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Comedy Minus One
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Triumph, Reign

by These Estates

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1.
Got decked for the first time, nineteen ninety-three. Got too drunk to sort it out between my friends and me. Ringing in the New Year cashed out in the street; always knew it'd come down to them being the ones to beat, so put the poison in my body. Put the poison in me. Hüskers on the tape deck, out to get some more (Tuesday's fifth of Jameson is already remorse). The pleasures of the blackout are their own reward, brought about by virtue of always being bored, so put the poison in my body. Put the poison in me. When you're drinking highballs, any dram'll do, but when you're drinking Sazeracs, accept no substitutes. And don't let any asshole tell you what to do, cause when you're getting plastered, son, "to thine own self, be true," and put the poison in my body. Put the poison in me.
2.
Able-bodied and kind, on a government line you'll find it in numbers. Marginalize my this. S'pose that you're doing fine, s'pose you don't really mind it, cause you know that you have someplace lower than this. Take good care of the poor girl. She never meant nothin' to me, but it's alright. I know she means something somewhere to somebody. Trade a man for The Man, trade on up if you can, even if he confines you. Rings for those alive. Character and contempt. Don't you even attempt to not become the example for the pigs and the parasites. Take good care of the poor girl. She never meant nothin' to me, but it's alright. I know she means something somewhere to somebody.
3.
Gen. 4:16 04:18
Stuck behind the wall, 1:15, waiting for the sound of sirens or the sharp report of guns. Waiting for the sun, or the sound of the all-clear, but all I hear are muffled voices and footfalls drawing near. When I struck the blow upon my brother's virgin head, it was not a hateful action, just our inheritance. Wandered all around, marked but of this earth, sons and daughters covered in the same fluids at birth. I'm the only one they found alive.
4.
Stolen Blues 03:39
As the river runs to the ocean, it brings Tina Fontaine's bagged body to the shore, and the renegade cops who used starlights as tour guides said, "We don't really do that kind of thing anymore." Development of some kind of complex is never really just about land – the thing about an empire's greeting is, there's always a back to the front of the hand. Who's gonna waste their time rebuilding downed power lines? In between the Missouri state lines, down in August's sweltering heat, before backlighting tear gas with klieg lights, they just let Michael Brown's blood congeal in the street. Black bodies prone on the pavement. Black blood splattered over the news. Comes a time when wringing your hands is just flexing your fingers to play somebody's stolen blues. Who's gonna waste their time rebuilding downed power lines? Down in Tel Aviv, they have a running joke where the setup is rockets, but the punchline's just smoke. Down in Tel Aviv, it's just a fucking joke.
5.
(...)
6.
Notice 05:49
We weren't lovers, just friends who had apartments inside of each other, and you could come over any time to inspect it. Do the same by you and just make sure we respected that a closed jamb draws a line. To be present. To be noticed. To be heard from. To be asked to be heard from more. To just know that you were always waited for. I can't say it, or, to be more specific, I just can't articulate it – I can just embody the meaning. I'm a sentence. You're a clause of some kind but you were never dependent on the reading. To be present. To be noticed. To be heard from. To be asked to be heard from more. To just know that you were always waited for. To be held close. To be awkward. To be conscious of how you lean into the door. To be speaking. To learn how to be spoken for. To be honest I am learning to wait some more just to tell you: you were always waited for – always waited, always waiting for.
7.
Arrears 03:22
Forgot to turn off the lights. Forgot to shut off the taps. But I am a sucker for burning up energy chasing down a "perhaps." I had a lapse in attention, and there was a gap between your thoughts. But I still like you a lot. I'm in arrears. I know I've fallen behind. But every second I spend with you helps keep it off of my mind. Time after time it was clear: my timing isn't always the best. But I was just following the growing season of the thing blooming inside of my chest. You had the best soft directions, and I've got the worst kind of crush. You turn my fine words to mush. I'm in arrears. Know I gotta pay. Fruitlessly holding out for a loophole that'll buy us just another day, Lord, I'm in arrears. There's no easy way out. Somebody's gonna collect my still-beating heart from my idiot mouth. I'm in arrears. I'm in arrears.
8.
Lariat 03:11
You wrung me out, slow degrees, absent engine was it not supposed to be a passing mention come around playing thief, never draw attention, smoke alarm tugging sleeves to ease the tension I’ve been waiting for you, decidedly bruised (what a notion) you crack me open as you knot the lariat [We] fool around feeling brave a worthless action to measure up, full of grace or satisfaction I know my thoughts/place, let me write retractions it matters not how long it takes—tell me what the facts is (a dreadful notion) I swear to you nothing’s gonna work out right The birds are all aloft, just like the day before; avoided long enough; what do you take me for.
9.
watched a fire once it got out of control burned down the western mountain range of a dry heart choked the blood with ash and smoke caused damage to every home i am a belvedere i command a view look out from my peak upon a panoramic you yr volcanic parts flecks of granite and gneiss that weathered and formed through time the contours of your face sending it up a clarion call i'll consider it all i'll consider it all got a line on the wind voice of foxes and pines soft languages quietly loaning words to mine the syllables of joy or the inflection of hope forming a thought in the yawning mouth of a tongue- tied dope who cannot capture the sky who can't will rivers to flow but who remembers it's helpful to write the kinds of things you know who catches fire at yr touch and who won't be contained visible for miles through thunderstorms and rain–––– sending it up a clarion call i'll consider it all i'll consider it all
10.
It's So Rad! 03:45
There's three kinds of people who make it to the top: there's the good; there's the bad; and there's the never-grow-up. I don't see what's so wrong with it, don't see a reason to stop. The singer sings his song long into the night. I don't know if he's wrong, I don't care if he's right. I don't care anymore, I don't see any reason to fight. Just wanna sing along! The songs we sing are so intertextual. Just don't go calling us intellectuals; I still might giggle if you say something sexual. Maybe I just won't give a fuck. Maybe I could shift some units and make a quick buck. Maybe this could be a shot in the arm. Maybe I'll have some good luck. Maybe not. No way. No way! "Rather burn out than fade away." Don't wanna hear 'em say, "I missed their glory days!"
11.
Death Rattle 04:24
Far back as my dumb brain can recall, saw 'em everywhere, small and yet hopeful. RIPs in bars & bathroom stalls. Never paid 'em much – never paid 'em any thought at all. Ask a buff guy what makes him so brave. Is it his massive calves, powerful and strange? "When his time comes, he will not be saved." Says right here: "Commended into light; body called to ash or to the grave." Put it in the ground.

about

Recorded in August 2014 by Mason Pitzel.
Mastered by Chris Goosman at Baseline Audio.

credits

released October 28, 2014

John Cameron: vocals, gtr; keyboard on "Arrears"
Matthew Carr: drums
Mason Pitzel: bass/baritone gtrs; vocals on "Lariat"

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Prairie three-piece. It's always safe to set your drink on your amp.

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