Get all 8 Jamie Barnes releases available on Bandcamp and save 20%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Ex-Voto, Low to the Bird, The Mercy Seat EP, Idol of Ohio, The Recalibrated Heart, Paper Crane EP, Honey From The Ribcage, and The Fallen Acrobat.
1. |
Pennyrile
04:03
|
|||
|
Turn the Earth upside down
Shake the dead things from their holes
While the memories drape
Like white chemtrails in our souls
All these hills knew my name
Long before my timeline's draw
As the moon knows each phase
Perseid and Leonid fall
And its shadow found me
And its shadow found me
There beneath it all
And with lifted hands to high we gasped and wondered at the writing on the sky
What a thing it even is to be alive
Dream the ridge and the plain
With all it's shape and color wrong
Drive the Pennyrile drag
Path of totality, God and gravity, lift our song
And its shadow found us
And its shadow found us
There beneath it all
And with lifted hands high we laughed and lingered as the darkness doused the sky
What a leap of faith it is to close your eyes
Turn your glass upside down
Dry your gin lips with your sleeve
Mark the years of hoped return
Blow a kiss before you leave
|
||||
2. |
Low To The Bird
04:38
|
|||
|
Here it goes
A sort of Ex-Voto
With a hand full of discord that is ready to sew
And how wild it grows
Dear friend of mine
Through brick and dime
Your Iscariot silver has up and lost its shine
How it shined, it shined
Is there no one left to help the widow's son that fell a long way down?
Now I'm too many words lost down the drain
Gather me like rivers, gather me like rain
I don't mean to accuse, I don't mean to complain
I'm too low to the bird for my prayer to be heard anyway
Full attack
Over trails and track
When your eyes are too far forward to know what's rolling off the back
A long way back
Tilt and sway
Mercury's in retrograde
I'm just a glutton for punishment and the kitchen's open late
Is there no one left to help the widow's son that fell a long way down?
Now there's too many keys linked on my chain
They're so heavy in my pocket, so heavy in my brain
And I stumble and fumble for an opening
But not a one of them unlock anything interesting anyway
|
||||
3. |
Binary Star
03:50
|
|||
|
Could you not stay awake
And watch with me awhile?
The ebon pinion falls across my eyes
Does it frighten you to think
That the lone celestial fire
Is seen from so far away that it's already died?
Maybe you're right and I'm the fool
More of wolf under the wool
Under the moon, howling alone
When you feel the drift from the binary star
You watch the barycenter fading from afar
To reach from worlds, to hold the other tight
What was the dream to be a single point of light
Could you not stay away?
No, not for all my life
You talk like you believe that we can survive
I've got promises to keep
I've got water towers to weep
I've got champagne flutes to bleed before I call it a night
Maybe you're right and I'm the fool
More of wolf under the wool
Under the stairs, howling alone
When you feel the drift from the binary star
You watch the barycenter fading from afar
To reach from worlds, to hold the other tight
What was the dream to be a single point of light
|
||||
4. |
Christ Of The Ozarks
04:04
|
|||
|
Do I know your face?
Am I still forgiven?
Do I know the place from where you're listening?
Hallowed be the name even if I forget it
Even if I forget from where I came
Christ of the Ozarks, hold out your kind arms to me
I lost my landmarks, I lost my family
Bring down your home
Hold me in mystery
Hold me till the end and then always
Sundowning, all the wildfires slowly burn
Can't look back upon the way that we were
Tie all the little foxes by the tail before they run, they run, they run
I wish there was a liturgy for the hour soon forgotten
I wish there was a prayer for the when and they why
I wish there was a litany for the names evanescent
A benediction for the long goodbye
Sundowning, all the wildflowers finally bloom
Can't lay back into the grave that was exhumed
Tie all the little foxes by the tail before they run, they run, they run
Before they run, they run, they run
Before they run, they run, they run
Before they run, they run, they run
Christ of the abyss, shepherd of the nameless fold
Harrow my hell, pull me up to shore
For Thine is the Kingdom, the power and the glory
Forever and ever Amen
|
||||
5. |
Break Me Just Enough
03:37
|
|||
|
Break me just enough
Bloodletting so I barely get up
Ocean below and cloud above
Break me just enough
Break me just enough
Estrange me from the love and twisted touch
Throw me to what I'm worthy of
Break me just enough
Skating on the event horizon
Accelerated light baptizes
Don't speak honey, don't speak wine if you can't abide
Break me just enough
Break me just enough
Curse all my hope back into dust
Danger below and grace above
Break me just enough
