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1. |
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Suspended and marooned
How could something from so far away
Come creeping up so soon?
No-one seems to know
Still, I can’t let go
And as the fear unfolds
I’m helpless to the chaos and confusion taking hold
The pressure starts to rise
As the future’s getting darker,
though there’s nothing in the sky
I feel it coming through
Everything I hoped to do
Is sure to fall apart
Ignorance and whispers only lead to broken hearts
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2. |
Heavy Road
05:05
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I thought the storm was over
That everything I’d been waiting for was here,
I thought it was here, or at least drawing near
After the fires and floods
Thought we’d learned our mistakes
and that soon we’d be free,
I thought I could see what I was meant to be
One last night before we lose control
And we’re left with nothing but memories
Of how everything used to be
before all the fighting took over our minds
One more chance to live like there’s nothing to lose
It’s not just a tale from the news
So close to a state of fulfilment
You’re still meant to be my consistent persistence
Where do we go from here?
The sign up ahead looking all too clear
It’s that old heavy road and
it’s starting to drag me down
What can we do right now?
When the world’s on fire and we don’t know how
To get off that old heavy road
Is it too late to turn back around?
I feel like by now I’ve got used to it
But that doesn’t soften the blow
Keep on forgetting what I already know
I thought the map was in place
Destination on course as we followed the star
Look where we are, still it don’t seem so far
The constellations are changing
Obscured by the clouds, now they shelter the sky
And I keep passing by, how did they get so high?
One last night before our freedom is gone
Recover and capture the memories
Of how everything used to be
Before all the shouting took over our lives
One last chance to live like there’s nothing to lose
I wish I could turn off the news
So close to a state of fulfilment
You’re still meant to be my consistent persistence
I know nothing good ever comes from the 5AM phone calls
Gathering bricks, trying to build up our own walls
Stop all your blaming, stop all your crying
Let’s rebuild the tower we spent so long trying to find
Remember the joy when we found it
Surrounded by sounds of exuberance down
in the depths of our love for the things we held dear
Thought they’d carry us through when the hope disappeared
Now it feels like your only concern is suppression
Stirring things up, ‘till I’m down in depression
What started out small, a mild irritation
In just a few days has become intimidation
So let’s try to break out of this foregone conclusion
Ignore all the problems or find a solution
I’m sick of the sinking and driving around
On this old heavy road, your directions are dragging me down
Where do we go from here?
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3. |
Waiting For The Moment
04:28
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Look out people, I think the rain is falling
Look out people, I see the early warning
Chaos is waiting just beyond the door
How long until you can’t ignore it anymore?
Give my all, like I’m running out of time
Give my all, don’t wanna fall back in line
Keep on dancing as the night goes on
Keep on pretending that there’s nothing wrong
Oh, gimmie peace of mind
People, you know how hard I’ve tried
Wonder, why can’t you see?
I’m waiting for the moment that’s gonna set me free
Losing power, wrap my heart up in chains
Losing power, nothing I can rearrange
Wheels keep turning, don’t know where we’re bound
This heavy road is gonna drag me down
Nobody ‘round me seems to care or know
Thoughts are racing, and I can’t let go
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4. |
Fortress
06:49
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At the tail of the summer, I feel so cold
I’ve broken my wings, trying to fit the mould
More questions than answers, so much unknown
The numbers go up, but I’m down here alone
First day in the new world, but what does that mean?
How many changes affect my routine?
