Defiance Towards the Unyielding Void
- Album year: 2024
- Album art: Gregorio Ospina
Lyrics
A Damn Good Thrashing
[Instrumental]
Rules
The reason rules exist is to be broken
To evolve through challenges outspoken
To be taken case by case, free from dogma
The rule should serve the man, and not vice-versa.
Progress, as defined, cannot be static
Or illusory control for the fanatic.
Boundaries should be questioned and transcended
In pursuit of truth, no walls shall be defended.
Get It Right (written and recorded with Yujing Zou)
Never know how your day is gonna go when you’re starting it
Seems too slow, Getting nowhere with your endless goals
Pressure’s building up feeling something’s gonna blow
Facing my own limits but here we go
Push with all your might (you do)
Try to get it right (you lose)
It doesn’t work sometimes (can’t choose)
It costs your peace of mind
Feeling low, but I know what is down
Must come up again
It goes to show
Everything is in a state of constant change
No Hill Seems Worthy
No hill seems worthy to make my stand
But if I don’t climb, I’ll sink in quicksand.
Does any hill even matter, seeing they’re so small?
Relative to the cosmic scale of it all?
The hills around here start to look much the same
And time starts to play strange tricks on my brain.
Novelty calls, but routine whips
Time for a change, teach this old dog new tricks.
I’m moving much too slowly
While life passes fast
I know, I know it’s only natural
That all things must pass.
It’s fine the days are passing
But not they pass me by
The days - like the hills - start blending
Beneath the vast sky.
Nothing much changes, inside these confines
Same old thoughts in the same old mind
Increasingly complex in fractal design
But I can’t change the seed, no matter how I try.
I know that I’m free, but I can’t seem to run
I’ve become entangled in this web that I’ve spun.
Is the script at hand being written or read?
Is there room for a twist somewhere ahead?
Respite
Belief in superscience
To halt the setting sun
Some say it doesn’t matter
‘In the end, all fates are one’.
Leap out the open window,
The proverbial sink or swim.
Are we turning an inflection?
Can we ever truly win?
Take a deep breath, for now, we’re all right.
I’ve got you nearby; it’s all that matters tonight.
Close your eyes and surrender to light.
Hold you in my arms; it’s a dream and respite.
The clouds are dark and heavy,
And the world shall turn no more.
Or so the news will tell you
If you let them keep the score.
Dirty rain pours down the gutters,
Occupies my space to breathe.
Deadlines, bills, endless opinions—
We’ve built a cage of needs.
Colours
The bright colours of childhood
Wash away with the years
Smeared as if by the friction of time
New hues often appear.
Emerging from our cocoon
Pressures build and rise
The fall is ever-higher
But we never reach the sky
Colour is defiance
Towards the unyielding void.
A statement by the painter
Marking the passions deployed.
In worthy effort and investment
Colours intensify.
Facing the final curtain call,
With darkness they entwine.
The Educated Ape
The educated ape likes numbers and words
They’re a great source of comfort when life is absurd
We model the world but we often forget
That wisdom’s true measure lies beyond intellect.
We over-rely on external validation
from studies and gods, and friends and relations.
Yet we firmly ignore our gut intuition
The quest for truth ignores self-recognition.
Is it because the ape is lazy?
Or does the ape fear being called ‘crazy’?
Have rules and schooling dulled its instincts?
…Conforming to its precincts.
Most of perception, we cannot encode
While a world of deception is written and sold,
So the ape must learn to trust its own sense,
Ignoring the noise that corrupts inference.
Numbers and words: they are but a tool
We must learn them well or risk being fooled.
They can help us dig, or serve us poorly
As we search for the truth in our story.
Fragility
‘Life is but a moment’
The philosopher proclaimed
As his hairs turned grey
In the mirror he portrayed.
Ashes to ashes scattered
Cleared swiftly by the winds,
While humanity reprieves itself
In the name of holy sin.
Fragility of all we love
Is revealed in sudden shocks
Yet we all live to regret
Gratitude under lock.
Then the old fuckers in a suit
Send the young to die in war
And cleverly design a way
To further tax the poor.
Common sense is oddly rare,
But it’s clear to all who think
We’ve not a clue what’s going on
And we’re lucky not to sink.
The echoes of eternity
Are thunder through our veins
We think that we’re invincible
..’Til the master pulls the reins.