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The Raft Is Not the Shore

by Terrible Sons

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rarkmussell
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rarkmussell what an incredible album! stunning songwriting, beautiful arrangements, simmering to searing vocals, brilliant production! bravo on bringing this into the world! Favorite track: Yelling in the Wilderness.
jusilli
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ladybird37
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yupikwolf
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Bryant Ross
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kathrineb
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Elizabeth Klisiewicz
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1.
Birdsong 03:57
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I’m staring out towards a little island Smothered in pine Road of muddy clay, covered in puddles Long empty line Rain has come and gone From where I’m standing The light upon the sea Looks more like diamonds If I pause here One second becomes an hour The sun could rise and fall Before I know how long I’d spent Waiting on a birdsong In Port Levy I followed my gut to find the road here Windy and wild Many things were wrong when I arrived Not that I mind Water in the bay is slow and steady The tussock on the hills Gracefully bending If I pause here One second becomes an hour The sun could rise and fall Before I know how long I’d spent Waiting on a birdsong In Port Levy What ever I was seeking It has found me Came on the wind Wherever I may turn I know its name now The sediment beneath the settled water If I pause here One second becomes an hour The sun could rise and fall Before I know how long I’d spent Waiting on a birdsong In Port Levy
2.
Sunset Swimming 03:56
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Thick green grass by the waterside Tall enough for someone to hide Barefoot padding down a dusty track Bag slung close, and my heart intact Sheltered by the harbour Underneath the nor-west arc In secret Fanning all the colours Where love was just a spark There’s still heat in my body Sunset swimming Where all my years collapse into a minute Slip underwater Sunset swimming Where all my years collapse into a minute Where all my years collapse into a minute Ripe full lemon in a dry front yard Simply living with no credit card Worn brown boards underneath my feet House is tidy but my heart’s unclean Sheltered by the harbour Underneath the nor-west arc In secret Fanning all the colours Where love was just a spark There’s still heat in my body Sunset swimming Where all my years collapse into a minute Slip underwater Sunset swimming Where all my years collapse into a minute Where all my years collapse into a minute
3.
Easy Love 02:55
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I found love Not where I knew I thought for years about it But I had work to do I got peace If only for you Lord knows I’m tryin’ harder What else is gonna get us through Love bring change That’s no easy love Love bring change That’s no easy love Love bring change That’s no easy love Love, best be enough Where’s the hope Pass it around It was never ours to keep On the one side of town Love bring change That’s no easy love Love bring change That’s no easy love Love bring change That’s no easy love Love, best be enough
4.
Asperatus 03:42
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I have emptied the bellows Breathed out fire Created a storm in the cup I have paced with a madness It’s wise to surrender Before it escapes from my mouth At the dawn We will see the sun, together On the tail of a storm There is no rage in the wind Just turbulence Turbulence Turbulence, my love Asperatus Peace comes with a gladness Forgiveness a gesture We hold it with stiff fingered hands We are clumsy and foolish Childish aloofness Reassemble the love we once had At the dawn We will see the sun, together On the tail of a storm There is no rage in the wind Just turbulence Turbulence Turbulence, my love Asperatus
5.
You Can Choose 03:11
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You’re a strange wind Breeze in off the ocean You blew in hard Knocked me to the ground I heard a siren Warning or a calling I’m leaning in Still I don’t understand One is alone At the start of the story Two could be you A voice heard, a hand squeezing Three ‘round the fire And four is a choir, singing You can choose who you love But you can’t Choose their family You glide with gold spheres And galaxies in orbit Sweeping hands Reach out, pull me in There are bonds that Choices cannot sever We’re opposites But we’ll work it out One is alone At the start of the story Two could be you A voice heard, a hand squeezing Three ‘round the fire And four is a choir, singing You can choose who you love But you can’t Choose their family
6.
Yelling in the Wilderness 03:22
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For how many years must I run all day And all night long, calling and calling Over this wind that roars like wildfire I’ve never sat in the street Can’t let my fingers be idle Never closed my eyes in front of a stranger Hot out the gate and falling over my feet I’m out here yelling In the wilderness Can you hear me Do you see me I’m out here yelling In the wilderness Can you hear me My cup is empty This plate it gathers dust What have I to offer My home is a photo I found in a souvenir shop You may have a story I have a story too It's nothing to boast about Ink on a page Lips that remain unloved I’m out here yelling In the wilderness Can you hear me Do you see me I’m out here yelling In the wilderness Can you hear me
7.
Alright, Alright 02:53
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A weak heart beating A newborn breathing Such fragile living In skin as thin as a ray of light Your drunk friends drinking Backwards thinking You stare unblinking At a sad man weeping for his dying wife Gotta hop on your bike and ride out of town Get a view from the hills long suffering hills Everything in its right time comes One day it’ll get sunny You will be alright, alright My old friend There’s a mess in the water Oil in the river Blacker than a shadow The moon pulling at the ocean’s edge Gotta hop on your bike and ride out of town Get a view of the hills long suffering hills Everything in its right time comes One day it’ll get sunny You will be alright, alright My old friend
8.
Hold Your Light High 03:12
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You had hope in the morning So much hope in the morning And who wouldn’t want a good, good life? All us felons want a better life Now the sunlight won’t touch you (Hold your light high, don’t let it down) You don’t feel no warmth at all (Hold your light high, don’t let it down) And who wouldn’t want a good, good life All us felons want a better life When you hands feel tired And your feet stay put When you hands feel tired And your feet stay put Hold your light high, don't let it down Can you see through the choke smoke Can you see through the haze at all There is pain in the offering My hands are small but they are yours And who wouldn’t want a good, good life All us felons want a better life When you hands feel tired And your feet stay put When you hands feel tired And your feet stay put When you hands feel tired Hold your light high, don't let it down
9.
Tomorrow Always Comes 03:53
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I told you I’m lost with what’s happening We both guess and make plans and adjust And then wake up again Some kind of recalibration of daylight The morning felt hopeful and the evening not Was the weather so fine, until it stopped Don’t pretend, you ain’t got some Sixth sense of creeping dread The more I know, the less I understand But don’t worry, worry Hands in a hurry Tomorrow, always comes The Sunday before the Monday, a write-off, ruined Catch me when I say I’ll get back to you I’ve got phony anxieties, leaping around the plot There’s a light that blinds and heads for the shade And when I waiver, she always saves There’s something beyond my Hard facts and her soft feels The more I know, the less I understand But don’t worry, worry Hands in a hurry Tomorrow, always comes The more I know, the less I understand But don’t worry, worry Hands in a hurry Tomorrow, always comes
10.
Watching and Watching 03:07
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There’s nearly eight billion of us How come none of us look the same That’s a whole lot of slow learners All staring down at our feet The daily news why so grim I can hardly take it in And I know next to nothing about you Or walked anywhere in your shoes What good ever came From watching and watching A passing hello Should be easy to do What good ever came From watching and watching There’s nearly eight billion of us Not even one of us looks the same You can't taste the difference Or piece it together with glue What good ever came From watching and watching A passing hello Should be easy to do What good ever came From watching and watching
11.
Young Blossom 07:00
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Once a child, lost to me Even nightmares end when you wake up Waking hours, without pause No matter what you do the storm won’t end Young blossom fall free The world is not enough for you and me The hope I never had far over the sea Ragged dolls, stand in line Waiting as the wolves move in Young blossom fall free The world is not enough for you and me The hope I never had, far over the sea Young blossom fall free The world is not enough for you and me The hope I never had, far over the sea What if it happens, what if it happens to you If you lose everything, then what are you gonna do What if it happens, what if it happens to you If you lose everything, then what are you gonna do

