Get all 12 Sci-Fi Romance releases available on Bandcamp and save 35%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of From the Plague Year, The Rain Becomes a River, Dreamers & Runaways, When the Levee Breaks, A Burning Ember to a Grove of Trees, Dust Among the Stars, October, God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen (single), and 4 more.
1. |
Plague Year Blues
05:53
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The sun’s rising again
Across a land I thought I knew
But it’s a land, it turns out, I thought we’d said “good riddance” to
It's getting harder and harder to sleep
As the curtains rise on lies
Be they convenient or be they otherwise
We tried to confine our sins
To the past, but man, it’s useless
See the past is never past, it’s never through with us
We can choose to be wise
Like we can choose not to see
But what’s the use being blind
If we believe living bound is living free?
The sun’s rising again
Through a haze of smoke and flame
On millionaires playing with matches and planning who they’ll blame
But on TV they say it’s fine
While the water starts to surge
It’s getting higher, it’s getting warmer, and it’s getting worse
The signs are all around
Like the worry on our faces
But some bury their heads in the sand and venerate the Dark Ages
We can choose bluer skies
Like we can choose not to see
But what’s the use being blind
On an island in a boiling sea?
The sun’s rising again
Across a sea of brand new graves
Every single one of them an accusation
So where can I look for hope?
How can I hope for change,
With all these people putting their backs against a new day?
But the sun’s rising again
And if the fight is all that’s left
Then we gotta wake up and fight and wake up and fight til our last breath
We can choose to be kind
Like we can choose not to see
But what’s the use being blind
If we still hear all around us suffering?
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2. |
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Through twisting trees the wind blows cold
This crawling haze it fills my soul
And I’m looking down
Wicked blood through wicked veins
This blackened ground it knows my name
And I’m looking down
I say break, break, break
Break, break, break
Break, break, break
Born to be what I’ve become
Sins of fathers, sins of sons
The time is almost come
Sins beyond what can be saved
The walls have cracked beneath the weight
The time is almost come
And I say break, break, break
Break, break, break
O bury me beneath these stones
A fallen name in a fallen home
Break, break, break
And I say break, break, break
Break, break, break
O bury me beneath these stones
A fallen name in a fallen home
Break, break, break
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3. |
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Hard times, they make a man grow strong they say
But that ain't necessarily the case
There's right and wrong, and there's what a heart can stand
But they look different to a desperate man
It's an easy thing to sin
And easier still to do it again
I may not have a lot to show, but at least
At least my hands are clean
A microphone can't make a thing the truth
But that don't mean we don't get fooled
These talking heads, they scream and scream and scream
'Cause the biggest lie is easy to believe
Fear's one hell of a commodity
When they don't give a shit about you or me
I may not have a lot to show but at least
At least my hands are clean
Temptation blues…
There ain't no man in a black cloak buying souls
Today he makes reality shows
‘Cause privacy and dignity bring more
And he's turning folks away at the door
Money ain't so hard to make
If you don't care about the flesh it takes
I may not have a lot to show but at least
At least my hands are clean
Or that's what I, what I tell myself at least
At least my hands are clean
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4. |
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This will be the death of me
And what will I, what will I leave behind?
Will they sing my name
After they lay me in the sand
There won’t be no victory
For this heart that beats, and hands that bleed
What more can they take
Than I gave with this hammer in my hand?
‘Cause maybe I was born
For such a time as this
Maybe I was born
So this moment could be written
You’re wrapped in chains and told you’re free
By men with force or men who pay
But I’m through selling me
And if I fall, then at least I made a stand
Maybe I was born
For such a time as this
Maybe I was born
So this moment could be written
I will rise
I will rise
I will rise
I will rise
I will rise
Maybe I was born
For such a time as this
Maybe I was born
So this moment could be written
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5. |
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The mask I wear, I wear for you
So afraid of what you'd do
If you saw me for all in all
All my scars, and all my flaws
The war, the war you see in me
The moments I can't breathe
I try to hide all this darkness inside
And keep it behind a façade, but it's destined to break
And that's a chance I just have to take
When the lights are turned this way
It always feels like somebody's mistake
Another day and all its doubts
How long, I wonder, will I live under this cloud?
