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1. |
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Are you listening, or are these just words?
Are you listening, or are these just words?
It’s been too many years
There’s been so many tears
It’s been too many years
Are you listening, or are these just words?
Are you listening?
Holding space, make it a better world
Holding space
Are you listening, or are these just words?
Are you listening?
Holding space, make it a better world
Holding space, make it a better world
Holding space, make it a better world
Holding space
Are you listening, or are these just words?
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2. |
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There's a swampland on the borderline
And there's a light that glows
Nobody knows if it's ghosts
Or natural phenomena
But it glows there
Nobody goes there
Nine hundred light years from this earth
Five hundred million years before your birth
There was a star that just stopped shining
And turned into a diamond
It hangs there for all time
And it's clear as air
There is a place in my heart
That it reminds me of
When you drove us apart
I want you to know
It was that kind of love
There's a house in N. Onastoga, New York
Where my mother was born in the war
When you shut down the mills
It kills the towns
And still some people
Keep hanging around
And there is a place in my heart
That it reminds me of
When you drove us apart
I need you to know
It was that kind of love
It was that kind of love
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3. |
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Somewhere, you are waiting for
Someone, who will take you far
Has it dawned on you that you are the only one
Who can take you to a place where you won't feel like you're not the only one?
In this comfortable town
We're not safe, we're not sound
Somewhere, you are waiting for
Someone, who will take you home
Has it dawned on you that you aren't the only one
Who is waiting for someone to tell them
they're not the only one
A grudge weighs heavy on the one who holds it
Don't let it go this time
This town
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4. |
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They say our boys are alright
Yeah, our boys are raised right
So then tell me why every mass shooter
has beat his mom or wife
They say our boys are alright
Yeah, our boys are raised right
So then tell me why every mass shooter
has beat his mom or wife
They say our boys are alright
Yeah, our boys are raised right
So then tell me why every mass shooter
has beat his mom or wife
They say our boys are alright
Yeah, our boys are raised right
So then tell me why every mass shooter
has beat his mom or wife
What'd you say, what'd you say?
Your daddy was rough, he raised you up so tough
Raised you up so tough, never man enough
Never man enough
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5. |
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Things aren’t so far removed in this place with you
So come on over, I'll think of something to offer you
I'll be the someone you latch on to
I’m inviting you
I’m inviting you
I’m inviting you
I’m inviting you
I’m inviting you
You are a fish and I cannot not swim
I get too into my two heads
Watch me I'm sticking to my, my wits this time
Observe my mind from the outside
I'm watching you
I'm watching you
I'm watching you
I'm watching you
I'm watching you
I'm watching you
I'm watching you
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6. |
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Hey Johnny won't you
Set my soul free with your
Tender love in the night
They don't know you like I
Think I know you, I know
You won't lie to me tonight
Ooo I'll take a chance on you
Cause you turn my world upside down
So tell me Johnny do you
Love me really or should I
Turn back time and never
Be here with you
Ooo I'll take a chance on you
Cause you turn my world upside down
What would all the other girls say
If they knew what I was doing
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7. |
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Darlin I’m lost now
I can’t sit still in this bed
There’s too many options
And I just want Venetian red
I want to remember
That feeling that felt like it did
When we’d fold up the bad news
Into pirate hats on our heads
Throwing darts, such a waste
Honey you’ve got heart, but no faith
I’m blowing my savings
On a big fucking boat
To pile all my friends in
And we’d never go home
I think we’d be happy
Just sailing and joking around
It beats photographing
All the death in this town
Seeing stars, just a taste
I want your heart, in my face
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8. |
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We're driving through the ocean
Starfish and devotion
That shark right there is dangerous
My foot on the gas takes care of us
Shifting stars and wanderlust
Coral reefs and meteor dust
You whisper with your motion
Chablis and me and lotion
Hey scuba diver, go away
Read the flag, adults at play
His camera phone is dangerous
