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Transition Hold

by Valerie Graham

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1.
Albion Ferry 02:40
Another disgruntled customer Bad service reviews Of course I will Inscrutable forgotten muse Lonely bay, sinking attitude Altitude of the sunken lover Solitude of the woeful brother Prophecy of the saddest sucker Now clap your paws for the hapless fuck up Waiting for an end Drink the water, dream the sludge Sunk so deep it cannot budge Moored to a memory That dangler's gonna damage Got hooked on a feeling, too heavy to carry Indefinable spirit smudge Teenage vampire in cedar mulch Lying low on the waterfront Staying out of the sun and out of touch Oh baby, you’re all dried up You’ll shrivel up, you'll shrivel up, you'll shrivel up Sighing down the old dock hoes Waiting for a ghost ferry It never comes Thought about New York Planned a little marriage Got some stitching done On the undercarriage Had a little crisis then I just stopped caring I regret the night I met you At the Albion Ferry And I’m praying for the end
2.
The blackening The whitening The reddening The sharpening The softening The deadening The loosening of ties The body rife with flies The writhing mass That knows not where it's going It's coming on strong now No room to doubt Someone blew your birthday candles out The old mythic practice Prayers for the dead Wishes and fishes Lightning bolt for the mud Black holes merging Like a trillion suns Somewhere way out yonder Past that bowl You call a head Florentine yellow And the great mogul Lament the loss Of the fabled jewel Your greed gets so high Built up like a palace Mirrored halls grow The flower of your hubris Better tie your kerchief tight It's not a pretty sight And your looking pretty pretty pretty Pretty vacant
3.
Salamander 04:35
“I am neither young enough or credulous enough to believe you can manufacture out of nothing, something to replace the song I had” (Zelda Fitzgerald) The melody begins, precarious and strange The night flower opens it’s throat A technicolor scream In the dusk coming on Dusty hot and slow Never a thing to do Til the boys come around Heads tilt back and slide away Light on the water swings and sways Lift your dress up to perform A drunken Swan Lake Taxi cab through the street again Oh the glamours of these glamourous men Who’d rather see you dead my friend Than ever see you be free I believed I was a salamander And the beat went on and the night was tender Morning comes after the bender So tenuous and rare The thread dissolves that tethered you Leaves you stranded in the air So shake that last ribbon from your hair Lie down in the gathering gloom Smoke fills the locked room The weather will come cool again Stars speckle the drum of the sky I will poison any who drink from my well As I regain my sight I shed my scaling skin Consumed by the fire 'Can one become as char And yet remain entire?'
4.
Slow Tide 03:00
Slow tide Seven o clock in the morning Halfway alive Chasing shadows The houses, hedges, and Toyotas Dissolve in meaningless line It’s not a long way to go We left there an hour ago What happened to the cityscape Like I never lived here before True crime The neighbourhood watch has disbanded So you can do what you like Wherever we go There's nothing to notice It’s not good or bad Like one time you said Everywhere is just Maple Ridge But we were just stupid kids Sometimes everywhere really is And you can’t make records when you’re dead Cold times Losing the buzz isn’t easy But you learn how to abide And get going Perpetual adolescence notwithstanding It loses the shine The bloom is off the rose The dandies have all gone to seed Gotta learn to let it go Leave some room to let it breathe
5.
Haunted, haunted By all that you wanted By decoded answers Of pretend necromancers You were all that I thought of All along Jacksons Garden Now who would’ve thunk it I’m taking it to Vaudeville But Erik, be level Are you indeed the devil Well, what did you conjure What ghastly cadaver The long longed for message Was a fraudulent ‘Forgive’ I heard the papers mention Your aerial suspension Guess it pays to be tragic Mama shake me, I’m magic But Erik, be level Are you indeed the devil Cuz I’m still in the grip of you dangling three floors up above A well dressed crowd on a Thursday at The Vancouver Sun How did you ever get down? How did you get it undone? Could we be mistaken Our confidence breaking We exposed false idols We vanquished our rivals Still I trace your footsteps And I wait for an answer But you know that kind of thinking You know that it can be poison You know that it can be poisonous It can be as poisonous, as poisonous as cancer So Erik, be level Are you the devil Now listen to me Weisz Do you even believe in the bible? So he just had to try him And at Detroit Grace He got away On All Hallows' Eve No more tricks up his sleeve But oh Rosabelle Do you still believe? Can you understand Ten years is long enough To wait for any man
6.
Berry Days 02:31
We're like little tinkling coins Removed from circulation Currency from a country that I've never visited On one side's a profile Some elder statesman on his horse Of irreproachable integrity Not a thief or a murderer of course Oh the golden glory days When men were men Let's sigh and bow our heads For what will never be again The tails side is a cedar bough Or a row boat, or a flowering branch Commemorating our history of Summers flown too fast So swing me round to a cover band A couple of dancing queens I don't make a good fake daughter I guess I've never really been Oh the golden glowing days Ripened on the vine I wanted to thank you I never ate So many berries in my life
7.
The Wrestler 03:29
Central fire and the unseen body Tumble deftly through the dawning The shell is lost, the will goes on Shades of forgotten forms Comes without warning Slowly falling I hear it calling Stumble back in the bleak hereafter Always was the oblivion you were after Sneak a kiss to your dying master All hail the king in his darkest chapter Wavering in the sky Commemorate in a lullaby Debase frail consciousness Forsake vain sorcery Get down on your knees in fear The death knell of an ego trip Bring the shell close to your ear A broken code in lieu of prayer Transmissions over ‘The Giant was here’ While the lights dance all around What was lost can now be found The show is about to begin The curtain rises, go on in For what it’s worth I hope you win Every fight You imagined That you did
8.
Oh Boy 03:30
It was all a fever dream A desert isle Lilliputian schemes Of a hurting child Wild and unreasoning It was big and bold and oh it was loud It reduced the one to a crowd And for years it drowned out all the screaming It said lay your soul down here We will tend it for you Which in truth proved a little misleading Come the broken bonds And the cupboards bare You've got nothing for me to believe in That's the virtue buried in the vice The wisdom won at an inordinate price Find a heart made of gold Not of lead or of tin Find a safe harbour With a good companion Hear it from afar Slightly out of tune Perform the pattern required By your harlequin suit For your million friends Everyone sleeping But it aches now always like a rotten tooth Losing track of days No one mentions it's lose Oh the sin of not paying Enough attention What happened to me Will happen to everyone What happened to me Is gonna happen to you, too Come the broken bonds And the cupboards bare There'll be nothing for you to believe in In the end, you get nothing but time All the time in the world to lose your mind Oh boy, coming over and over Oh boy, sing it tender and joyful Here it comes, here it comes, here it comes Oh boy, coming over and over Oh boy, sing it tender and joyful Bring it back, bring it back, bring it back To a heart made of gold Not of lead or of tin Find a safe harbour with a good companion
9.
Gifted 05:51
I’m a canopy bed In snowflake pattern A Barbie dream house Christmas morning A prom dress, ruffled and shiny Disney and a sweet sixteen party Convertible in the driveway with a big red bow I’m going to Mexico Over the Holiday I’m a full set of new clothes To start off the year I’m a little right now Save some for later I’m going away to college Mother cried as she taped up the box lids Convertible in the driveway with a big red bow I’m going to Mexico Over the Holiday Convertible in the driveway with a big red bow I’m going to Mexico Over the Holiday Do you know what it is to be gifted Do you know what it is to be gifted Do you know what it is to be gifted Do you know what it is to be gifted
10.
Shangri-La 02:30
A cave man unthawed They'll et you up in a zoo There's a field trip coming through today Do you remember what you saw Before they stuffed you in the hall An artifact from before To set a mood See the olden days in a creep show case Out of true Take a look back now There is nowhere To go back to There's no Shangri-La A humble pile of bones Tagged and catalogued In between the beadwork and canoes I give up all my dreams To escape from the museum I'll stay here forever next to you See the olden days in a creep show case Out of true Take a look back now There is nowhere To go back to There's no Shangri-La
11.
Golden rings from the dollar store Dried petals found on the floor I must look up How to attach anything to anything What can be used to bind How do you go about moving forward Find more to life Make the transition hold Scared to leave what you've known There's something I used to know Something's missing I am sure Some way I used to be Able to see Can't seem to find anymore Transmission by tone Your voice on the phone Your voice in my head going over and over again Long after you've gone I still hear the sound How do you bind anything to anything else Transition hold How do you bind anything to anything else Transition hold

about

*If you would like a physical copy (CD) please contact me with your info for mailing. If you would like something else tangible, send me your info and I will mail you a high quality print of the cover artwork without text, track listing and a download code.

Made in the isolation of various levels of lockdown from spring to winter 2020. It was made either in our home, our rehearsal space, or over one alarmingly rainy weekend spent in a yurt on the west coast of Vancouver Island, by myself and Jordie. Also appearing are Max Sample with some beautiful piano on Berry Days, and Matina Shrestha Birtch with her otherworldly backing vocals on Oh Boy and The Wrestler. Felix Fung of Little Red Sounds was brought in for mixing and guidance at the end, and greatly improved the final result.

Thank you so much to Jordie, Felix, Max and Matina, and all the friends who gave their time and valuable input, as well as loaned/provided instruments!

Engineered by Jordon Zylstra. Produced by Valerie Graham. Mixed by Felix Fung Little Red Sounds. Composition and lyrics Valerie Graham.

credits

released May 25, 2021

Valerie Graham: vocals and backing vocals, classical, acoustic and electric guitars, bass, kaossilator, moog taurus, percussion, piano on Shangri-La

Jordon Zylstra: Drums, piano, cello, lead/drone guitars, additional backing vocals on The Wrestler and Houdini, percussion

Max Sample: Piano on 'Berry Days'

Matina Shrestha Birtch: Additional backing vocals on 'Oh Boy' and 'The Wrestler'

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Valerie Graham Vancouver, British Columbia

Valerie Graham was born in Ontario in the 80's. She lives in Vancouver and writes sad, pretty songs for herself with her partner Jordie and writes angry, funny songs for her punk band Spring Breaks, and plays bass with LeMaster..
springbreaks1.bandcamp.com

lemaster.bandcamp.com
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