The Perfect Arrow, by Shortwave

The Perfect Arrow

by Shortwave

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1.	The Perfect Arrow (Prelude) 01:53		buy track
2.	Bread Crumbs 03:32	lyrics	buy track
There's a house along the way with bread crumbs in the driveway [1] where restless poets go to stay and burn up in the fire of the furnace The mighty River's[2] vengeance sways the rocks and sticks and little flames breathing in the rushing waves, I've never felt so lively in my bones Chopping wood to build an ark, [3] Stepping stones[4] into your heart I hope that road don't go too far Stepping stones into your heart Match our hearts and cigarettes and hold it deep down in your chest drop it lit into the nest to make the taste familiar to my tongue In fevered dreams, I'd pull the thread unwind the blanket in your head and camp down in the riverbed [5] to make the air familiar to my lungs Chopping wood to build an ark, Stepping stones into your heart I hope that road don't go too far Stepping stones into your heart The devil's on your flagpole, Stepping stones into your soul! And I hope the road don't get too cold, Stepping stones into your soul! 1- Hansel and Gretel; the bread crumb trail they left to find their way back home was eaten by birds 2- God 3- Genesis 9:1-3 4- each song on this album 5- God
3.	Enid II (Churchmouse) 03:32	lyrics	buy track
Churchmouse, twitching nose Whiskers piercing where they shouldn't be Old house, dirty clothes [1] Churchmouse, making sound Gnawing painfully on the pew's feet Singing praise with aching teeth Delilah[2], I've got you locked inside my ribs You'll be the last drink that I sip Delilah, I think I've caught a morning sick I didn't even need a kiss Until now Good God, pure and clean Digging up our filthy things [3] Being quiet, never seen [4] Churchmouse, alive for weeks Stuffing blessings in your cheeks Frail frame can't take the heat Delilah, I've got this pain deep in my chest Don't think I'll ever find my nest Delilah, I'm living on a quarter rest Chaotic fevers in my head Delilah, I left my heart up in the north [5] I think to you I'm just a little short 1- Revelation 7:9 2- Judges 16:19-20 3- Romans 8:1-8 4- Friedrich Nietzche, The Gay Science 5- Wyoming
4.	Hosea 10:22	lyrics	buy track
Sew my hair to a crimson cord[1] and watch it dangle over the streets And baby, please come deliver me from these broken hollow feet [2] The day off-course, my throat is hoarse, because I burned it through the night From lit up loves and cigarettes and a tongue that's wound too tight But you bring me down, oh child [3] Yeah you bring me down, oh child I moved my bed to my parents' room, but I've a hard time getting sleep And I think I've loved invisibly, leaving a handprint on your sheets Ghostly horse[4], and my sheets are coarse, left out to dry for way too long, [5] My ankle's caught in the shepherd's crook and I think I'm being watched But you bring me down, oh child Yeah you bring me down, oh child You bring me down, oh child You bring me down, oh child She roped me in by the way that she said her own name Mercy, God, oh she's sharp, what a bleeding shame The limp in your step will swallow your knees So will kneeling for change in the tattered streets But you bring me down, oh child Yeah you bring me down, oh child I lay me to sleep on a blanket of wood [6] With what I always could but I never should The lump in my throat makes it hard to breathe deep now Give me your lungs, share this with me But you bring me down, oh child Yeah you bring me down, oh child You bring me down, oh child You bring me down, oh child You're the comb in my hair, you're the shift in my gear You're the little things keeping my sanity near The fruit in my teeth, force bearing down on me The sweetness of honey and ginger and tea I found comfort inside you and organs and lint And color and hunger and fire and flint Left blood on my cheek from your covetous lips The rhymes and the rind and the bone from your hip [7] Oh give me relief, stop them talking to me Another, another, I'm dying to sleep I hear trumpets[8] and earth giving out underneath Oh God, where'd you go? It's so dark in this dream [9] But you bring me down, oh child Yeah you bring me down, oh child 1- Joshua 2:18-19 2- Romans 10:15 3- The Tallest Man on Earth, Walk the Line 4- Sagittarius, the centaur archer, symbolic of passion 5- Port and Starboard, Desolate 6- Planets, Wooden Blanket (the ancestor of this song from an older band) 7- Ezekiel 37:1-14 8- Revelation 8:13 9- Garrett Russell's "dark night of the soul"
5.	Hungry Ghosts 05:29	lyrics	buy track