Plans in captivity, hope lost in time
My own private prison cell, but I’ve done no crime
They say this phase, it won’t last long
But I’ve done my research and I know they’re wrong
My hopes and dreams, they’ve been mislaid
Regression takes hold as the meaning starts to fade
Yes, turns to maybe, then maybe turns to no
Stare at the picture, with nowhere to go
The candle burns faster each empty day
Give in to nostalgia, start drifting away
Here in my fortress
Lost in the phantom zone
Yearning for solace
Spiralling down, resolution unknown
Here in my fortress
Inside my mind, I’m lost at sea
Yearning for solace
Into the void, let the waves carry me
Plans out the window, time on my side
I’m in a void somewhere in between
Head on the pillow, eyes open wide
Here in my room, I shut out the gloom
Leaving this world of uncertainty behind
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5. |
Everybody's Story
04:55
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Roaming in Rome on a winter’s day
Thought I heard something familiar
A dialect I’ve heard somewhere before
Another traveller on his way
Still his presence seemed peculiar
The notes he’s singing don’t quite match the written score
I never expected to be here now
Painting a picture but don’t know how
To brush off the people passing by
I’m having a hard time taking it in
Like a song, I don’t know where to begin
Wanna hear everybody’s story
Wanna hear everybody’s story
I’m having a hard time trying to ignore
The voices and tales I’ve heard before
If I hear everybody’s story
If I hear everybody’s story
I’ll forget to write a story of my own
So many miles away from home
Shuffling through the ancient history
And I’m sharing it with strangers from afar
Silent statues carved in stone
Standing out amongst the greenery
Still, I hear them, and it all seems so bizarre
I couldn’t be anywhere else today
But I can’t find the words to say
If you were here, then you’d hear why
I’d be standing around in the courtyard wasting time
Using every part of my body except my mind
Here and now, there’s only so much I can comprehend
Taking off my shades, ‘cause I might not be here again
But those voices and tales I’ve all heard before
They’re no indication of what’s in store
If I hear everybody’s story
I’ll forget to write a story of my own
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6. |
Oh, Britannia
04:02
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Round about teatime, step off the train
Victoria station, out into the rain
Taxis waiting to take me on my way
Into the city, try to brighten up my day
Sink a little underneath the skin
All the mystery disappears within
Oh, Britannia, where has the magic gone?
Once so mighty, now you don’t look so strong
The streets of London don’t cross over with the stories I‘ve been told
Oh Britannia, why'd you have to get so cold?
Seems so civil down by Trafalgar Square
But past the cobblestones, the city’s been stripped bare
Every store in Tin Pan Alley looks the same
Oxford street’s so upper-class, the Circus lights have lost their flame
Can’t you leave a light on just for me?
For all my dreams and everything I hoped to be?
Crawl out from the reverie
Reassess the fantasy
Why am I still carrying the weight
of previous generations
and all their expectations?
I might as well be 30 years too late…
How much longer am I going to have to wait?
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7. |
Learn To Live Again
04:27
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Spent so long in waiting for the moment to arrive
Though I’d set my destination
Thought the fear had passed me by….
When you’re so close to a breakthrough
But you’re broken up inside
Life is still, but still in motion
Silent chaos fills the tide
So concerned with past and future
‘cause the present feels too slow
Keep on hoping for an answer
Se we can get on with the show
In a shadow of the world we used to know
I don’t need a fix-up to get me through each day
But I feel like we’re all stuck at 5AM
What we had is all but gone, but still we carry on
Won’t somebody tell me how long
‘till we learn to live again?
The information never changes
So I carry on each day
Hoping maybe I’ll recover
And I can go back on display
But when I try to make it simple
I’m confounded every time
It’s far too much for me to handle
One too many hills to climb
So I’ll stay here on the ground in my own mind
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8. |
Burnout
03:45
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Consciously stalling, lost in space
Grounded in one place with no direction
I barely even recognise my face
Don’t see the point in masquerading
With all the days invading one other
And I can’t even gauge where I belong
In my fortress I’m forced to rely
On the practices and patterns, pushing chaos to the side
Put on a t-shirt, jacket, and jeans
Though it’s only me who ever sees them,
I’ve got to keep a hold of my routine
The little things that keep me sane
When I’m feeling like a stranger in my own home
Dislocated and detained from how I’d feel
In any other year when I would know
What to do with all my passion, I had so much to bestow
Now where do we go?
Burning out, burdened by worry and doubt
And the feeling won’t subside
Certainty certainly feels like a fantasy
When I don’t get to decide
How the burnout will burn me up inside
I take my workload with caffeine
Only getting up to clean my clothes and kitchen
Then it’s right back to the screen
Constantly moving my trinkets around
Fill my head with sound to keep the motion
But I keep slowing down
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9. |
Give Up The Throne
04:31
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You’re the man atop the tower
You’re the face on all the screens
Giving so much information
I don’t know what to believe
The rockets in the sky
They’re all falling back to earth
Every day a new diversion
Don’t you know what life is worth?
Longing for freedom
Waiting for the day
When we can finally take back
All the trust you threw away, Hey!
Give up the throne
Lay down your game
Too much confusion
It’s all been in vain
Do you listen to the feedback?
Are you doing all you can?
No concern for right or wrong
Do you even have a plan?
