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Ghost Knuckle Raps Table

by Tape Hiss and Sparkle

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1.
A Cold Shoulder to the Grindstone 04:15
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Cut the earth Pick and spade From the darkness Where we're made Ground my feet Air my arms A sacred tree where you left your charms In the dark I need my eyes Hand stretched out I touch the night Hidden roots you never found Half our lives we leave behind We search for words that we can't find And i know All the urgency is stone All this sinew now is bone Now i know why this is inside us Falling on my hands Here we go again From our birth From our mouths To the edges of your house In the dark I need my eyes Hand stretched out I touch the night Hidden roots you'll never find
2.
Royal Blue 03:22
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We had to run away that time A six pack and smokes all packed We hopped the fence and crossed the line I was the fire that once was dowsed Don't tell me about this love you once had Don't tell me how you think you're so sad Mary, no You were the one who took us there We smoked and drank and sang along Our painted nails and wagging tongues I can't stand here and just take Your words and bitter rage I'm not a wall for you to shout at every day No care for small mistakes I won't see you here today I'll escape your fear and uncertainty
3.
Rain at Midnight (Day Zero) 03:31
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A photograph of moonlight My memories of midnight Swirling fears Trepidation We're taught to keep moving on Our motored cogs will spin on But no more song or No more rain here I am just dust without you I don't know what I would do On my own Feel the wind blow Travel on The sun bakes out salt On sand and stone The wildest witness Could it be the way that I left All my thoughts and dreams are unsaid The dryness The saltpan All this heat relentlessy burns Desert dunes my enemies earned I am just dust without you I don't know what I would do On my own Feel the wind blow Travel on The sun bakes out salt On sand and stone The wildest witness Far from home I miss our midnight Dark skies A circular song Moon dog The rain washed us clean Unseen The suffering ceased On our own
4.
All Our Houses 03:58
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When I looked up I saw The slow storm in the wide azure I had run to hide outside In a secret place only I'd find I won't lie Time was good to us Now we'll fall The Norfolk pine stretched high above A standing silhouette against blue The old alleyway was safe Old vodka and orange juice
5.
Hey Heart 05:52
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Hey heart Have your furnaces grown cold Hey heart Have you lost your edge now Round the corner Across the walls Build those bridges Then burn them all You have called for us Chased our blood for us Don't take everything so hard In this world of closed doors Locks and scarlet rust You are us Hey heart Are your embers ashen now Hey heart Is your light flickering out Round the corner Across the walls Build those bridges Then burn them all You have called for us Chased our blood for us Don't take everything so hard In this world of closed doors Locks and scarlet rust In your fire Is where we meet Our desire Is our shared need You are one of us You chased our blood You are one of us You chased our blood You have called for us Chased our blood for us You are the rhythm in our song In this world of closed doors Locks and scarlet rust
6.
Restarters of the Universe 03:59
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Breathe in the air that you breathe Look out at what you can see No time just entropy rolling on through all Give stuff some symbols and signs Build out your grandest designs Undo mistakes undo all what's wrong with this Drive back decay and attack your fear with sharp things Break up the natural order of our lives And just stand Its enough to make us all just start again Control alt and delete Try and eat all you can eat Infinite appetite to match all my shoes My ensembles rich but discreet Control alt and delete Undo mistakes undo all what's wrong with this Don't be scared Don't be wrong Don't be anything anything Drive back decay and attack your fear with sharp things Break up the natural order of our lives Drive back decay and attack your fear with sharp things Its enough to make us all just start again
7.
Seance 05:03
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Like wild animals tamed Like pictures in their frames A blue sky square I saw something old Unspoken untold No word could ever claim A field of silent bells No heaven and no hell Oh you are not here A name carved into stone A quiet empty home But doors are open now No hope no chance no will could ever break my bloody bonds with you Visions swell and fade they make the otherworld seem so true When I fall asleep I hear you But I cannot reach through Morse code from the grave Knuckles tap your name A dark earth square I saw something new I saw what came through No tongue could ever name
8.
Crown the Horse 03:05
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A beating heart doesn't Indicate a soul A wagging tongue in a mouth Is not a great orator A desire to lead is not What leaders are for I don't believe you I'll say what i want to say Write what i like Our things would be better if Your chair sat a knife Dress the pigs in silk robes Feed them Moet and cake Crown the dead horse in the stable His spear's bigger anyway You put soil and worms in your mouth Rats in your sleeves
9.
Tremors 03:02
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Between the oceans and the land The air full of pheromones I admire what I see With tremors So many reasons to leave Too many to go I admire your tenacity But I will have left long before you ever wake up Find a dirty hovel Throw away your money Your designer clothes Cut them to shreds under Chapman's Peak And you'll feel so alive You'll feel so alive But it's not the same, as now Kenilworth Road No need The eternal incurable, we expire at velocity But I will have left long before you ever wake up Find a dirty hovel Throw away your money Your designer clothes Cut them to shreds under Chapman's Peak And you'll feel so alive You'll feel so alive But it's not the same, as now In your throat In your skin, in your perfect skin You're alone right now Forever and ever, ever present now
10.
Distant Territory 03:29
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Turned cold by the sun Seems so impossible to do this to anyone Little rocks and bones and buried things found I walked the drunkard's walk up Long Street, then Orange One hundred nights I just, drank up the time I'm a liar when I say I don't think of you each day Think of me as well Dark evening's moan Seemed like a passing through the desert dunes I was there by chance one day and found you
11.
A Curve Across the Land 05:27
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I'm a fire on the hill I'm a circle in the sand A curve across the land I'm a needle in the hay I won't care what you say And now i understand Deep oceans know they won't rush out Like you will somehow Call me out, call my name, name name Moments like the ones we've had Keep our orbits close We're safe now Shooting stars are drifting out And we're drifting too Asway on the waves A long way from home 'Th o'ma tan war and vre 'Th o'ma kylgh y'n tewes Krommen a-dreus and tir Yn kylgh 'gan goos a res I won't care what you say And now i understand Deep oceans know they won't rush out Like you will somehow
12.
The Wild Loom is Wild Movement 03:51
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The cloth we were cut from Is the same I know your angers I know your surname Trust a falling fruit To land in reach But I hope I'm A little further You were once the edge of all my world Yours were all the steps I followed home You were once the edge of all my bloody world How am I supposed to know what to do now Our bodies will meet the warmth Of the world All our cells will Be unbroken The cloth we were cut from Was woven here The wild loom is Wild movement Run away Or stay the same All at once In my age and time And we threw the pieces to the sea