spitting fire in the way of lambs [1] never told you I knew romance said I'd take your hand and walk with you but I really don't care leading you down the road I showed you once walking backwards to the beat of lust we sang our song like the rivals only disguised as one [2] the wrath we bring ourselves is kinda fun I'm starving, starving, starving [3] wanting blood wanting nothing but your knees to fail Here comes the fire, here comes the flame I'm bringing heat I'm bringing dust and I want your name written in it [4] Chasing dreams like the child I am Seeing stars from the embers you left Maybe the dawn will bring some clarity Till then I'm drunk off your causticity I'm starving, starving, starving Wanting life, wanting nothing but my soul to sing Here comes the wind, here comes the shame I'm seeing gold I'm seeing stars and I want my name written in it May my aim be straight and true [5] Give the wind a solid clue Steel and feather giving birth Take our happiness and mirth Flesh and blood all giving out Selling hope and fear and doubt Rest assured that all your sins Are crawling deep inside my skin [6] I shot my heart on the funeral pyre Gave the reason after lighting the fire The tree that's burning at the root [7] Has got me shaking in my boots 1- Hosea 4:16 2- Job 24:15 3- In Chinese traditional religion, a hungry ghost is a spirit that is driven by intense emotional and animalistic needs. 4- The first verses and chorus are directed at the speaker of the second verse and chorus; they are conflicing voices of the same person 5- Proverbs 26: 15-18 6- Undertale, genocide run exclusive encounter 7- The burning tree on the front of the album
6.	Summeresque 07:17	lyrics	buy track
I used to be so bored, pretentious, tied to whims, lost to a few and now I can't sit still Slipping out this tired room where I found love in every moon that shone on the window sill But it[1] comes and goes in seasons, faces, cities[2], spaces, and even years and odd facades and worn out thrills But I've been feeling low and you've been getting high and making love to pillows in the night [3] I'm emptied out inside You're dressed in pretty lights and burning out much quicker than I'd like I used to give a shit about the way you moved from room to room on nothing but your shortest breath Sleeping on a hardwood floor[4], I guess I'd hoped you'd give me more but all this feels so beat to death Stepping barefoot on the carpet[5], my biggest dream, that special thing you get to do here everyday again You're walking through the walls so casually I need to change the locks this time But I've been feeling low and you've been getting high and making love to pillows in the night I'm emptied out inside you're dressed in pretty lights and burning out much quicker than I'd like I've been feeling low You've been getting high and making love to pillows in the night I'm emptied out inside You're dressed in pretty lights and burning out much quicker than I'd like 1- depression 2- Mansfield, Tx 3- sexual repression 4- Nashville, Tn 2015 5- walking on eggshells
7.	No Such Thing (Interlude) 01:56	lyrics	buy track
With a finger, she unraveled thought and everything was spinning I knew I had to land someday But the road is so much farther than I'd hoped before I started There's got to be a better way There's something itching in our skin we've got to scratch it out There's no such thing as perfect anyway but the road is so much colder now that you've left me without covers and a fire would just give us away [1] a fire would just give us away a fire would just give us away 1- infidelity
8.	Delilah's Forked Tongue 03:14	lyrics	buy track
Tape my mouth just to break the spell of speaking things only time could tell That I'd make a rope out of my own veins if I could do so in a modest way [1] God rides gently on the winds[2] and we all have our favorite sins And we all got needles in our toes from thinking things that no one knows Feather oars[3] to the rocky moats! Try to give a little speed to your rotting boat! Testimony around the campfire! I'm more than just a little tired But baby, won't you hold my hand? These demons seem to come from a foreign land [4] and God knows I could use a little peace Snuff the torch with some dirty clothes[5] cause the air in here feels a little close We'll lay down flat on the carpet and comb for fixes in the lint Twinkle, twinkle, little star, if only I could see how bright you are Such a winding road through your crooked spine from the tip of your frame to the depths of your mind Feather oars to the rocky moats! Try to give a little speed to your rotting boat! Testimony around the campfire! We're more than just a little tired But baby, won't you hold our hands? These demons seem to come from a foreign land and God knows we could use a little peace Of mind! Of mind! Of mind! Of mind! 1- suicide 2- 1 Kings 19:12 3- Brand New, Limousine 4- Jeremiah 5:19 5: Revelation 7:9
