Man of Stone

by Tall Heights

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about

For the duo’s debut full-length effort, Man of Stone (May, 2013), Tall Heights returns to the home studio, sinking deeper into the vast world they’ve meticulously built for two. The title track and first single, Man of Stone, recalls a time when cavemen documented day-to-day existence on the walls of their stone-sheltered dwellings. “Emblems of cavemen they taught me / the importance of typing in bold,” contextualizes the rest of the record and challenges a careful listener to view each song as a vital documentation of what is both banal and extraordinary. The record exists in a fire-lit, shadowy space for their growing army of fans to inhabit. After two powerful EPs, there has been a growing cry for more from these young artists, and Tall Heights delivers with an LP of grand vision and scale.

credits

released 14 May 2013
All songs written, performed and recorded by Tall Heights
Mixed by Jared Fiske at Foundation Studios, Sturbridge, MA
Mastered by Adam Ayan at Gateway Mastering, Portland, ME

Artwork credits:
Front/back photograph by Michael D Spencer Photography
Front cave painting by Meghan Shea at Persistent Productions
Inside photography by Mike Rogers, Meghan Shea at Persistent Productions
Inside cave painting by Andrew Purpura, Liz Vaughan
Dancers/shadows: Caitlin Ewing, Cameron McKinney, Hannah Pierce
Lighting/fire: Matt Shea, Justin Sanford
Hospitality: John Freeman, Jim and Helen Wright, Jenny Deprez
Design by Tall Heights

tags

tags: acoustic folk man of stone tall heights acoustic cello duo guitar harmony vocals male vocals Boston

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about

“After seeing Tall Heights perform in our kitchen, I can’t get their songs out of my head.” - NPR Digital Services

Tall Heights’s delicate melodies and gentle harmonies create a rare public space where the people can slow down, even stop, and suspend the chaos of city life in exchange for some really great music.-WBUR, Boston's NPR News Station ... more

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Track Name: Controlled Burn
Burn
Left me out
a hound ungroomed
with one nigh moon
I was consumed
I howled to it.
Oh I was loud
in drinking rooms
and dim saloons,
when I found you,
I found you wounded.
But you wore your heart like a lady
and I lit your smokes like a man.

Burn
Gathered round
when eyes adjusted,
in fire we trusted,
tendin’ to a bed of kindle,
I stoked it on and on.
When dry wind roused,
our hearts unready,
it painted red, with orange hands
and a brush more hot than what we want
all around and we just danced
so drunk upon the lawn.
You danced the steps of a lady
and I tried to lead like a man
The bells only ring in emergency.
There’s hazard in heat to discern
in a controlled

Burn
When we were found,
our molars made
the sorry case.
“Where goes our boy?
Where goes our girl?”
our fathers cried, I never heard.
And the bells only ring in emergency
There’s hazard in heat to discern
It warms and it dances,
it speaks out of turn and it runs.
Controlled burn
Track Name: Man of Stone
Wearing the name on my body
painting the faith on my soul
baring my teeth just to hold on
practice the art of control.
Emblems of cavemen they taught me
the importance of typing in bold
the weight of a simple depiction
as the days unfold

As the hour grows
as the hour grows
I know that I can keep the voice of doubt from speaking on its own
cuz I’ve always been a silent figure
and I’ve never been a man of stone

I sure don't have eyes like an eagle's
I couldn't be waiting for war
Why should I think that I'd have survived in the days of yore?
But the gifts of the Greeks oh they taught me
that radio favors the bold
The key to survival is pleasing your rivals
till the days unfold

Till the hour grows
till the hour grows
I know that I can keep the voice of doubt from speaking on its own
cuz I’ve always been a silent figure
and I’ve never been a man of stone.

The fevers of Wallace they taught me
that wisdom began with a cold
so let me grow feeble and fragile
as the days unfold
Track Name: Murmuring State
MURMURING STATE
Autumn on the Maine coast
Maryanne was closing windows,
talking to herself yeah she lived alone.
Looking on her fields now,
from the steps outside of her farmhouse,
every year a little less eager to grow.
Those fields were born of a wild soul
still a fraction of a balanced whole
oh but control belonged in
the hands of the oil men now.
Oh there's a trouble comin' in
It's got my heart in a murmuring state.
Where must i fix my eyes to know
that I'll be here to watch it fade?

They were dancing in Havana
celebrating quinceañera
speaking softly 'bout the radio.
Some believed that they could wait it out,
others felt only a growing doubt,
but few perceived the October storm.
Outside there was a rustle in the oak leaves,
there was a frost that was starting to heave,
so many more at home
singing their kids to sleep.
Oh there's a trouble comin' in
It's got my heart in a murmuring state.
Where must I fix my eyes to know
that I'll be here to watch it fade?

Jeffrey built a grave stone
for the summer when it made known
that money was gonna get tight for him.
It was harder than he let on,
but you could say that he'd been betting on
a lesser horse time and again.
Still he remembered when his kid was born,
he remembered how the air was warm,
but most of all, he thought about the task at hand.
Oh there's a trouble comin' in
It's got my heart in a murmuring state.
Where must I fix my eyes to know
that I'll be here to watch it fade?
Trouble coming in,
my heart's in a murmuring state.
Track Name: The Running of the Bulls
Close your eyes
and hold our Spanish world.
Keep it nice,
just beneath your auburn curls.
What you keep inside,
when the ceremonies fail,
like the sand in an oyster, oh I hope.
‘Cause now I’m running for my life.
Would you try to tame the running of the bulls?
Would you have combed
through the streets in the strife?
Would you try to brave
the pushes and the pulls? But honey,
the dress you wore was red, so this is how we
say goodbye this time.

They were coming fast,
and the plane was fully manned.
Couldn’t make it back
to the rendezvous we planned.
Now a scene remains,
and I will not soon forget:
just a lonely breeze and you
where we met.
Would you try to tame
the running of the bulls?
Would you have combed through the
streets in the strife?
Would you try to brave the
pushes and the pulls?
But honey, the dress you wore was red,
so this is how we say goodbye this time

When the mobs amass and take us forth,
we're all of to the race and swept
away in the running of the bulls.
Should I have blown through the
streets to where you are?
I’ll always try to blame
the running of the bulls, but honey
the dress you wore was red,
so this is how we say goodbye
This is how we’ll say goodbye in this life
And this is how I say goodbye this time.
This is how I say...
Track Name: Eastern Standard Time
EASTERN STANDARD TIME
Goodbye, goodbye,
Eastern Standard Time
It could be roses in my pockets
or be roses on my stone.

The waves on the shore
take all of my being,
gray and habitual,
resolved and serene.
And I’m at your door
half-smiling
All of a man half-waiting for
the bell to ring.
While all of those waves unwavering
I’m wavering
Goodbye, goodbye,
Eastern Standard Time
it could be roses in my pockets
or be roses on my stone
Goodbye, goodbye
In the dark, dark hour of night
I’ll be the only one alone

It can’t be ignored
though it can be screened.
Oh singing out these melodies
with all I mean.
So surround and adore me,
arouse and implore me.
The waves will roll, the wave will crash
and what left will there be?
Oh, what left will there be?
Goodbye, goodbye,
Eastern Standard Time
it could be roses in my pockets
or be roses on my stone
Goodbye, goodbye
In this dark, dark hour of night
I’ll be the only one alone.
Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye
The waves on the shore
take all of my being.
Goodbye, goodbye.
Track Name: Out of the Ground
What a wreck of a day,
what a wreck of a man
I've become.
What a thing to say,
but I said it, I cut and run.
I tried to divide myself by my desires,
follow a dream to its grave.
But for all of the ways I bury myself,
I begged and I pleaded to stay.

What a price to pay,
what a price to pay for
wicked pride.
What a foolish way
of abandoning
all that you tried.
Loyal's a life for
a dog on a leash,
I was sure I was born
with the hounds.
But in all of the ways
you bury yourself,
the dogs dig you
out of the ground.

Now I wake in the day
when the sun is high in the sky.
I’m sure I'm on my way
or at least I'm not living a lie.
Only to find myself
looking behind
at the life for which
I had been bound
Cuz in all of the ways
I bury myself,
I'm rising up
out of the ground.
Yes in all of the ways I
bury myself,
I am rising up
out of the ground.
Track Name: Somewhere I Believe
SOMEWHERE I BELIEVE
She said I signed my name in blood
I said that was not me
I am not who I was and I’ve seen
what I shouldn’t, yes I heard what
I’d rather not repeat.
Time for me to leave.
She said I’d been withholding
Well wasn’t that sly
You mix the truth with your desire,
and that may just fuel your fire
but I feel like I’m living a lie.
So this is my goodbye.
I know that I’m no hero in the making.
They don’t need their heroes' fruit to reap.
I guess that just makes me a little different
when I feel I’m falling
all over myself to earn my keep.
So I’ll ship on off for
somewhere I believe.

So here we are at last
Confrontation time
Now it’s not in my joints
to yell or scream or point,
but I will not feel your guilt because I tried
Oh you know I tried
I knocked on every door,
I don’t feel guilty anymore.
So now I’ll ship on off for
somewhere I believe.
And I feel I’m falling
all over myself to earn my keep.
So I’ll ship on off for
somewhere I believe.
Track Name: Flash Boom
Past the cold window,
howling through the front door,
oh my, came her squall of snow
woke my slumbering core.
Oh my,
just a flash...
boom.
I never knew thunder could moan at ice,
and I didn’t know
the lightening ever struck here twice.
And I never knew the power of the winter sky,
and I did not have a thing to say to you.

Days once grass and smiles,
nights once holding, folding on in our minds.
Oh my, and in that summertime
clouds as angry left us feeling so tired.
First a flash, boom
in the bedroom.
I never knew thunder could moan at ice
I didn’t know
the lightening ever struck here twice
And I never knew the power of the winter sky
And I did not have a thing to say to you
like “take these hands,”
and “take these feet,
take anything you need.”

I never knew thunder could moan at ice
And I didn’t know
the lightening ever struck here twice
And I never knew the power of the winter sky
If I ever knew the thunder could moan at ice
If I ever knew
the lightening ever struck here twice
And if I ever knew the power of the winter sky
Would I be alone beneath the frozen moon?
Take these hands, take these feet.
Oh, take anything you need.
Track Name: Field of Snow
It's that quiet kind of failure,
it's a trickle down the drain.
It's your confidence that's slipping,
and it's driving you insane.
Wishing for some leverage
instead of making an appeal,
for a little more insisting
I bet that's how most people feel.
Have you woken to a field of snow?

It's a slow-motion disaster,
but it's nothing you can hear.
It robbed you of your sight-line
and it only brought you tears.
Said a man my father's age,
he was lucky to be there
at the end of working days,
so our troubles weren't his cares.
Have you woken to field of snow,
looking up into a colder blue?

It's that quiet kind of failure,
but it's nothing you can hear.
When you say that you’re on empty
I know that it's sincere.
There's a sign outside your house now,
though you’ve been here all these years.
They come to change your locks out
but you’ve been here all these years.
I see the difference now,
looking up into a colder blue.
I see the difference now,
like I’ve woken to a field of snow.
Track Name: Learn Again
I never practiced piano when I was a boy
and I still ain’t working to perfect guitar.
I never read my lesson books
like others did,
the way they looked in study halls
while I mapped out the stars.
Sometimes I forget to do
the things that others do,
take it as it’s handed
like a hopeful kid in June.
So, sometimes I retracted to
the howling wind and moon,
but I learned out there,
I learned a thing or two.

I only know the bills I owe when overdue,
and I swear the lost and found has my estate.
When Uncle Sam asked “where’s my plate?”
I said “come in,” he said “I’ll wait,”
I ran away, I always run away.
Sometimes I forget to do
the things that others do,
take it as it’s handed
like some bourbon on the room.
Sometimes I’ll be up, and drunk,
my problems on a few,
but I’ll learn out there,
I’ll learn a thing or two.

I knew when you were comin’, oh,
I learned your name
and I tried to make it all seem by mistake.
I didn’t know the lengths I’d go,
what I’d devote in every note,
I found a hill and built a cityscape.
So while sometimes I forget to do
the things that lovers do,
take it all for granted
like a night I’m sleeping through...
So, sometimes I’ll awaken from a dream cold and confused,
but I’ll learn again to fall in love with you.
Sometimes I forget to do the things that lovers do
I’ll learn again to fall in love with you.
Cuz I learned, I did, I learned a thing or two.