about

Tape Hiss and Sparkle's Ghost Knuckle Raps Table is a mosaic of related themes framing aspects of our distant and more recent past, in the hopes of understanding our uncertain future.

Our place on the earth and our eventual place inside it - a burial - is lamented in A Cold Shoulder to the Grindstone. Cape Town's recent drought and the risk of desertification is touched on in Rain at Midnight (Day Zero), while the mental health impacts of unfettered consumerism is pulled apart in Tremors.

Though, not all of it so dark. Lighter songs are more whimsical vignettes about heritage, nostalgia and a sense of place in songs like A Curve Across the Land, All Our Houses and Distant Territory.

This is TH&S's seventh album.

TH&S would like to thank the following people:

Helen Westcott and Catherine Schenck for their musical involvement in bringing songs A Cold Shoulder to the Grindstone, Hey Heart, Seance and A Curve Across the Land to stage in 2015-2017.
Nicolai Roos
Philip Cramer
Darryl Roggen
Linda Scarborough
Carlyn Strydom

Many thanks to GoCornish for their Cornish translation services that went into A Curve Across the Land. Meur ras!

credits

released May 6, 2020

Simon Tamblyn: Vocals, guitar, mandolin, banjolin, bass guitar, cello, keyboards, triangle etc.

Mandisi Nkomo: Drums and percussion.

Nicolai Roos: Hammered dulcimer on All Our Houses

Written by Simon Tamblyn. Lyrics written by Simon Tamblyn. Everything except drums, recorded by Simon Tamblyn. Drums recorded by Mandisi Nkomo. Mixed and produced by Simon Tamblyn. Production consultant - Nicolai Roos.

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Tape Hiss and Sparkle Cape Town, South Africa

Tape Hiss & Sparkle was started in 2009, by Simon Tamblyn. Currently TH&S is Mandisi Nkomo on drums and percussion with Tamblyn on vocals and guitar.

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