard rock of 2007’s Aleph Null, and then the introspective, long-form ambient work on the 2009 album Aperture, Phantom West has never been constrained (for good and ill) to a single sonic template. ... more

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