9.	Presence/Untitled 04:33	lyrics	buy track
"I have a thorn in my foot or head, the palm of my hand or neck. I don't see it but by God, I feel it. It's this kind of ailment that feels like a chest stuffed with cotton, unable to breathe. Suffocation. Loss. Despair. Emotions that we all feel for one reason or maybe another. I feel them due to the passing of moments, days, years, seasons, experiences, lifetimes. In a shallow way I describe it as being sentimental but that's the tip of it. I'm cripplingly nostalgic. These remarkable and beautiful memories that I have break me because I have them only in memory and never re-liveable. And I know that I'm prone to romanticizing even dirt, I know that I see these memories with a little more grandeur than they originally sang but that doesn't make it hurt any less. I've always cried after experiences that moved my childhood. My mouth has always been the hinge and my ribs, the enclosure for the still and untouched items that altogether make up a display case in me. You know, the intricate and bulky pieces of furniture in your grandparents' house whose sole purpose is to hold the treasured and forgotten things? I compare myself to furniture because it's the only comparison I know. I can't touch these memories but I have them and I don't know if that is burden or gift. If the sensation of this thorn is one of torture or of pleasure. I see memories in vivid colors, fluid movements and glory. They are a stone excavated, a gaping void confused by its existential inability to exist. I wish to live in them forever and in their truth. In all their beauty and awe. All the love, the experience. I want to hold it close to my face, to know it again. Yet time continues continuing and change inevitably forces life into shadows..." [1] I need lullabies to sleep I need memories to dream I need someone else to share with All the things I've ever seen I need silence in the mornings I want the world under my feet I want everyone to notice From every orifice I bleed I want everything you've stolen I want my blood to be relieved I want your presence here unfolded All your hidden parts released [2] 1- "Presence" written and performed by Jenny Frederick-Harenza 2- "Untitled" written and performed by Shortwave based off of "Presence"
10.	Manna 04:43	lyrics	buy track
Corduroy lines upon my face Jacket naps in the alleyways Throwing rocks at the big blue sun My chest is breaking all at once From salty dues and alabaster [1] And off-beat cues all getting faster Fell in love at a hospital bed Glassy eyes were puffed and red Poison filling in my blood Your voice could never be still enough To swallow whole the roaring fire Proving me to be a liar Needles[2] in the thread giving my piece of daily bread [3] I'll never be whole, never be whole The thoughts upon my head number as the hairs upon my chest [4] I'll never be whole, never be whole Blessings falling through my hands Never gave the ship a place to land Hoof and quiver[5] buried in the sand Thirsty roots and hungry branch In the bedsprings and the plastic shards And the murmuring of your sugar heart [6] Needles in the thread, giving my piece of daily bread I'll never be whole, never be whole The thoughts upon my head number as the hairs upon my chest I'll never be whole, never be whole Set the woodworks[7] of my house ablaze, I was never one to dig a subtle grave We'll never be whole, we'll never be whole Finger strength to snap the line,[8] drugging up your peace of mind We'll never be whole, no we'll never be whole Needles in the thread, giving my piece of daily bread We'll never be whole, never be whole The thoughts upon my head number as the hairs upon my chest We'll never be whole, no we'll never be whole 1- Matthew 26:6-9 2- Methamphetamines 3- Exodus 16 4- labelling myself as both an idiot and a coward 5- Sagittarius, the centaur archer, symbolic of passion 6- diabetes 7- Sleeping At Last, Woodwork 8- Little Fish
11.	Sagittarius 04:09	lyrics	buy track
I think there's something caught in my throat It feels like a feather and a watered-down note I've been a patron to hindsight when I sold it my head I've been caught in the limelight with the dirty clothes shed [1] I'm plucking arrows from my teeth [2] You chose skin over saddle with the blinders on tight [3] All blistered and rattled with a gasoline high You caught whiff of brimstone[4] in the evening's wind From the Cancer inside me setting fire to my skin I'm plucking arrows from my teeth 1- Revelation 7:9 2- the singular meaning of this album, digested 3- blinders put over a horse's eyes to keep its attention fixed forward 4- sulfur