For those who sing your praises
There’s hundreds on the side
And your whispers only serve
to expand the great divide
Longing for freedom
Waiting for the day
When we can finally take back
All the trust you threw away
Longing for freedom
Waiting for the cure
‘Cause right now we’re all pieces
In your ego-driven war
Keep on digging deeper
‘till you’re stuck inside your hole
I’ll just be here, sitting with
these things I can’t control
So hard to see the future
When we can’t ignore the past
Crying out for common sense…
Lord, I hope it’s coming fast
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10. |
Circuit Breaker
02:39
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Hope can only carry us so far
Waiting for the bell to ring
No-one’s doing anything
To get things back to how they were before
We’re drowning in the thick of it
So make a plan and stick to it this time
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11. |
Existential Guardian
13:53
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i. The Surface Level
What have I become?
Sitting in a glass house
Throwing stones at everyone
I’ve been cynical
Waiting on a miracle
To reconstruct a mind beyond repair
Patience wearing thin
Well beyond the burnout
Only emptiness within
Who can I believe?
How can I achieve perfection?
Am I living in a castle in the air?
Why does it always take so long?
The state of the world has all gone wrong
Dream of a future I can’t see
What if I’m the one who can’t break free?
I’m trying to comprehend
Why I’m acting out the same mistakes again
So I gather my emotions
Lay them out upon the ground
The plan is incomplete
I made too many promises I never meant to keep
Now I’m pulling back the curtain
On the theatre in the round
Well, I never meant to be so cold
But now’s the time to break that mould
Here in the bubble, there’s no chains
There must be something I can rearrange
Running high on intuition
Magnify my inhibition
I thought that my condition was a mission to survive
What if the key to my potential
is an existential guardian inside?
ii. Treading Water
When I look back on the times I lost momentum
The only common thread
Was a failure to adapt to changing currents
Thinking way too far ahead
By following the colours and the details
The bigger picture fades to grey
Telling the stories, but the morals have gone hazy
Soon there’ll be nothing left to say
Treading on the water, drowning in the past
Roaring of the ocean, hope is sinking fast
Spent so long in waiting for the moment
When moments come and go
Wasting minutes in the hope of finding hours
As the workload overflows
Still I overthink instead of taking action
My mistakes become regrets
The waves have pushed me from the shoreline to the iceberg
All I can feel is discontent
I’m a virus in the system, a glitch in the machine
A broken mind behind the eyes
My obsession with perfection has led me to a wall
How can I learn to live again if I’ve never lived before?
iii. The Deep End
Sink a little underneath the skin
All the mystery has disappeared within
Laying all the secrets out
Isolate the fear and doubt
that keeps me paralysed
And causes me to overanalyse
Every choice I’ve ever made
I’ve been bending over backwards but my habits never break
Why should I change my dream
When my self-esteem is at an all-time low
I don’t think I can take another blow
Here at the deep end, I can clearly see
The trick to getting through adversity
The breathing and the balance I achieve
When I ignore that little voice
And try to make a better choice
Now the voice is getting louder
It’s harder to ignore
Every setback I’ve encountered
Only fuels it more and more
But the heavy road keeps winding
And all the backseat driving
Is blinding me from who I really am
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12. |
Cut You Adrift
06:30
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You’ve been in my shadow
Keeping one step behind
Thinking I wouldn’t notice
You were chewing at my pride
The bone’s almost dry now
How much more can you take?
Breaking down what used to give me joy
Till it’s all empty space
You’re the devil on my shoulder
keep on telling me to wait
’till I can’t see the sun on a clear day
The ship is going down, but I’m working up the strength
To cut you adrift, and push you away
Back at the beginning
When I learned how to care
Didn’t notice your presence
It’s like you weren’t even there
Every time there was disruption
You found your way into my heart
Shut me off from the outside world
To tear the inside apart
You’ve marked me with your dagger
When the treasure lies ahead
Leave me on an island of fear and dismay
The ship is going down, but I’m working up the strength
To cut you adrift, and push you away
Everybody’s got their demons wrapped up inside
It’s time I stopped waiting
I’m gonna learn how to turn with the tide
Every fearful contemplation is one more wasted breath
Taking control, starting today
The ship is going down, but I’m working up the strength
To cut you adrift, and push you away
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13. |
Open Box
05:06
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Step One
Open up to see the tools at our disposal
what’s it gonna be?
