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Lantern

by Tom Doncourt

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      $7 USD

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Comes in a eco-wallet card case with artwork by Tom Doncourt and Chuck Bernklau.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Lantern via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 30 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      $10 USD

     

1.
Treetops 04:46
When you pass the border into Vermont Beyond the big green welcome sign There is a plateau with mountains and treetops Figures writing out A fierce lonely language Faces of spirits carved in the sky By a swordsman Strokes of a brush left in the air Against mountains Unconcerned for the human world They tell a story That has nothing to do with time Figures writing out A fierce lonely language Of the sun The wind The seasons Faces of spirits carved in the sky By a swordsman Strokes of a brush left in the air Against mountains Vermont treetops leave their silhouettes when I close my eyes Becoming shadows on a canvas screen Enact an ancient saga About the horizon Faces of spirits carved in the sky By a swordsman Strokes of a brush left in the air Against mountains
2.
Lantern 04:14
The Lantern Two little people Sitting by a campfire Next to a stream The moving smoke and water All painted on a lantern shade Forever breaking the darkness Of this bedtime moment I thought that life would someday Be like this Two people In the spinning light forever The fire would never go out The stream would just keep flowing You and I in a beautiful place I tried to hold on to it But it all just flickered away I found myself another painted lantern The same two little people Huddling together And I stare into it every night Before I sleep Waiting for the lantern Waiting for the lantern To spin inside me.
3.
4.
Barrier 04:42
5.
6.
The Vine 03:02
A Vine Thorns against the iron rail Shadows twisting for A silver sliver of pale sun A Vine can grow However slow Through the cracks in stone To Tangled Gardens where Strange flowers grow Twist like a Vine Twist all your life Under the metal grate Broken bottles and discard Growing out of sight Struggling for that single ray of light Strange Flowers Grow Strange Flowers Grow Torn leaves litter Untended spaces Mosaics of fractured plans Rusted cans on Vague memories side streets The tangled gardens where Strange Flowers grow Twist like a Vine Twist all your life
7.
Stone 06:38
“Stone” How do you write a song about a stone? They don’t move or speak. Do you write about what happens around them? How do you write a song about a stone? The stone sat in the middle of my grandma’s garden, Under a magnolia tree -- A big stone rising out from the ground, The gray of quiet. To me, it was a mountain Surrounded by flowers -- Solemn, a Spirit untouchable. Where did it come from? How far underground did it go? But it had no answers for me. How do you write a song about a stone? Nothing to say, No history and no fame; No secrets and noble secrets. Its surface absorbing the night and day, Silent in a neighborhood of silence. Many years have passed after that house was sold. I returned, but the gardens were gone -- Paved over, for cars to park. And the stone had disappeared.
8.
Teotihuacan 02:34
9.
10.
Plasma 04:06

about

Lantern is named after a lantern I had as a child. The lantern created a magical moving world. I thought that one day my life would be like this, like the two figures in the lantern sitting by a fire that never goes out, near a river that keeps flowing, through a beautiful place. In fact, I have had moments like this because I keep seeking them, but they never last. They flicker out into turmoil, distraction, move away from the fire and the river and the constant setting sun. But the image of that lantern is still held in my mind. I thought that I could find this place, but I could never stay.

credits

released February 28, 2020

Eunice Wobble Wong - lead voice on Treetops, Lantern, Invisible Fire, Barrier, The Vine, Stone, Lost on Long Island and Plasma.
Mattias Olsson - kit and percussion on Treetops, Invisible Fire, Barrier and Lost on Long Island.
Chuck Bernklau - bass on Treetops, Barrier and Lost on Long Island
Tom Doncourt - Mellotrons, Chamberlin, all keyboards, other percussion and additional sounds

All compositions and lyrics written by Tom Doncourt
Front cover painting by Tom Doncourt
Back cover design by Chuck Bernklau (CD only)
Inside story written by Chuck Bernklau (CD only)

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tags

about

Tom Doncourt New York, New York

Thomas Carlton Doncourt (December 10, 1955 – March 20, 2019), was an American mellotronist.

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