My foot on the gas takes care of us
Her clothes akimbo, my hair all mussed
Salt and lips, a sacred trust
Steady course, stars above
Amphibious vehicular love
Every summer, there is fun
There is the ocean, there is sun
And every moonlit kiss becomes history we wrote
Because we own a car that's actually a boat
Every summer, there is fun
There is the ocean, there is sun
And every moonlit kiss becomes history we wrote
Because we stole a car that's actually a boat
Amphibious vehicular love
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9. |
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You can give me your worst
I'll give you my best
Run around on me every evening
I'd still rest
I was never your first
But I'll be your last
I'm your guard on the boulevard
Put me to the test
We're not who we were
We're changing fast
Taking strides in these hard times
And giving all we have
But I'll give you my word
I got your back
I'll keep you company to the other side
Take the wheel and drive through this
Strange and electrifying life
That you and I devised
You make the whole world disappear
With the smell of your hair
So I'll meet you there
Strange and electrifying life
That you and I devised
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10. |
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I said that I want to be near you
You don’t have to test me
I said that I want to be near you
I don’t mind
It’s like I need you now
To figure out what to do
But if you take too long
It might turn off before the lights go on
I said that I want to be near you
You don’t have to try me
I said that I don’t want to fear you
I don’t mind at all
It’s like I need you now
To figure out what to do
But if you take too long
It might turn off before the lights go on and on
It’s like I need you now
To figure out what to do
But if you take too long
It might turn off before the lights go on and on
I need you now
To figure out what to do
It’s like some way some how
You figured out how to make it through to me
I need you now
I need you now
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11. |
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Spring is sneaking into our bones
Sudden rains have brought temptation
And contempt to our tongues
But on the other side of this dividing wall
There's a neverending feast
And shoes with pearls their iron gates will rust
And out of this darkness we'll rush
Get up, get out, and fill the streets
Let's dance in the ash of the big chimneys
I know it's late, but meet us there
We need our friends everywhere
Get up, get out, come with me
Let's sing from the branches of sweet gum trees
I know it's late, go with me there
We need our friends everywhere
Talk from the heart is heard on the lips
And soon the whispers will birth howls
In the chords of the rich
But one darkened night desperate crowds will show
Swollen like rivers with the winter snow
With our daughters on our arms
Into the gardens we'll run
So get up, get out, and fill the streets
Let's dance in the ash of the big chimneys
I know it's late, but meet us there
We need our friends everywhere
So get up, get out, and come with me
Let's sing from the branches of sweet gum trees
I know it's late, go with me there
We need our friends everywhere
So get up, get out
So get up, get out
So get up, get out
So get up, get out
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12. |
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I still hear your voice
Hear the songs you’d sing
Like the morning alarm
Crashes through everything
I will always wake for you
I will always wake for you
And another day I get through
And another day I love you
As the day burns out
I just watch it fade
Yellow turning red
Flowers turning away
But in a moment it’s gone
And I can’t see a thing
The world ain’t coming back
Until I hear you sing
I will always wake for you
I will always wake for you
And another day I get through
And another day I love
And another day
And another day
And another day
And another day
And another day
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--
ORDER VINYL RECORD:
tinyurl.com/flr030
---
THIS ALBUM IS A FUNDRAISER. All donations are welcomed. 100% of the sales from this record will be donated to the North Carolina New Hanover County NAACP (
www.nhcnaacp.org). If you have already given money for the vinyl record of GROW, you may now download your digital audio files here complimentary. Thank you for your support.
---
Moved by the horrific Memorial Day murder of George Perry Floyd Jr. at the hands of four Minneapolis Police officers, Fort Lowell Records presents GROW: A Compilation in Solidarity with Black Lives Matter. The project, focused on Wilmington, North Carolina, is a response to the racial injustice continuously displayed by law enforcement across the United States of America. Friends of the formerly Tucson, Arizona-based label involved with GROW have donated their own talents to allow 100% of the sales from the record to endow the New Hanover County NAACP with working capital to help Fort Lowell’s newly adopted local community. GROW is an effort to help address the dire effects of racism in America.