Skating on the event horizon
Accelerated light baptizes
Don't speak honey, don't speak wine if you can't abide
If you can't abide
Break me, break me, break me just enough
Break me just enough
Break me just enough
Break me just enough
|
||||
6. |
My Silent Partner
03:24
|
|||
|
When the great cloud of witnesses dissolves from overhead
And the sky is made empty and my feet are left wet
No thunder in the valley, no wheel for the ride
No stone to skip across the lip of the tide
Where loneliness speaks loudest you whisper through the noise
You're my silent partner, my companion in the void
When winter tilts the world away from the warmth of the light
And what fed us in the morning turns poison come night
She's the candle in the window, the silk in the scarf
The Darjeeling in the kettle, she's the gold on the hearth
With coal and ember dying she breathes life to the spark
You're my silent partner, my hand held in the dark
When the Westerlies prevail and the stars un-allign
And the doubts and damnation swirl in the doldrums of your mind
No word to speak of comfort, no relief in the rhyme
No song to throat, no antidote, no calm lullabye
Permit me just to sit and hold this space with you awhile
I'll be your silent partner, your companion on the mile
|
||||
7. |
Opposite Branches
04:05
|
|||
|
Two songbirds on opposite branches
Calling out to the morning
Though their wings retired and their feathers blind to each other
Their voices fly, their voices fly
How can we leave when this old tree is all that we've known, oh
How can we turn away when the burls and knots have always been home?
What's to doubt with all other beaks pointing south?
And every fainting leaf blankets ground
Tell me what am I to you? Just a speck in the big wild blue?
Oh no, that's not true
Now let's harmonize our sorrows and sighs and brace for the winter gloom
Two songbirds on opposite branches
Calling out to the morning
Though their wings retired and their feathers blind to each other
Their voices fly, their voices fly
Now do we grieve? Caught between two worlds on fire
What do we cling to now
When the tongue's cut out of the timbered choir?
Did we miss the moment to hitch ourselves to the lightning vein? oh
Did we miss the moment that never came?
Tell me what are we supposed to do? Plunging into the starless flume
Oh it can't be true
We'll leave our hearts impressed on the peregrine crest and wait for the daylight new
Two songbirds on opposite branches
Calling out to the morning
Though their wings retired and their feathers blind to each other
Their voices fly, their voices fly
|
||||
8. |
Hollow Dusk
04:27
|
|||
|
Come the hollow dusk, eyes and hearts adjust
The dilated iris of a weeping love
Pools that don't reflect, tangled at the neck
Like two swans, swim into the sunset
See them now, crooks and carnivores are closing
Bar the door and hide my ruby heart 'til morning
Itemize what's left and wake the weary dawn
Holding fast, holding fast
Holding fast, holding fast
Dimensions of the room, secrets of the moon
Kept safe in cypher and in whisper
These words of yours and mine, onyx and iodine
They always, always heal what's wounded
Hear them now, crooks and carnivores are closing
Bar the door and guard my ruby heart 'til morning
Catalog what's left and wake the weary dawn
Holding fast, holding fast
Holding fast, holding fast
Come the hollow dusk
Eyes and lives adjust
Widening the view of what's in front of us
|
||||
Jamie Barnes Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville singer-songwriter Jamie Barnes has been recording his intimate & articulate bedroom pop gems since the early 2000's for multiple indie labels while gathering international acclaim. His latest offering, Ex-Voto, is out on Silber Records November 2020. ... more
If you like Jamie Barnes, you may also like:
Here in the Pitch
by Jessica Pratt
On her fourth album, Jessica Pratt blends up 60s pop and bossa nova into a spooky mix of soft psychedelia.
go to album
I Get Into Trouble (LP | 2023)
by Maple Glider
The Australian folk-pop singer tackles deconstruction, her Christian childhood, and sexuality on her infectious sophomore album.
go to album
The Australian singer's debut solo album is filled with creative indie pop tracks.
go to album
Fool Me As Many Times As You Like
by Daudi Matsiko
featured on Bandcamp Radio Aug 29, 2023
go to album
Little Plastic Castle (25th Anniversary Edition)
by Ani DiFranco
Ani DiFranco’s sprawling and stylistically diverse 1998 LP gets a vinyl reissue, still sounding as vital as ever.
go to album
Oslo's Siv Jakobsen showcases a gift for plush, softly strummed indie folk on her bucolic third LP.
go to album
Westward, to Nowhere
by Ian McCuen
This sweet, mournful “loose concept” album from folk artist Ian McCuen tracks a journey across the bleak landscape of American life.
go to album