about

The title came at the end - we assembled 14 songs first and then culled three which we felt weren’t quite there. With this set, Lauren and I tried to write closer together, instead of bringing finished songs to each other. We were intentional about blending more so that we weren’t strangers to each other's songs during tracking. We didn’t set out with a theme apart from our always goal of writing about what we know, what was moving us at the time and putting ourselves in vulnerable spaces. Now, listening to the finished album, the twin ideas of the passing of time and water are woven through, unpressured, over and over.

We had a fluid list of titles but the only one that stuck was The Raft Is Not The Shore. I’d seen this line in a discussion between a Vietnamese and American, two poets and activists. The line is from a Buddhist parable and one of the meanings was the idea to hold your beliefs lightly. In light of the entrenched spaces we find ourselves in in 2022, this felt prescient and gave further meaning to our songs. To be willing to walk in another’s shoes, or to at least imagine, was something we wanted to hold ourselves to. So here’s how the album unfolds…

credits

released April 28, 2023

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Terrible Sons Christchurch, New Zealand

Terrible Sons are folk singers from Aotearoa, NZ. They love water- the harbour near Matt’s parents place, the way tussock moves in the wind. They have 2 kids - a garden and a past of music making that has given them a platinum single and 4 nominations in the top 20 for the New Zealand Silver Scrolls- award in songwriting.
We’re still doing it for love! Hope you love it too. ... more

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