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.

Message Received

by Vowl Sounds

/
  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $7 USD  or more

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Message Received on short-run CD!

    Includes unlimited streaming of Message Received via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 7 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      $10 USD or more 

     

1.
I come over to study for French And we work for a while on irregular tenses But now we're all done So let's play a game Light the candles Unsteady flame Lay the board out Fingers down together Your hand brushes mine Light as a feather Ooh, light as a feather Oh, you, I... we? yes O U I, oui, yes O U I J A (yes, yes) O U I J A (yes, yes) The curtains are moving Though the windows are closed I swear i feel the chill Of gathering ghosts The planchette trembles Starts to slide I tremble a little Feeling you at my side A spirit speaks From beyond the grave A letter at a time What will it say? You lean close I can feel your breath Anxious to see What'll come next L E H D Y E N P D O V K I T C A We look at each other So what does this mean? Is it some kind of riddle? Is it somebody's name? Maybe they're drunk? I mean, what the hell? Shouldn't the spirits know how to spell? I think that's witches You say, and we laugh And in the jokes about spells A spell has been cast Side by side In the darkened room Spooky candles That smell like perfume We look at the box It has directions You have to be focused Have to ask a real question We start again And you sit real still, Ask, does anyone like me? I mean, like... a girl? My cheeks get hot I can't meet your eye I mumble, same question... I mean... but a guy? We put our hands down And we feel the planchette Pulling across the board And gliding towards YES I don't need a medium To figure this out Your hand's on my back My heart's in my mouth I lean into you You lean into me And your lips meet mine Message received
2.
Shock Value 03:59
Two Girls, One Cup The Rite of Spring Piss Christ, Flower, GG Allin I can't feel a thing Nothing shocks me anymore There's just an emptiness An open door Un Chien Andalou There's nothing, nothing, nothing Nothing worse than losing you The razor Cuts the eye, cuts the moon And I drift Cut loose Empty bed Empty room You tore my nerves out at the root Left me cold and pale and hard An egg, a cell, a tooth Nothing shocks me anymore There's just a numbness now A swinging door I want to feel something, anything, again Rage, disgust, joy or lust The flame, the bullet Your open hand
3.
I tried my best to like her, I swear I really tried But if she can't be smart and she can't be funny, well, at least she could be nice But she won't stop nagging you about the little things like a Charlie Brown adult or a pissed-off Sim and she never listens to a single word you say unless she hears the sound of her own name I can't believe that you're still seeing her (slow, slow down) Boy, you've got to pump the brakes It's not too late She doesn't care about anything, just watches QVC Hang a mirror up inside her cage to keep her company That's the closest that she'll get to self-reflection Yeah, I've never heard her ask a single question I bet the natural reverb in her head is beautiful (beautiful) such a fine and empty space I can't believe you're moving in with her (slow, slow down) Boy, you've got to pump the brakes It's not too late Our kiss over that ouija board was years ago and I know that all we are now is old friends Still, I can't help but think how much better we were together From that first kiss until our bitter end I can't believe you're going to marry her (slow, slow down) Misty-eyed for Miss #1 Mistake She's not so much a trophy wife as a consolation prize (slow, slow down) Boy, you've got to pump the brakes It's not too late
4.
My true love, in the first hours of the dawn, Rolls over to check his telephone And in bed, in the last minutes before sleep He's texting as I slip off into my dreams Old friends are nothing to worry about But I feel like I'm fading slowly out of sight His best friend's so witty and even I can see that he'd be better off with someone cleverer than me And I ask myself: (Is this love? Is this love?) Color me white as the falling snow Color me dark as the churning sea Color me lonely as the whippoorwill calling endlessly What am I but a dream in the shape of a wife? What he always wanted to keep him warm at night Sweet comfort to sip at that stays stable on the shelf His head lies on my breast while his mind lies somewhere else And I ask myself… Color me blue as a bowerbird's eye Color me bright as a firefly Color me lonely as the whippoorwill with her haunted cry Color me red as the velvet rose Color me silver as the moonlit sea Color me anything that brings your far-off gaze to fall back on me And Robyn sings into my headphones Is this love? Is this love? Is this love? Is this love? All bonny, bonny sang the morning thrush From where she sat perched in yonder bramble bush My love, sit by and listen to her sing: "I never wanted much; all I ever wanted was him" Color me black as the dead of night Color me yellow as the candlelight Color me lonely as the whippoorwill in her yearning flight Color me gold as the morning sun Color me green as the willow trees Color me anything that brings your far-off gaze to fall back on me And Robyn sings into my headphones Is this love? Is this love? Is this love? Is this love? Is this love? Is this love?
5.
No Memory 03:32
Sun pours in onto my face, casts shadows fine as lace Through the ferns that line the window I'm awake, warm and naked under sheets Still clinging onto dreams, the softness of my pillow I'm so confused, I'm not sure where I am I dreamed I held his hand, I dreamed of summer sunlight I try to think, we were at the bar for drinks I think I drank too much, something doesn't feel right No memory, can't process My head is throbbing and my mouth is dry A black hole between this morning and the bar last night I don't even know whose bed I'm in I feel ashamed of everything that I'm not even sure I did Tangled hair and sticky skin I begin to guess whose bed I'm in, I push it back, I hold it in I get up, the room sways like a boat Nausea rising in my throat, and the sunlight goes on shining Pull on my dress, find my panties on the floor Stumble to the door, with a sick familiar feeling I know this house, I know this hall, I know these windows and these walls I knew it all, I knew it all except one room here I smell coffee, I hear plates, I know it's morning, but it's late But no voices, it must just be us two here No memory, can't process I try to think of what I did and what I said last night Was this all my fault? I see her picture on the wall, I picture myself wrecking your home like a cannonball Have I ruined it all? You're frying bacon on the stove, wearing boxers full of holes It feels domestic, it feels strange A sound of thunder, a butterfly crushed between your hips and mine And now the world is rearranged I pretend this house is mine, she never was, this all is fine Nothing happened, nothing bad You turn around and bring me eggs, pour me coffee And we don't say a single word
