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Portraits

by Timothy Armstrong

Portraits cover art
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  • Digital Album

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1.
01:25
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2.
04:11
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3.
03:06
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4.
06:12
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5.
04:53
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6.
06:09
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7.
04:18
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8.
03:38
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9.
04:11
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10.
04:30
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11.
05:40
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credits

released 05 August 2010
This album includes performances by Timothy Armstrong, Sarah Colman, Nina Miller, Jeremy Bennett, Rene Corbett, Madeleine Griffiths and Tim Beals. Borrowed instruments courtesy of Matt Langworthy (Acoustic Guitar), Mary Pack (Spanish Guitar), Jess Reade (Toy Piano), Jeremy Bennett and Rene Corbett (Drums), Susan Davey (Glockenspiel), Piano samples Courtesy of Imperfect Samples. Album artwork by Louisa Armstrong. All songs written, recorded, mixed and mastered by Timothy Armstrong. Thanks to everyone who gave up their time and talent to make this album possible.

tags

tags: acoustic alternative downbeat electronic folk indie Wellington

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Track Name: Sell Out
Sell Out

I’ll sell out, just so long as I can keep from drying up
you’ve whet my curiosity
Become a comb and rake along the river bed
Make sharp the stone and carve your name on my forehead
Track Name: Forgery
Forgery

She is with swollen buttons, to no end
Soon will ring the bells of birth, sudden and brazen
Oh my God
I wonder if I could be more than just a foster - (I wonder if I could be the) - father figure
What am I supposed to be?

I was sure of you and me
This sounds more like forgery

I have a case of monomania
Coz nothing could be so perfect, no
The ocean capsule has just unwrapped itself
Strength should be your vade mecum
Coz life will become harder and bitter and murder
Don't you dare give up

(We can not always be everything, I’m sure, to everyone
We can not always do everything, I’m sure, for everyone)

I guess you'd be more than just skin and bones
Just one look is enough to convince us

Hush now sleep now
Track Name: Tar & Feather
Tar & Feather

When I met you, we were mountains
The cavern walls could not contain the commotion
Now a new born, in a garden
I shower them with weeds, I meant to say, daisies

Ive seen feathers fall into the dirt beneath my feet

Hear the thunder in the desert
Fix their fangs before you arrive

Ive seen feathers fall into the dirt beneath my feet
And I know that you have come at last
Ive seen feathers fall into the tar I thought would cover me

Parading through the town to reveal
I'm no better than the crowds on the banks
How long will my head rest upon my shoulders

Beware the trickster
It was iron bound
It will kick you when you're down
Track Name: Awake
Awake

All the faces I have worn, but wont again
Were picket fences all along
To keep them out, Or me in

We cannot help what we know or where we've been
So don't you dare apologize for what you might say In company

We don't want to luck out again
We don't want to play to lose
If that's the only way
You are gonna have to drag me kicking and screaming

I'm awake, are you?

We don't want “three strikes and you're out”
That's just an empty threat
You can tell by listening

I'm awake, are you?

We are not broken, not anymore
We've been set in motion, body and soul

Sinking feeling falling into sleep
I saw you stand upon the sand
Sinking feeling falling into sleep
I felt you making eye contact

Are you awake?
Track Name: The Best Will Come
The Best Will Come

You can always tell who's travelled far
The way they limp around like wounded fauna
Always tends to make a lantern of us

Everyday we’re sure the sun will show
But how much do we really think we know
You can bet your broken arrow
We’ll hit the target

Have I done enough to warrant your trust
Honest I promise you that
The miser might have more
But the patient are sure I promise
The best will come

Fiction is the lie wed love too live but
It fixes us a meal that will never fill us
Even if the eye is narrow
We will insist that the animal fits

I'm so unsure of the fact
That there might be more for those who lack
All I do is hoard gather store and stack
Till the quivers full still the bows intact

Are you content with the life you think your meant to live
We all contend with the concept
What we try to mend might not be broken
Broken bow and arrows spent
Track Name: Counting
Counting

Tonight's almost over and I must prepare
I’ll take your body down and pull the covers up over your face
I’ll wet my door with your mark
To starch my head and bleach my heart
Oh I dreamt of a kingdom, not this stone cold coffin
I’ll make sure the lid wont open
Tomorrow I’ll pause
And wonder what good could come from your downfall
Oh its such a bitter pill
So I’ll bury my doubt
I’d bury myself to spend just one less day without you.

Wheres my sword oh wheres your armoury
We all thought you would've brought your army
You know we’d die for your diadem
But were here alone and the days are counting

You had the weapon at your side but the barrel felt no friction
Why weren't the bullets left inside
How could the king be voted out, he held the keys to the castle
So draw us a bridge to cross out the night

The dawn denied first light, the birds refuse to make a sound
Autumn passed us by, the leaves refuse to fall to the ground
Winter has arrived, your woollens cannot be found
The things you can never find, maybe you should leave them lying around
Track Name: Bells
Bells

What landscapes lie beyond your fortress
We could only speculate, but could not have known
The ambulant gradients of your night dress
Meandering in folds like a sine tone
You Let your hair fall out your window
We flicker on and off like fluorescents
We turn all the dials and fix them with tape
The looking glass tells it best


Bells billow the chimes and the well swallows the dimes its given
But I’ll never let go of this moment, it’s the home I live in

Ruins are all that remain of your palace
Everything you owned has been overthrown
Coz I saw you splitting hairs in the courtyard
With the jester swaying in corner, his face in his palms
I wouldn’t call you scared at all
Track Name: Pictures
Pictures

Pale as my pillow, but warm under the skin
Clear as my window, are your translucent limbs

You spell danger, I’ll take you home
It’s better the devil you know

Stale as my water, are my old demon's tricks
Rare is the summer, that I don't feel rained in

(If I take the picture, I wont be seen
Wont you take one of me)
Track Name: Make a Start
Make a Start

What concerns must we have for the earth
That we cannot see our own dirt
Our eyes have become like knotted tree limbs
The runes you wrote in the dust wont deter
The bricks in their grasp from striking her
We Grind into grain
We’re turning from thoughts to feelings

Our efforts used to count for something
Now ethic has all but lost her meaning

We try to parch the sand to quench our thirst
And we bleach the bland but wind up worse
Come bail us out, this forest of cell bars needs felling

Our efforts used to count for something
Pick the lock from round your neck, learn to use your metacarpal key
Now ethic has all but lost her meaning
It’s so simple lets agree, change our patterns let each other speak
When will we think first of each other
Brush the shivers from your spine, pull the covers up to warm your heart
Not as something inferior
Lets just make a start
Track Name: Furnaces
Furnaces

Oh love please don't pocket me and say that all I am to you is loose change
Oh love wallet me the same as you would any other valuable thing
Ill paint you an iron door, lock it with swords and speeches
Lightning and thunder, my favourite storm approaches

We learn at the cost of being walked over
But don't burn your feet we’re the rocks glowing as embers
We thrive in furnaces

Lets not pretend to enjoy all that gets wrapped up in colours
I’ll paint you a victory march, lets not forget what lights us up
We thrive in furnaces

Oh love spend me

We learn at the cost of being walked over
But don't burn your feet we’re the rocks glowing as embers
Don't burn your bridges till they're crossed, you might regret it
Don't worry about what you lost, try to forget it

We thrive in furnaces
Oh, love
Track Name: Safe
Safe

Back at the start, before we fell apart
We were so certain it would last forever
But you broke our window pane, 1000 shards of glass
I’ve pieced them all back together

Before we fall asleep we take three with water
In a certain order
So that when we wake up we think ‘success‘
Instead of ‘we should have just stayed in bed’

I crossed the void, I crossed the night out
I left the fabric of space in tatters
So don't feel blind anymore
Just set your eyes to the score
At the end of every day Its you who I remember

Did you see me walk by
Was I put in my place
Lets thank our lucky stars we are safe