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Adder and Alder

by The Clay States

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1.
pulled from our slumber with holy breath/waters run with his voices/welcome my child for who I bid this garden grow/behold/spit from the garden the waters receded/angels return with their choruses/sons and daughters in robes of slaughter/welcome our lord to the earth/dust shall gather dust/beneath the flowers wild to fill the mouth of the serpent/dust shall gather dust/in the hollows of these garden walls oh lord/our will be silent/this night many wombs are torn/broken carols ring/a child is born/this son shall make us well/our voices healed/singing all rejoice
2.
3.
pale and close/are the rooms that i chose/with its small mouse doors/where i'd bargain my sin/whole kingdoms we'd fill/and great cities we build/out of the minds of men/drunk on the blood of the lamb/even though it fills all of us/still we are false/our hands have grown weary/of hold their form/as our claws take their shape/our skin is left torn/and the fields are empty/no one labors 'til dusk/we'd rather die in our beds/than toil in our dust/even though it fills all of us/still we are false/i will sing her a song/as we weed in the dawn/near the garden walls/calling us home/she will raise her head/as i reveal in plain speak/her work just like snowfall/so quiet in its strength/even though it fills all of us/still we are false/
4.
Den 02:50
baby i don't understand the lions/I don't understand what they've done to you/you turn so pale and your bones so frail/with the teeth only half the way through/baby I don't understand the lions/i don't understand what they've done to you/your hands and wings fold as your heart runs cold/and it breaks you perfectly in two/with the teeth only half the way through/and I love you my god/i love you my god/when you're burning this world/darling i don't understand the lions/i can't understand what they've done to you/blood spills in the dust as your throat burns with trust/with the teeth only half the way through/and i love you my god/i love you my god/when your burning this world/baby i don't understand the lions/i can't understand what they've done to you/there's prayer from your lips in the blood that drips/from the teeth that are half the way through/and they're breaking you perfectly in truth.
5.
youth curls in the corner/and turns my heart like a lathe/but i am old far from grown/yet the grain of my life still fades/and i can hear the vultures singing/a river like a dark parade/born to the world from feather and stone/i take my youth to grave/like pierced dove/turn my wounds to flight/white as aspens grow/with chalk you draw our lives/so slow/calls from birds in the black/calls from birds in the darkness and the hover/it's a carcinogenic feeling/a bite in all of our throats/now i've cut my hair and torn my cloak/uttered words never meant to be spoke/and i've cleared my chest of demons/but now they're cavities in my teeth/and i'm never alone as they gnash and they grown/as i tighten where the blood still leaks/yes i tighten where the blood still leaks/look your face upon/hold your lantern long/howl of holy chorus/sing me to my home/of stone/stone
6.
Alas Babylon 05:21
clouds of red brimming the shoals/lay my head on a warm bed of coals/open skies/shards of glass falling awry/fields of our pharaoh are sanguinary and fallow/silence prevails though i may cry from hell/oh my lord humming along/with the rises and falls/of the angels song/as the dragons breath enters the womb/it's ruination/born in our tombs/put on the white robe of your conquering son/as the smoke filled with locust/in violent swarms/as i wait for you/as i wait for you/i am prey for you/raptors gather to feast/on the flesh of slaves and kings/and the blood shall flow/as i wade in streams below/oh my lord humming along/to the rises and falls /of the angels song/hallelujah/hallelujah/i am prey for you/and i'll wait for you/oh yes and i'll wait
7.
Cathedrals 02:53
i don't care how reads/birds in a story suspended in string/she was just a season/waste from the bone/breath and dust/it ain't really like you need eyes to sleep at night/as you turn to rust/and i still see light of day/thick as smoke from burning leaves/nobody needs an invitation/to try on the cold/we still have our confrontations/wrought from days of old/god is sorry he let us go/still my darling you ought to know/we are just stories angels tell their kids at night/through books of blue and green pages/where everyone has a chance now/you can fight or fly/or just keep choosing to fall.
8.
102 04:15
oh my ashes hurt/my body burns into the dirt/i want more from my grave/lord i've done my worst/take these fistfuls of words/didn't i pray/that i like snowfall/won't you forgive us all/why do my deeds keep me awake?/our lives will make for you a kingdom of mud and blue/a desert owl among the ruins/my heart is blighted/an withering like grass/did you hear me ask/can you fix it all/i liked the breeze that fall/but can these stones really blow away?/except for what you wrote/we'll vanish away like smoke/breath in/and i take ashes with my food/tears in my drink/but didn't i think/it's a nice world after all/of course you'll save us all/i'm sure you won't cut short our days/...
9.
take my eyes/forsake my child/take my wife/as I cough and growl/shoals of dark/roll over our/drowning ark/of this train/shovel your grave/lay down and take your rest/shine like gruel/in your new skin dress/burn our houses back to the clay/rake the coals ‘til they blow away/in the fields of men/grow the end of them/charred alive on this train/counted rows/and the smells of old war/the banks are shallow/where they turn them o’er/our stomachs claw/because we can’t eat/you share alone your stores of meat/such tenderness/will it never rest/hills of crow/wherever you sow/to sate the throat of this train/it’s too late to turn back now/it’s too late she says with a smile/stay a child/hair like coal/no one here can ever grow old/these heads shall roll/lie dawning light/sheer woman stark with grief/sings to quiet the babe in the evening/lie dawning light
10.
Dead Horses 07:01
I lay my horse down on this one/I lay my horse down on this one and shelter in a pile of flesh and dust/we built our walls on the water/we built our walls on the water and drank our fill from red tides/and I am left alone to raise my enemy’s child/addio fiorito/asil di letizia e d’amor/sento che di questo tormento/trequa mai non avro, mai non avro/no/non reggo al tuo sqallor/fuggo fuggo/son vil addio non reggo al tuo squallor/bid my heart not to remember/cover it with snow from each december/we are standing breath uncertain/farewell this home of love and blossoms dear/walls of wailing over me/angels sleeping in the leaves/ bid my heart not to remember/cover it with snow from each december/we are standing breath uncertain/farewell this home of love and blossoms dear

about

Soaring harmonies from the Deep South lend powerful voicing to this album's deeply felt narratives. Instrumentation is heavily influenced by classical and roots music. A concept album intended as a letter to the Church.

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released January 12, 2015

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The Clay States Birmingham, Alabama

Songwriter Stephen Collins from Birmingham, Alabama known for multi-genre songwriting and focused vocal harmony. Their music has been called Antebellum Americana, Country Dark, and New Weird America. They continue to perform mostly in and around the Deep South, with biannual tours nationwide. ... more

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