6.
We don't speak Steam rises from our coffee cups You touch my cheek I feel like I'm falling up Weightless Spinning between joy and dread Trying to make sense Of the memories flooding my head Stop the world with a flash Clutch it in a freeze frame Wind the black ribbon back To where the streets have no name Erase the word that's written on each sign Unbreak the glass, uncrush the butterfly Turn back time There was blood on my hands last night Blood on the bathroom floor What did you do to your wife? She's not breathing anymore I lifted her head from the tile She felt as heavy and cold as stone Oh, God, she's gone now! Left us alone, this bird has flown... Looking back, we reached for LOVE But EVOL looked the same We walked the streets of our yearning And called each one by name Lit the night up with our secret burning Our old forbidden flame roared up bright, returning And then the world changed (mysterious Satanic messages) How did we get here? It felt like a palindrome When you kissed me again in that bar yesterday It felt like coming back home You said to me then We have to be together forever and I said yes, you're right, I love you Light as a feather Stop the world with a flash Clutch it in a freeze frame Wind the black ribbon back To where the streets have no name Erase the darkness written on each sign Take back our words and turn them all to lies Turn back time Stop the world with a flash Clutch it in a freeze frame Wind the bloody ribbon back To where the streets have no name I'm lost... Is this love? Or is it evil? The words look the same to me now
7.
You Too 03:24
In the shadows behind the door, I see a body sprawled across the floor but in the headlights of a passing car it's just a fallen coat and nothing more What are you so afraid of? The dog next door begins to bark at someone moving through the dark A ghost that lingers out of view breathes in my ear to say "you too" you too (what are you so afraid of?) you too (what are you so afraid of?) I brush my teeth at the bathroom sink And something moves behind me as I blink I turn around, there's nothing there But by the drain, a strand of someone else's hair what are you so afraid of? the TV set glows eerie blue, a moon trapped in the living room death peers through the sliding door and promises, i'll come to you you too (what are you so afraid of?) you too (what are you so afraid of?) Looking in the mirror, I see her face appear Company for me inside this cage of fear He calls to say that he'll be home late He's meeting the boys from work for drinks at eight In the bedroom, perfume I never wear Lingers like a specter in the air What are you so afraid of? if your love was true you wouldn't fear that he'd be coming after you the ghost of her hangs in the mirror, whispering "you too" you too (what are you so afraid of?) you too (what are you so afraid of?) you too (what are you so afraid of?) you...
8.
Survival 04:38
What do you do when you've somehow painted your life into a corner? Tied your hands to a man you're afraid to leave? He swears to me that there's no-one else, but I know better I was a fool to think what happened to her wouldn't happen to me So I laughed at all his jokes Kept his darkest secrets close Let myself dissolve away like rising smoke I thought I was made for you So what do I become When you've decided that you're through? I lived my life for love I lived my life for nothing But I don't want to die I want to survive Please don't let this be the end I can be more, more than I have been I want to survive The Ouija board sits out there, our private joke, on the bottom shelf I hear a clatter, and the planchette's moving all by itself It spells a message from beyond "Turn the radio on" (T-U-R-N I-T O-N) And a voice pours out, it's her Singing like a bird Like a bird She says, "We were never friends But I know that it was him That brought me to my end It's not your fault I died for love I lived my life for nothing But you don't have to die I want you to fly Please don't end up like me You can still be more, more than I could be I want you to survive So go, go and buy a gun, Buy a one-way ticket to anywhere Just run Call the cops They'll find out soon enough The dog next door is in the yard Digging up my bones from the earth" I tell her, "I don't want to go on like this I want to live a life That passes the Bechdel test I want to change the world Make art, learn to play the bass guitar Learn the shapes of trees, learn the names of stars I want to listen to old songs Echoing beyond the grave Think of all the lives they saved When they said, 'You're not alone' Like a message from a Ouija board Spelling it out for me You're worth something without him It's not too late, you're free"

credits

released April 18, 2020

Lyrics by Huan-Hua Chye
Music and vocals by Tom Morton and Huan-Hua Chye
Saxophone on Survival by Nathan Tredinnick
Additional vocals on Survival by the Glenn Case Birthday BBQ Choir (see track page for full details)

Recorded at home in Matlock, Derbyshire and Madison WI
Mastered by Joe Caithness (www.joecaithnessmastering.com)

Cover art by Simon J. Curd (www.instagram.com/simonjcurd)

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Vowl Sounds Matlock, UK

Transatlantic dream-pop from Huan-Hua (Gentle Brontosaurus, Red Tape Diaries, TL;DR, Miscellaneous Owl) from Madison, Wisconsin, USA, and Tom Morton (Lardpony, Vom Vorton, Of Mice and Mental Arithmetic) from Matlock, UK

contact / help

Contact Vowl Sounds

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this album or account

If you like Vowl Sounds, you may also like: