A physicist and priest were cutting up in a room
when the ghost walked in
and sucked the air out of the room
they said ‘are you friendly? are you foe?
what can you confidently tell us
you even really know?
’he said he got up early and worked all day
came back home and slept his life away
choices dwindled and the daylight dimmed
but he got right up
and lived the nightmare all over again
I haven’t figured it out yet
you assumed a good boy
would just take it on the chin
get right up and do it over again
because you need a good boy
to just take it on the chin
but he said ‘There’s no war that’s left to win’
and on my headstone it should’ve said:
‘had a long life but never had a chance to live’
keep your eyes on your smart phone
while we circle the same drain
good guys with guns
are digging ditches in cap and gown
and American Idols
are engineering the perfect moment
they heard gatekeepers hate cold calls
but I’ve been wrong, I’ve done awful things
and embarrassed myself,
I’ve let my people down But I wanna be good
it’s ok there’s no future for us, I wanna be good
it’s ok that our time is a camera flash in a stadium
where this useless game is played again
and again and again and again
supported by 79 fans who also own “Battle Of Bedford Falls”
Up there with Joe's best -- it feels like it pulls from every record he's done before while still being completely distinct from any Cymbals record in the way it combines the psychedelia and accessibility with some of the lushest, most ornately arranged music I've heard. Plus the guitars still rock, the solos fucking slap, and the ballads somehow slap just as hard. The narrative based lyrics also hit a sweet spot in Joe's lyricism -- direct but inventive, descriptive and endlessly compelling. Emmanuel Castillo
The L.A. DIY mainstay offers a homespun collection of melodic tunes with occasional forays into noisier territory. Bandcamp Album of the Day Aug 18, 2021
Songs of timeless beauty and power in the mold of Vashti Bunyan and Nick Drake from enigmatic Los Angeles artist Shannon Lay. Bandcamp New & Notable Aug 4, 2017
Shannon Lay put her unique spin on some favorite songs, from Elliott Smith and Vashti Bunyan to Ty Segall and Arthur Russell. Bandcamp New & Notable Mar 16, 2023