The war, the war you see in me
The moments I can't breathe
I try to hide all this darkness inside
And keep it behind a façade, but it's destined to break
And that's a chance I just have to take
And I know that I'm hardly alone
In search water among these dry bones
In the dark, you say it's all right
But how, I wonder, would it be in the light
We are none of us a masterpiece
Just works in progress still
We are none of us a masterpiece
Just works in progress still
We are none of us a masterpiece
The war you see in me
We are none of us a masterpiece
The war you see in me
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6. |
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A mother's voice and child's cry
A heart that pounds just like the tide
The sound of thunder, sound of rain
A solitary voice in pain
It’s all so much
It’s all so much
And all we are
All we've ever been
On a pale blue dot
Like the head of a pin
A cry of war and swell of pride
The helpless sigh of a love denied
It's all so much
It’s all so much
And all we are
All our fears and dreams
On a pale blue dot
Floating in a sunbeam
All we are, all we are
Looked at from afar
All we are, all we are
Dust among the stars
All we are, all we are
Everything we've loved
All we are, all we are
Every drop of blood
And all we are
All we ever knew
On a pale blue dot
Disappearing from view
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7. |
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My strength
My enemy
Gone, the days I thought I had
Ahead of me
My strength
My enemy
Work my hands have done I'm told
Is obsolete
You use words like progress
You use words like change
And grind your brothers down beneath
This onward rushing train
The world keeps spinning faster
But where's it taking us?
The more machines we build
The more there is to rust, I say…
Oh, oh, oh,
You can keep tomorrow
I don't know how to live the life you're promising
Oh, oh, oh
You can keep tomorrow
If disappointment is all it brings.
My pride
My ability
Though the ground may shift and change
Beneath my feet
My pride
My ability
Haven’t met the mountain yet
Could conquer me
You can yell your progress
You can yell your change
But if this river breaks its banks
We all drown just the same
The world keeps spinning faster
But where's it taking us?
The more machines we build
The more there is to rust and I say…
Oh, oh, oh,
You can keep tomorrow
I don't know how to live the life you're promising
Oh, oh, oh
You can keep tomorrow
If disappointment is all it brings
All it brings
All it brings
My strength
My strength
My strength
My strength
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8. |
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9. |
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Underground I found a place to hide
Against the whims and wars of men it's fortified
There's many rooms, and many plans
To keep the world outside from coming in
Some find solace in a cocktail glass
Hiding fear and despair behind a drunken laugh
Won't have to admit when all is lost
If you can pretend the party will never stop
...never stop
Sometimes the dark of night
Seems to fill us up inside
But when we rush to hide
We guarantee we'll never find the light
I knocked at a door locked from within
I heard a shotgun cocked and a voice's shouted warning:
"Walk away, or it's your life to lose.
I got an arsenal I'm not afraid to use."
Down the hall, a door stood open
With heads bent low over work that they could drown in
I called their names as I walked around
But none of them ever heard a sound
...ever heard a sound
Sometimes the dark of night
Seems to fill us up inside
But when we rush to hide
We guarantee we'll never find the light
In the final room I found a man
Cradling his heart in bloody, burdened hands
He smiled at me, and said "Join me, friend,
And we'll never have to feel again."
I backed away out into the hall
Better to have a broken heart than none at all
So small, so scared, they'd lost their purpose
So I left those souls behind and I found the surface
...I found the surface
Sometimes the dark of night
Seems to fill us up inside
But when we rush to hide
We guarantee we'll never find the light
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Sci-Fi Romance Los Angeles, California
Sci-Fi Romance is an independent folk band from Los Angeles that blends unique arrangements and a dark, percussive take on acoustic music into a sound that has been labeled "steamfolk." It began as the solo project of singer/songwriter Vance Kotrla.
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