Take Flight
no instructions necessary, navigating
the branches of the tree
Fantasise
All the elements are placed in front of us
Try not to overthink
Visualise
Make it look like something
everyone connects to
Heart and soul in-sync
Put your fear and doubt aside
Clutch the power, take the ride
Build it up and lay it down
Life is an open box
Take it apart, and break the rules
Rebuild it piece by piece
Turn it into something new
Just imagine what we can do
Work In Progress
the more we spend our time together,
the more we realise
what can be redone
Side by side
Put it on display for all to come and see
The challenges we’ve overcome
And if it seems a bit offset
That’s ‘cause we’re not finished yet
There’s still space that we can fill
This is one way to tell the story
In the end, it’s up to you
If you want to learn to live again
You’ve got to learn to push on through
Climbing up the mountain
We’re bound to trip and fall
But still we build ourselves back up
And rise above it all
‘Cause we’re all part of a team
With our buildings and machines
Little people, big ideas
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14. |
The End Is Not The End
06:36
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So many times I’ve felt alone
Living through repeated history
Watching all the changes from afar
What comes next is still unknown
As we reconstruct the scenery
Slowly we remember who are
‘Cause when the passion takes control
A light flicks on within my soul
And the theatre fades away
I know hesitation has held me back before
And I need a little pressure now and then
Trepidation lingers on
But that’s what makes me strong
The road out of the darkness might seem long
But take a look again…
The end is not the end
So make a new beginning
Adjusting expectations on the way
As I learn to navigate
This gift that I’ve been given
I start to shed the role I’ve always played
Every time I add a part
I change the song within my heart
And conjure up a melody inside
I‘ll find my inner self
By working on my mental health
And reassess the purpose of my life
There’ll always be those circumstances I just can’t control
And yes there’s still so much for me to learn and room to grow
But now I’ve found the strength to guide me through the ebb and flow
‘Cause now I know the end is not the end
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15. |
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I thought the storm was over
That everything I’d been waiting for was here,
I thought it was here, or at least drawing near
After the fires and floods
Thought we’d learned our mistakes
and that soon we’d be free,
I thought I could see what I was meant to be
One last night before we lose control
And we’re left with nothing but memories
Of how everything used to be
before all the fighting took over our minds
One more chance to live like there’s nothing to lose
It’s not just a tale from the news
So close to a state of fulfilment
You’re still meant to be my consistent persistence
CHORUS:
Where do we go from here?
The sign up ahead looking all too clear
It’s that old heavy road and
it’s starting to drag me down
What can we do right now?
When the world’s on fire and we don’t know how
To get off that old heavy road
Is it too late to turn back around?
I feel like by now I’ve got used to it
But that doesn’t soften the blow
Keep on forgetting what I already know
I thought the map was in place
Destination on course as we followed the star
Look where we are, still it don’t seem so far
The constellations are changing
Obscured by the clouds, now they shelter the sky
And I keep passing by, how did they get so high?
One last chance to live like there’s nothing to lose
I wish I could turn off the news
So close to a state of fulfilment
You’re still meant to be my consistent persistence
CHORUS
I know nothing good ever comes from the 5AM phone calls
Gathering bricks, trying to build up our own walls
Stop all your blaming, stop all your crying
Let’s rebuild the tower we spent so long trying to find
Remember the joy when we found it
Surrounded by sounds of exuberance down
in the depths of our love for the things we held dear
Thought they’d carry us through when the hope disappeared
Now it feels like your only concern is suppression
Stirring things up, ‘till I’m down in depression
What started out small, a mild irritation
In just a few days has become intimidation
So let’s try to break out of this foregone conclusion
Ignore all the problems or find a solution
I’m sick of the sinking and driving around
On this old heavy road, your directions are dragging me down
Where do we go from here?
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Joshua Batten Melbourne, Australia
Joshua Batten is a modern-day troubadour, using music as his language to connect with the world. Equal parts folk, blues,
country and rock, Joshua writes songs from the heart, with lyrics about modern living set against a retro musical backdrop.
Debut full-length album, "The City Within" Available now.
... more
Joshua Batten recommends:
Live Acoustic from India
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Cam's one-man-band style of swampy blues transcends the streets of London (where he can usually be found busking) and is a must-listen for blues fans all over the world
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With his fourth full-length album, Mike Mills has given us 12 top tracks, each with its own unique characteristic. Blending prog, metal, folk and 80's synthrock, I don't just like it - I LOVE IT!
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Beautiful melody, great music. Musique complexe. difficile de faire plus riche. Tous les morceaux sont excellents.
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Christmas Selection Box
by I Am The Manic Whale
supported by 6 fans who also own “Learn To Live Again”
This a beautiful, cheerful and proggy collection! Thank you and merry Christmas!
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Super Connected (2023)
by Tim Arnold
Tim Arnold's latest album of lushly detailed art-pop explores the insidious ways tech surveillance has become a part of our lives.
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Downey to Lubbock
by Dave Alvin
Soulful guitar interplay form the heart of this lovely Americana collaboration from Dave Alvin and Jimmie Dale Gilmore.
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