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Luminaria

by Ian Moore

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1.
Driving east through Alabama and its rainy and its cold see the world through dirty windows waiting for the sun to show And the road is a black ribbon through a pretty woman's hair that i've seen from every angle without finding something there So take from me my worry as my life will take its own my hands have hurt no others just my eyes know what i've done The morning light looks different but every day ends just the same and the road goes on forever for those who got stuck or couldn't change but don't break me with your pity my hands have hardened into this i live a life that some would envy i live a life that's what it is So take from me my worry as my life will take its own my hands have hurt no others just my eyes know what i've done just my eyes know what i've done
2.
Caroline 07:13
...and then the rains they came from thick unbroken clouds and washed out all the names from tired little towns and summers gone away to some California coast hey i don't mind, i never saw here around much anyway but i cannot be stilled it's coursing through my veins the songs that never lived, the songs that stayed the same they turned around the truth, knocked you from your feet the world was on your back and you wouldn't carry that weight Caroline you should have captured their hearts while you still could but you just threw it away, did you really think you'd live forever Caroline? And one by one they fell barely clinging to their names technology overflowing until it was flowing from their brains Nobody knew the words, nobody knew to sing nobody had the time to talk about it anyway Caroline you should have captured their hearts while you still could but you just threw it away, did you really think you'd live forever Caroline? they all just sold you down the line and now your looking for forgiveness every time you shut your eyes but your faded and old, did they never tell you? Caroline you should have captured their hearts while you still could but you just threw it away, did you really think you'd live forever Caroline? Caroline you should have captured their hearts while you still could but you just threw it away, did you really think you'd live forever Caroline? you should just throw it away did you really think that you'd live forever?
3.
New Day 03:24
Every day is like a new day the sun has broken through the night's haze i drink my coffee from a big cup and i ain't ever gonna get up, get up If i was a writer well i'd lay around smoking cigarettes and thinking about the life i'd live if i was someone else if love was lost and i was by myself by myself But your love it is a mountain stream what's rough and rocky turns the valley green and just to love you is not enough I just want to drink you up, drink you up So my head is heavy and my tongue is slow but i just want to call to let you know your words weren't wasted baby i'm doing ok and every day is like a new day
4.
April 03:05
You smile's been broken by 100 cloudy days you say your heading down to California because the living is easy there, nobody knows your name but its only time before they find you You just can't name your enemies when you don't know what they've done you get so strung out on all their gossip it becomes your only source of fun But April you're doing fine writing down your column in the Portland times listening to the records of the friends you've known trying to hear their stories and the truths they've told And the sun falls fast in the winter sky but these clouds are going to stay a while try your best to show a smile April It get so dark down there, in your basement room sometimes its days before the sun shines and you get so tired, and your bed fits like a womb sometimes its hard to see the point in trying But you stay that way when you stay alone you don't answer the door, you don't pick up the phone and the smoke turns the room a hazy blue those habits, they fall over you But April you're doing fine writing down your column in the Portland times listening to the records of the friends you've known trying to hear their stories and the truths they've told And the sun falls fast in the winter sky but these clouds are going to stay a while try your best to show a smile April
5.
Busted in Bellingham, waiting on a friend watching the headlights through the mist and the rain and i wouldn't stay if i was given a choice but i'm cold and flat, just like the sound of your voice when you promised to go straight and i waited their for you on Kangaroo lake Even the morning sun seems tired and cold pick up a paperback just for something to hold but the words aren't clear, and the language unkind and i'm staring at those pages until i think i'm losing my mind and the hours growing late and i wish i could see you on Kangaroo lake And to say this is easy is to say you don't know and there's nothing to talk about seeing life through your eyes everything's black and white well i was never that kind Just give some kind of sign that your still alive send me a picture, a postcard, just drop me a line because i didn't know that this was our final goodbye i should have seen, but i was barely getting by and you don't negotiate and i wish i could see you on Kangaroo Lake
6.
Abilene 03:51
Abilene, inside of me misunderstood and cruel a casual slip betrays my point of view I can see for miles and miles but i can never call your name Oh Abilene, too many sunny skies I'd leave this town, i'd forget your skin forget your name and everything but you let me down, left me hanging around like some strange fruit from a tree I'm afraid to sleep, afraid to walk these streets for the day they'll find me out there would be no sympathy for ones like me around So nevermore, your hurried breath because you would never compromise Oh Abilene too many sunny skies
7.
Punctured, painted spoiled and jaded rebellion by numbers, your studied subculture is pulling you down and your digging desperately to get into the underground your friendships, they're like fanzines all missions and pipedreams they sparkle at midnight, but come morning they quickly fade away Claire we've got nothing to fear my car is running in a moment we'll be out of here All of my friends are pretty and thin sleep through the day and wake up to the moon again don't think i'm unkind if your world is not mine and you are ordinary people So take off your makeup and take off your california rags your skin seems familiar its speaks in words much clearer than you'll realize Claire we've got nothing to hide we stand hear naked like two virgins waiting for the crime All of my friends are pretty and thin sleep through the day and wake up to the moon again don't think i'm unkind if your world is not mine and you are ordinary people
8.
Cinnamon 04:33
The sun has a way of going straight to my head i get hazy and lazy, can't get from my bed so i lay there and stare at your seraphim hair for a while and its crawling and creeping and covering my skin i can't breathe, i can't see, find anything except your lips and your tongue and we're moving as one here as one Just let me lay in your bed for a while i'm drunk and i'm happy inside of you and if this thing will help get you through if it gets you through it gets you through then there's nothing else more i will do So your body is blushing like blood from a rose its zipless and perfect like obsidian stone from the flush of your skin to the secrets within here within Just let me lay in your bed for a while i'm drunk and i'm happy inside of you and if this thing will help get you through if it gets you through it gets you through then there's nothing else more i will do
9.
Well sir Robert Scott did someone break your heart and send you on out in the cold to the ends of the world on a Manchurian pony four men who believed every word that you said Sir Robert Scott you're a different sort and you had the whole world on your back you carried that load like a good Christian soul to plant England's flag deep in the Antarctic soil but somebody beat you and now you don't know you say "My god, my god has left me behind, Forsaken, forgotten in this ice and this snow i'm getting weaker and i will not write anymore" Sir Robert Scott you set back for your ship for your men they were hungry and tired and you're not to blame for the blizzard that came eleven miles out from your food and your bed Sir Robert Scott lay your head down to sleep its ten years that are wasted and gone lay down for a while let the warmth overcome you and wait for the summer to come, because that's when they'll come back around you say "My god, my god has left me behind, Forsaken, forgotten in this ice and this snow i'm getting weaker and i will not write anymore"
10.
Susan 04:31
Susan's floating weightless through the atmosphere the sunlight makes it hard to see her not far to go until the is floating out of here the sunlight makes her skin translucent and every single fiber twisting every neuron firing in me all my blood in constant motion every breath i take thoughts roll like a fire engine strings of words but no intention hey will you remember me when you have lost your head? Lost the date must be the mid of may Because you can see the lilacs blooming falling into catacombs corralled in sleep and absence fills the empty space until the scent itself seems out of place and every single fiber twisting every neuron firing in me all my blood in constant motion every breath i take thoughts roll like a fire engine strings of words but no intention hey will you remember me when you have lost your head? Its only in the silence that you move in me my blood runs red and i can feel you sifting through the quiet of the afternoon, the trees they bend and sway they have no knowledge, but there's something in the way and every single fiber twisting every neuron firing in me all my blood in constant motion every breath i take thoughts roll like a fire engine strings of words but no intention hey will you remember me when you have lost your head?

