1. |
More Light
05:36
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It took us awhile
But I’d say we’ve done alright
We learned how to listen
Really listen, while we try
To sort out every mistake
And every call that we made
The troubled sounds in my head
Whispered to you instead
I’m trying to show you
All the boys I’ve been before
The kid and the traveler, the romantic left at the door
And every hesitant note
Of every song that I wrote
Just won’t make any sense
Once you’re holding my hand
And I don’t know about you
But everything I do
And everything I see
Brings more light to me
Let’s keep it confusing
Start a family, make a home
When every illusion of success has left me alone
To take the world as it comes
The melodies that it hums
And things you tell me about
And things we’ll still figure out
And even when we don’t
Love will guide us on
I won’t have to know
I trust the wind to blow
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2. |
Pillars
03:48
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Most days my history haunts me
My memories stand like stones
Like pillars pushing up the
Heavy ceilings of my home
Why spend the day deciding
The way a song should sound?
Why let my worries ride on
The friends that I have found
Who sing to me
In a welcome tone
Whose voices ring
When I’ve lost my own
Fragmented, filtered visions
A generation learned to see
The confusion of creation
Presented understandably
The mystery
Of a troubled mind
I still believe
Is too hard to find
How many lonesome verses
Has my heart memorized
Yet I’m still filled with longing
By songs that recognize
That sweet decay
Of a lover’s touch
When I’m listening
I’m not writing much
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3. |
Kinds of Towns
04:03
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Grey skies
Holding the city still
Headlights
Glow on the windowsill
Gold leaves lining the boulevard
Faintly
Following every car
Lilting up and landing on the lawn
Every house with every porch light on
Like the kinds of towns we sing about
The kind we start to doubt
Someday
When we've thought it through
I’ll move
To a brand new place with you
Who knows?
Maybe the desert will call our name
Small house
Outside Santa Fe
Every constellation we could name
Would our lives be more or less the same?
Would we miss the rhythm of the street?
A heart with a million beats?
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4. |
Set from the Start
05:10
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Maybe we’re set from the start
We already know who we are
Maybe we learn to forget
The tunes that we haven’t learned yet
People had problems before
They learned how to rock and roll
They’d probably be dead anyway
They just happened to learn how to play
If you’re gonna be by friend
We should talk about it
If you’re gonna show me how
We should talk about it
We’re surrounding ourselves
With the stories we tell
‘Til we sort of collide with the truth
We invented the lives that we use
If you’re gonna share my love
We should talk about it
If you’re gonna hold my heart
We should talk about it
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5. |
Buttons
03:37
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I was calling you
All the bells were ringing
Over everything
Like they’re supposed to do
I didn’t have the time
The buttons on my wrists were
Tight and double-tied
Like a fine-looking man
Even in a cloud
When we are descending
Even in a cloud
I’m stabbed with clarity
And everything I’d found
Rounded-out and sanded
To smooth and finished stone
I lay it out for you
One thing leads to another
We invented a language to say
All of these things to each other
Now I miss you an ocean away
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6. |
Adjusted for Reality
04:40
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Sometimes I just feel so low
Heartless, homesick
I don’t know
If I’m where I’m supposed to stay
Playing parts I’m born to play
My words just breathe the love I sing
My mind makes sense of everything
And years of time become a blur
I just get so familiar
Stay so young and find new friends
Read the best bits, skip the end
Find some whole new place to be
Move away courageously
Towards the shiny openings
Of every brand new company
Claiming to know all your needs
To pull you high above the weeds
Sometimes I just hear my call
I just cut right through it all
I should write these moments down
Maybe then they’d hang around
And maybe smile
Joyfully
As all my plans come back to me
Adjusted for reality
For all the light I’ve learned to see
I just get by so painlessly
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7. |
New
04:34
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It doesn’t matter how I feel
You’re carrying the thought
I propose ideas
And let ‘em go
Like I was a kid
Teasing the trail I was taking
Afraid to be aching
For anything
From Kingman to Baton Rouge
I never knew anybody like you
Following through
Believing
In every little thing I do
I don’t mean to be dishonest to you
Oh, to be new
In love again
I’m happier
Trying a little bit harder
To live like we wanted
Looking in
And I won’t let you down
I might make the same mistake twice
But I won’t let you down
Anymore
From Illinois to Ohio
I didn’t really want you to know
Oh, that my hands
Are shaking still
I’m not too proud
A whisper into a crowd
Oh, to be blue
In love again
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8. |
When we Both
02:58
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When we both turn 32
And I think I’m over you
Maybe we’ll have made amends
Take each other back again
When we both are 43
And you’re not surprised by me
I would put the kids to bed
Read a book to you instead
Feel you breathing
When we both turn 65
And we spend our time outside
In the garden that you made
Pick tomatoes in the shade
I’d really like to
I think it would do
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9. |
Savages
03:34
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I didn’t mean to lose a friend
How good to hear from you again
We never write
Our travels all are done
And everyone who came around
And stayed and made a thunderous sound
Who learned the chords
And found a harmony
I know I kind of owe to you
At least you made me open to
The joyfulness
Of tossing out the plans
To understand
Like savages
Our independence vanishes
The room just glows
And I just hear you sing
And think of what the years may see
Whole new kinds of family
And hopefully
We’ll just learn the parts
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Evan Holmes Chicago, Illinois
More Light is the first collection of solo recordings from Chicago-based songwriter and guitarist Evan Holmes. Recorded live at Logan Square's Foxhall Studio, these songs recount Holmes' marriage, travel, and changing relationships with family and collaborators over the last year. There's a wooden intimacy here, an ear pressed against the back of a favorite old guitar, swimming in the overtones. ... more
Evan Holmes recommends:
There's an addictive, intricate cacophony to this record. A little bit "Revolver", a little bit Lucius, Homme has a clear reverence for the melodies they weave and tear. Listen through this one.
go to album
This record reminds me of my favorite parts of Mirah or Cat Power songs-- this is distilled, catchy, and downright menacing writing. The arrangement on "Fuck the Clock" is a glowing moment on this.
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