A personally curated collection of regional artists, GROW arranges a sampling of the vast indie rock flair exhibited within The Port City. Both new and old, all embrace the alternative rock-n-roll sound that Fort Lowell Records promotes. As a direct reply to current affairs, Tracy Shedd (Teen-Beat Records) -- once called the ‘Queen of Slowcore’ by Steve Leggett of
AllMusic.com -- poses the immediate question to the audience “Are you listening?” with her straightforward heartfelt opening track “Holding Space”. Also finding a home on GROW is an unreleased radio remix of The Rosebuds’ hit single, “Get Up Get Out” -- from their album Night of the Furies (Merge Records, April 2007) -- by producer Mark Saunders (The Cure, Neneh Cherry, Erasure). The tune, tailor-made for the mission of GROW but written in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, imagines an American future in which a popular uprising would not only be inevitable but necessary. Lyricist Kelly Crisp exhorts the "desperate crowds" to "get up, get out, and fill the streets... we need our friends everywhere." Merge Records’ labelmates The Love Language were spurred by Fort Lowell Records’ invitation to hit the studio and document their previously written guitar-packed, power-pop anthem “Throwing Darts.” Team Player closes out GROW with a British Invasion-like ballad “Wake For You”, written about loss, love, and perseverance. It is sure to rouse all with lyrics like “The world ain’t coming back until I hear you sing.”
Delivering three never-before-heard compositions from previous recording sessions are Wilmington veterans Life of Saturdays -- the former ensemble of New York Times Magazine author John Jeremiah Sullivan -- The Majestic Twelve -- the one-time moniker of Kenyata Sullivan (unrelated), organizer of Wilmington’s defunct WE Festival (as seen on MTV, 1996-2009) -- and Summer Set (members of De La Noche) -- an indie pop outfit who has been active beyond the Carolinas since 2001. Sean Thomas Gerard (of Onward, Soldiers) premiers a number from his to-be-released sophomore album, and making their official debut on GROW amongst resident peers are recently formed punk rock band Neon Belly. Hailing from eastern North Carolina, uniquely innovative songstress Pinky Verde, along with psychedelic surfer rock group Kicking Bird, both add newly written melodies while Lauds’ dreamy pop favorite “Don’t Mind” from last year receives a re-engineered overhaul from Grammy nominated Peerless Mastering (The Magnetic Fields, Numero Group, Stephen Malkmus) who sonically prepared all songs and with Golden Mastering’s (Calexico, Sharon Jones, Sonic Youth) vinyl lacquers.
Introduced by New Elements Gallery, artist James L Williams’ piece called “Persistence” takes center stage as the cover art for GROW. Meanwhile, Graphic Designer HeyTVM (Trevor Van Meter), also responsible for the name “GROW”, contributes a symbolic drawing of his own for the back of the jacket, and professional skateboarder / illustrator Chet Childress is highlighted on the Side-B center label of the vinyl record itself. ‘DREAMERS,’ children from the youth development organization DREAMS of Wilmington, express their own views of present-day inequality through poetry and sketches on the printed insert of GROW alongside liner notes written by Third Person Project, a documentary research group preserving the African-American newspaper The Daily Record, once thought to have been wiped out during the Wilmington Massacre of 1898.
With the support provided by all of the artists and businesses above, in conjunction with manufacturing partners NiPro Records (stampers), Imprint Indie Printing (jackets, inserts, labels), and Kindercore Vinyl (records, assembly), plus local sponsors Art In Bloom, ARTphics, Gravity Records, and Modern Legend, all costs associated with GROW were eliminated. In turn, all payments from the vinyl records sales plus the proceeds earned with each digital download and stream will become a permanent resource for North Carolina’s New Hanover County chapter of the NAACP to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate race-based discrimination.
Backers from across the globe will be able to endorse GROW with any dollar amount they can manage. For the vinyl specifically, there will be a limited pressing of 1,000 records, and Fort Lowell Records will ask for a minimum donation of $30.00 USD per album. However, benefactors can give any sum of money that works for their own budget to obtain the digital download audio files and unlimited music streaming access for GROW through Bandcamp at
fortlowell.bandcamp.com, which is also where orders for the vinyl records can be placed.
At its core, GROW is a collection of songs that Fort Lowell Records wanted to make available, because supplying the public with music is what they do. However, they acknowledge the platform their company is fortunate to have. Paired with Fort Lowell Records’ own desire to be an ally in the fight towards a more equitable society, their label affords them the opportunity to release GROW and enable their business partners, other advocates and patrons to exercise their own individual alliance with the Black Lives Matter movement and collectively create a positive impact towards justice.
This is their voice.