about

Those who already know Moore may only know him from his previous incarnation as a guitar-slinging Texan. Those who haven't heard his earlier work will have a hard time connecting his earlier blues-rock background to his current folk-rock inflected alt.country sound. His latest betrays few hints of his past, filling out this disc (his sixth) with superb pop melodies and adventurous arrangements that layer harmony and echo on meters that effortlessly flow from pop 4/4 to dreamy waltz-time interludes.

Touch-points like Jeff Buckley's introspective folk and Wilco's pop constructs are fleshed out by loping tempos, as well as pedal steel that is more atmosphere than twang. The 7+ minute "Caroline" is a lush Badfinger-like construct that alternates between concise melodic pop and trippy psychedelia. Having recorded this album over many months with a revolving set of musicians in several cities and along the road, the songs explore a wide range of styles, including the shuffling country soul of "April," the jazzy blues of "Abilene," and the otherworldly Theramin-inspired "Ordinary People." It's a heady collection of sophisticated sounds that mixes primary elements with shadings of trip-hop.

When Moore cranks up the rock 'n' roll electricity, as he does for "New Day," it's more a wall-of-buzz (with Penny Lane-ish trumpets) than Texas blues. Even the rootsy dobro rant "Bastard" sounds as though it were processed through a bit of Tom Waits' alley-way sensibility. Moore's lyrics are similarly sophisticated, mixing allegory with word play for poetic effect, but without destroying the narratives or characters. His sketch of Antarctic explorer Sir Robert Scott's dramatically portrays the mariner's failed attempt to reach the South Pole before anyone else (he was beaten by Norwegian Roald Amundsen), and his death on the return journey.

Perhaps the album's greatest achievement is how effortlessly it combines its breadth of style and depth of experimentation. Rather than sounding constructed, it sounds like an organic whole that tumbled out of Moore's imagination. There's a great deal of craft in the unusual, detailed arrangements, but like the lyrics, singing and playing, it's in service of fashioning a superbly coherent result from often disparate ingredients.

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released August 8, 2004

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Ian Moore Seattle, Washington

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