12.	Frankinsence 03:23		buy track
13.	Sitting On My Hands/Whatever is Noble (Finale) 11:53	lyrics	buy track
There is a soul-searching in a pit of dust [1] With angry fevers and empty soil There is an old lining where a sole once was Now I got no shoes, no land or oil No, all I got left is a pretty dress[2], ain't got my mind, ain't got my best Ain't got a thing to call mine Nobody ever visits, they just send me flowers They think that I never see But I think I like floating to pass the idle hours Till the day you come visit me I'd give up all I had to see you here, just to be close, just to feel me near To feel that shiver down your spine Tie those fingers with a hair tie till they bleed and say hey, My skies are turning gray [3] lock your doors, this is a bad dream sitting on my hands to keep my thoughts clean Never thought I'd see the day See the day when my skies were turning gray I'm forced to tongue biting and sitting on my hands Else I might touch what I can't And I'm lost in tall writing[4] and letting go of plans Forgetting lives I never had The haunted things you left in your backseat are freeing me, and being me and laughing at my restlessness I am an old drawstring on a brand new bow Prone to snap now anyday And I'll never be perfect, never even know What it even means anyway [5] I fire endlessly into the dawn, moving fast, moving on Is not what I do best Tie those fingers with a hair tie till they bleed and say hey, My skies are turning gray lock your doors, this is a bad dream sitting on my hands to keep my thoughts clean Never thought I'd see the day See the day when my skies were turning gray You came in cold like a thief in the night [6] Stealing everything in sight Slipping out unseen like you had the right Turning tears into wine [7] Tie those fingers with a hair tie till they bleed and say hey, My skies are turning gray lock your doors, this is a bad dream sitting on my hands to keep my thoughts clean Never thought I'd see the day La dat da da da da dat da La dat da da da da My skies are turning gray! La dat da da da da dat da La dat da da da da Never thought I'd see the day! 1- limbo 2- Revelation 7:9 3- Chrysanthemum 4- Daniel 5:5-6 5- The perfect arrow flies forever 6- 1 Thessalonians 5:2 7- John 2:3-11
14.	- (Bandcamp Exclusive Track) 05:11	lyrics
You bring the smell of a cold rain You've been swimming down memory lane You're diluting the blood in my veins I'll cast this line out the window pane Little fish, little fish, come a-walkin' out the pond I ain't got no time to worry about where you've gone Little fish, little fish, just come on, take the bait I ain't got no time to sit around and wait The banks are overflowing I've been caught in this torrential downpour But the mud is all that's growing I can't tell if it's the ceiling or the floor Little fish, little fish, let me feel the way you pull I ain't got no time to dig another hole Little fish, little fish, come and swim around my feet Don't you know that there's always bigger fish to eat? I smell something burning The aroma's that of woodworks and love Could it be that I'm still yearning To grow wings like the birds have above? Little fish, little fish, I can't find you in this lake I ain't got no time to worry about your fate Little fish, little fish, I think I'm nodding off to sleep I'm all out of time to be lost out at sea

credits

released November 10, 2017

Shortwave is-
Luke Frederick- guitars, vocals
Luke Ridlehoover- guitars
Collin Brandt- bass
Alex Bond- drums

Guest vocals on "Enid II (Churchmouse)" by Alex Owens of Beneath the Waves
Guest vocals on "Whatever is Noble" by Katie Isbell formerly of Shortwave
Spoken word on "Presence" written and performed by Jenny Harenza

All songs written by Shortwave and Jonathan Williams
Lyrics by Luke Frederick
Lyrics on "Hungry Ghosts" by Kyla Cox and Luke Frederick

All songs recorded in Shortwave's home studio, a friend's church, and Nathrop, Colorado.

Engineered and produced by Luke Ridlehoover and Shortwave
Mixed by Kyle LaPato and Luke Ridlehoover
Mastered by Luke Ridlehoover

Artwork by Tess Lemley

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about

Shortwave Texas

Independent folk/rock band from Ft Worth, Texas.

Luke Frederick
Luke Ridlehoover
Collin Brandt
Alex Bond

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