We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

A Diamond Eye Shines In Failing Light

by The Steven Lasombras

/
  • Streaming + Download

    Immediate download of 9-track album in your choice of 320k mp3, FLAC, etc. The download includes embedded lyrics viewable using your iPhone or iPod "Touch".

    All funds go directly to the artist.
    Purchasable with gift card

      name your price

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    An actual CD in a good-looking printed sleeve. Ordering this gets you an immediate download of 9-track album in your choice of 320k MP3, FLAC, etc. with the download-only extra tracks. Do it.
    ships out within 1 day
    Purchasable with gift card

      $4 USD or more 

     

1.
Kick him in the face and just walk away, to the shade of the night. By the time they look, there's nothing left but a smile and a diamond eye.
2.
We're sweating and dirty. Dust is mixing into a paste between our skins and our clothes. Out on the salt flats, they found powder burns on your finger-tips. The great alkalai lake... ...where I clutched your hand and we looked without speaking ...at cracked sand and dying trees. (Oh, yeah!) ...at burnt earth and fruitless seeds. (Oh, yeah! Oh, yeah!) ...at useless, forgotten dreams. (Oh, yeah! Oh, yeah! Oh, yeah!) Does nothing yet remain of our so-called "better days"? Were we really as dull as this??
3.
Section 1: The fleeing lovers embrace. The young man sings: "Wrap your limbs around one bent and loving form, Forming words from breath somehow With matching abstract vowel sounds." Section 2: They slip through tall grass as the army pursuing them camps for the night just over some hills. Telling the story much later, the man would say: "By night we were focused on something else: running. Great fires reflected off low clouds showed our way." Section 3: They are discovered and chased. Section 4: They are cornered and killed with cannons. I would tell the girl: "(You) exploded into pieces is the last thing he sees! One foot in the grave and one hand in your cold hand!"
4.
5.
6.
The train passes under bridges. Smoke climbing high on either side conceals the men teeming below. Flying black through the mountains, the curtains part on a private car. A diamond eye shines in failing light with the horrid glow of an enormous mind. The regretful drunk slurs: "I tried to tell you these things, but they came out uncertain and slow, like a hobo washing his face at the river's edge under a bridge." The shocked witness recalls with shame: "We used to write songs about blood (a little tongue-in-cheek) and never really cared what they really mean. Es wird ein guter Leben gewesen!" Solemn townspeople: "We have heard of the train passing through town. When it does, the men all freeze where they stand and watch it roll past without a sound. And its thick leg of smoke hangs over the fields for a day." 1...2...3. 1...2...3. 1...2...3. 1...2...3. Incoherent testimony of the attack: "Crashing chains and pounding brains! The cars unfold (but your backs were turned to face away)...!" "Bright bandoleers across night sky, arcs of light and we're reeling blind." "Engulfed in flames, those burning braids...! What a beautiful night, what a golden surprise!"
7.
We've fucked our chance ...at a violent, prophetic line ...to be fools the masses deified. We are children out too late at night; half-drunk and shy and moving behind... "Lights out! [unintelligible] We only traded bites five or six times!" We'll light a fire at the feet of The Bull. ("How it sings to the crowd...!") You won't be finished til you're sealed inside, peering out of a diamond eye, spitting apologies and violent lies (anything that springs to mind) and moving... ... We'll light a fire at the feet of The Bull. ("How it sings to the crowd...!") You won't be finished til you're sealed inside, screaming out of a diamond eye. Spitting apologies and violent lies, you know we're wasting time and losing life.
8.
9.

credits

released April 30, 2010

Artwork and recordings made by Justin Landers in Portland Oregon between June 2007 and February 2010. (Except 4, 5, and noise sections in 1, recorded during Summer 2005.) Production assistance from Alex Landers.
Mastered by Timothy Stollenwerk at Stereophonic Mastering - March 2010.
Released by To The Neck Recordings www.totheneck.com

license

tags

about

The Steven Lasombras Portland

Justin Landers, with others.

CRASHING CHAINS, POUNDING BRAINS.

contact / help

Contact The Steven Lasombras

Streaming and
Download help

Shipping and returns

Redeem code

Report this album or account

The Steven Lasombras recommends:

If you like The Steven Lasombras, you may also like: