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Praglia

by Joel Cathcart

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1.
Scrawl 03:39
lyrics
Our pact was a scrawl Just a pirouette in the tattoo wilderness I fill these diaries with Spent my face Face up, I lost my faith in face offs Lashed to the mast, but in the end I wasn't terribly impressed Your siren song was a plaintive hash It went on too long, it was a maudlin autograph
2.
Unwaltz 02:23
lyrics
And now, settle up, settle down But I can't, and I can't, and I can't And you dance around in the dark Where I last left my heart I'll always sow a lie for you My disease surrenders right on cue Now the holy kiss is overdue And now that my soul is asleep I have freedom to dream Will you dance ahead through the dark Where the dawn leaves its mark I'll always throw a line for you My disease meanders right on through Saw your guilty footprints in the dew But I closed my eyes
3.
Steven, Stranger 02:17
lyrics
Steven I have built my heart On a mile of dancing sand Slow exposures drain the dark I don't know what I was thinking of Fear alighted in my hands And broke a trembling wing Blood is love I understand Although it's her that I'm thinking of Grieving for the softer dawn By a grave of mindless sun Bled a mile of dancing sand A photo that shows what I'm thinking of Steven they will lay your heart In the blood of a thousand hearts And I will build my trembling wings From photos of my fears
4.
Capitals 03:34
lyrics
Heart outstretched Drag net for the burning fountain I can catch the charcoal perch before they land But they won't hatch Black dream of vestal embers fills my head with smoke Anxious neck Heartstring of the fallen mountain In dialect Split shells spill symmetries I must collect Black luck of Tetris angels fills my room with gold
5.
Acéphale 01:56
lyrics
Bloody rainbow tongue Always kept the faith while I waded in Covers my retreat to the water While you climb the spires Of the last remaining capitals We will float away on the water Light a burning car Watch it dream with solstice clarity Martyred in its sleep
6.
Prehistory 03:38
lyrics
Patois crow crackles out today's espresso horoscope The languid taste of useless truth The curl of my circular vices These dragon shards and foster stars emit a fluorescent irony Could I give it up, keep it pure for once? And now that you've left the shore Where were the throats that were calling you onwards Trying to guess the depth So many stories of like-it or like-it-or-not Chequered mate, a fleeting shape Your face is shrouded in promises The tranquil pace of distant hills The call of their advertising These sedatives and kayak scars obscure an angry colony But I gave it up
7.
Faith Healer 03:04
lyrics
Creases of the morning The origami wasteland bends into bloom Seeds of my illusion - the sapling in the courtyard Stranded on the morning The call for reinforcements floats out of view Falling from the Temple, angelic hands await me

about

Praglia is a nomad's album, a meeting point for songs written and rewritten in various locations throughout Ireland, Italy and the American Southwest, gathered together and recorded in a remote wooden house, nestled in the titular high plains which overlook the city of Genoa.

The songs themselves are intricate and intimate, with fragments of clarinet, cavaquinho and hang layered over a base of fingerstyle guitar and melancholy baritone. They speak of obscure, dreamlike places ("the tattooed wilderness", "the origami wasteland", "the burning fountain"), peopled by a motley symbolist cast (the "Tetris angels", the "patois crow" and the enigmatic "Steven"). This distilled vocabulary charts a cryptic psychogeography; each listener must (re)align landmarks and archetypes in order to unearth its hidden narratives.
_______________________________________________________

Praglia è un album nomade, un punto d'incontro tra varie canzoni scritte e riscritte in diverse sedi in Irlanda, Italia e negli Stati Uniti sudoccidentali nel corso degli ultimi due anni, raccolte insieme e registrate in uno studio 'di fortuna' dentro una casa di legno, annidata nei piani eponimi che sovrastano la città di Genova.

Le canzoni stesse sono intricate ed intime, con sfumature di clarinetto, hang e cavaquinho stratificate su una base di chitarra fingerstyle e voce baritonale, morbida e malinconica. Parlano di luoghi onirici, bui, effimeri ('il deserto tatuato', 'la terra incolta d'origami', 'la fontana che brucia'), popolati da personaggi simbolici ('gli angeli di Tetris', 'il corvo del patois', e il misterioso 'steven'); una psicogeografia criptica ed un linguaggio iper-distillato che sfidano l'ascoltatore ad allineare le immagini e gli archetipi in modo da creare una o più narrative.

credits

released August 30, 2016

Joel - Voice, Guitars, Clarinet, Cavaquinho,Hang

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all rights reserved

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Joel Cathcart Genoa, Italy

Joel Cathcart is a composer, songwriter and visual artist.

He specializes in intimate live performances in unusual locations.

His latest album, 'Flotsam', is a collection of post-apocalyptic puzzles whose hybrid ensemble sound signals the creation of new listening spaces amid flooded ruins and overgrown motorways... ... more

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