Start of the Dream, by Orchid Eaton

Start of the Dream

by Orchid Eaton

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1.	Alsace-Lorraine 02:31	lyrics	buy track
Little Village near le grand ballon And our memories are all the same We’ll come together as our parents did Out on Alsace-Lorraine This can trigger the expansion at last I surrender and am often to blame No more meeting but more shaking of hands Down on Alsace-Lorraine You know I fell Face down in the dirty water And now my memories are all the same Statement of fact we’ll be flat on our backs Defending Alsace-Lorraine You know I fell Face down in the dirty water But my motivations focused again To stitch together & erase the past Down on Alsace-Lorraine You thought of leaving you were sick of the mess I admit that I was thinking the same No shells ballistic No more mud on my hands Out on Alsace-Lorraine You know I fell Face down in the dirty water And now my memories are all the same To stitch together & erase the past Down on Alsace-Lorraine
2.	Nothing Happens 02:52	lyrics	buy track
[Light Receivers] oh please let me don’t feel wrong [Nothing Doing] oh well I still got my armor on [Like Resistors] to the current build up & out [Wiring Firing] everyone’s little brother now I’ve got my own little mother now Silence like a temple Keep your wits about you I tried some meditation but it never seems to stick with you Repeat like a tape Nothing happens Nothing ever happens when You don’t let it happen Nothing ever happens when You don’t let it happen Nothing ever happens when You don’t it happen Nothing ever happens
3.	Start of the Dream 04:02	lyrics	buy track
This is the start of the dream where our bodies all die That we are meaningful by design Being animals in decline This is the whole of the star that is shinning out clear If I can feel it now it’s real And digest it all & disregard The lack of love within this little heart Stand by me my romantic doll Hold me in with your flowered cell wall As soon as I fold in the dream like a scale in the wind And I am sure that you’ll agree The problem here is me But I’ve never seen you in the dream Stand by me……. [standing over me] And this is always on my mind No matter sleeping off or anodyne But these days are diamonds in rewind Stand by me my romantic doll Hold me in with your flowered cell walls Stand by me my romantic doll Hold me in my strumming dumb doll
4.	Heart/Beet 03:49	lyrics	buy track
Picture yourself alone without a care in the world That’s right no one’s ever going to stand in your way What a laugh! I’ve had my fill of the fragrant hours That’s all, that is all that I’ve been meaning to say Adding it up my abacus can add up to ten Alright, but I’ve got my own invisible friends Truer words have never been spoken And this is wine that I think that I can take My heart is a beet that has never been broken These glasses on the surface never break Wired beyond belief and too scared to die I’m off when my animals keep drifting away That’s all that this is, it’s just thinking through a muddy reflection That’s all that is all that I’ve been meaning to say Out of the woods and into the fountain Slaking your thirst like a snake My heart is a beet that is never been broken Maybe cut it open see what can awake Maybe open up and see what you can make Maybe cut it open see what can awake
5.	... 02:04	info	buy track
6.	Light Weight 04:45	lyrics	buy track
This is really how I am I know Always in dream land but numb enough to float as before A little dust speck in the sun I know Please steady your arms you know that this is only a Light weight you’ve got a little Light weight you’ve got a little A not so terrible time as I’ve made in my mind A not so terrible time When this all becomes too clear let me go What do I care about and who do I forget when I’m low I’ve got a shit pile on my mind I know Here’s time to shovel out and make room for some orchids to grow A Light weight I’ve got a little Light Weight it’s just a little Light weight you’ve got a little Light weight I’ve got a little No more terrible times as I’ve made in my mind A not so terrible time as I’ve made in my mind A not so terrible time as I’ve made in my mind Everywhere we go
7.	Communist Cigs 02:06	lyrics	buy track
Soul starting a wave But yer consciousness showed up ‘bout a decade too late But some cheap cigs made it okay When your ideas run out do you just fade away Documenting end over endings And a thousand things not in the way When your ideas run out do you just fade away
8.	Medication Again 05:04	lyrics	buy track
Didn’t see it comin’ He didn’t have a clue Oh my god I’m stuck here; telling him lies just to help him pull through Like a rabbit shit stain on his teeth He thinks no one can see Don’t allow me, allow me……..to ruin this with every dream She must not really love me Everything seems fake I’m really sick of drinking so I don’t feel the sting of every mistake I’m a genius here with piss on my jeans I think no one can see Don’t allow me…….. Hello! Come on in! Make yourself right at home in the den. Why wait before we all get lousy with medication again This way. Don’t talk cheap You’re the prettiest people we’ve ever seen I know that the night is short and we’ve got places to go Must have been a new war; must have been a new kind of dream that hardly hurts you Except when you mean it Must have been a new war; must have been a new kind of dream You won’t be told enough times that everyone loves you. Don’t ever give up on your dreams You won’t be told enough times that everyone loves you. Don’t ever give up on your dreams You won’t be told enough times that everyone loves you. Don’t ever give up on your dreams I know what you’re thinking. That we didn’t have a clue With all these people coming we might as well just to tell them the truth Got a prescription and took half of a green In a minute I’ll be able & clean Hello. Come on in. Make yourself right at home in the den Why wait before we all get lousy with medication again This way. Don’t talk cheap You’re the prettiest people we’ve ever seen I know, that the night is short and we’ve got places to go ---------------------------------------------- I am older now
9.	Well As... 03:08	lyrics	buy track
In the towns that we grew up in Everyone you know is gone And like a little children got married Everyone you know is gone A little sentimental feeling that 400 souls can’t see Then retreating like a bad dream She’d slip inside the stream I wait so long for the fun that never comes In the towns that we grew up in Everyone you know is gone And like a little children got married Everyone you know is gone
10.	1:37 03:55	lyrics	buy track
It's 1:37 and it's time for my break now I'll go What am I going to do now when these looks leave my face I don't know I've been losing my mind like I had one to give :\|\| You know I need a little time on my own Or maybe a few more hours in bed Everyone loves you the best At least that's what you tend to tell yourself Nothing but staring Night holds no sympathy Last one out of here is perfectly safe I want more I've been losing my mind like I had one to give :\|\|

about

There used to be this warship called the Eaton, I came to find out later. A great steel hulk used in the Pacific. It crashed 3 times after the war (the worst with the USS Wisconsin) and then was sunk for target practice in 1969. The same year Gary Usher and my Eau Claire, WI hometown hero, Curt Boettcher made their last record as Sagittarius; the immersive, sunshiny, Moog-strewn, hippie-nadir ‘The Blue Marble’.
I also found an orchid outside Eaton, WI last year. It was all on a wavelength. Somehow it all made sense.
Sometimes you know exactly what you want to say. Sometimes you’re up until 3:23am witnessing your mind churn like a front-loaded washing machine. And you have no quarters. Or is it no quarter?
You’re more in the latter category. And by you, I mean me. I’ve spent a good too many years cloaking my intention in a series of ‘you’s’. To some formless wisp of smoke that is somehow still malleable. So now, by design, it is I.
What do I have to say? I guess that depends.
These days I breathe cleaner. I spend more time in a crystalline fog of my own design. But I made the confines, set the rules. And I permit the world to be as it will. I’ve always enjoyed listening anyways.
Stasis. But also harmony. Static harmony. These things make me happy.
Also, to be unafraid as I can be. To rock my sometimes circular(ugly) feelings to sleep like a doting father. Because I’ve learned how to do that. To nurture. And to continue, however futilely, to throw a layer of suppressive soil over my ego.
So here we go.
I recorded these basement pop songs by myself during work days and late nights when my daughter was sleeping. A Tascam mixing desk & antiquated ADAT machine were used for tracking. It often gave me scary warnings like ‘Error 7’ and spit out my tapes in perceived disgust. I didn’t let that stop me. No click track or punch in’s were used in the making of this record. You’ll be guaranteed to hear the creak, shuffle, slide, and warp.
I played some drums but then I thought better of it and asked Brian Moen (Peter Wolf Crier, Laarks, Shouting Matches) to help me. He played drums and meticulously and heroically exported my garage band tracks into pro-tools and transformed them into the earnest, visceral and 2-D psychedelic end versions you hear here. Brian is a superior and generous human bean. Thank you for your energies, mon frere.
Some other people did some things too (Emily Mohrbacher: vox \ Evan Bierer : Sax \ Luisa Rivera: artwork \ Jason Schumacher: photos \ Youa Vang: advice & consent), some people were the mains of support (B. Lev: for the everything \ Hartke: for the Bach & mics \ Dan Choma: for the mics & drums \ Graham O’Brien: for the drums), and some people were themselves (Christian, Svec, Bobby, Krinsky, TJL, Ben White).
Additional thanks to Tom Herbers for the elusive Optigan and Pea Hicks (optigan.com) for the new discs.
Thank you to you too for listening.
I’ll see you out there somewhere
-Mah Lev.

credits

released June 15, 2018

All songs composed by M. Leavitt
Arranged & produced by M. Leavitt & Brian Moen

M. Leavitt : Vox, Guitars, Wurlitzer, Optigan, Bass, Synthesizers, Organs, Vibraphone, Harpsichord, Drums
Brian Moen : Drums, Percussion, Vox

-with-
Emily Mohrbacher : Vox (1, 2, 10)
Evan Bierer : Sax (4)

Recorded at homes & studios in Oakland, CA; Minneapolis, MN; Eau Claire, WI
Mixed by Brian Moen
Mastered by Zach Hanson, April Base, WI.

Album Artwork by Luisa Rivera
© 2018

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about

Orchid Eaton Minneapolis, Minnesota

Orchid Eaton is tthe recording duo of Brian Moen (Shouting Matches, Peter Wolf Crier, Laarks) and Matt Leavitt (EMOT).

Basement Pop. Analog audio veritas.

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