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Young Familiar

by Christians & Lions

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  • Cassette + Digital Album

    High-bias cassette tape, professionally duplicated, with a plantable paper download code included. Limited to 100 copies!

    Includes unlimited streaming of Young Familiar via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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  • Streaming + Download

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1.
Changeling 03:13
I was named while I slept so consider it void. I was a self-loathing fighter, a good American boy But don't bother telling me nothing, I've grown all feral and forgetful, full of hot, fitful hopes I think it started in school; they taught me ignorance of privilege, we were a nation at war that didn't seem to know the difference But when I heard them talk like battles could be 'won,' I'd laugh, "You don't actually expect me to believe shit like that?" From then on no classroom was gonna cage my resentment i could cast my aspersions or shoulder burdens/withhold judgement I saw messiahs, pariahs, greedslayers, and scabs but I couldn't come home till I'd learned how to grab So I grasped that the Promised Land is too often promised by men who would seek, then steal, then hold office and that nothing is ever gonna get very far till we smother the Old Guard and put no one in charge And that until our skulls part like some flower in bloom we will rush to get a part of what power and doom we can muster it must be enough, enough or we're fucked--it's disgusting but all we know of love.
2.
Turnspit dogs beneath the feast goaded into roasting fellow beasts Wanna say we gotta jumping over coals thrown at our feet Oh, they got the numbers, at times but don’t forget that we still have our teeth Learned this back when we were curtailed kids held responsible for what we did If we knew now what we knew then I’m sure that we’d be better men But until we regress, there’s no progress 'cause we’re all id Who will tell the keeper? Who will tell the keeper? Tell the keeper So we hoard resources in a mad dash fingers crossed behind our wounded backs Parlor pinks kitchen sink think piece theories on what we lack Glib admonition for ammunition Convictions strong as a spent match Who will tell the keeper? Tell the keeper Who will tell the keeper?
3.
Is to as are to Center, it won't hold Dead hand signal from a Dweller on the threshold What is Patience Worth? Fetch once flesh? Hypnic jerk? Fistful of cemetery dirt? Trust and belief come Crying at the back door Milk will run out and they Won’t come a-round no more Divine, scry, and dowse Or let the tabby drowse Blinking wisdom through the house I will know good deed from sin On the day my plague comes in
4.
Professional medium drew me close Said 'At the very least, try not to be the most The leader of the pack eats it and dies; Stay on toward the middle and strategize' I said, 'I don’t want much--' he stopped me there 'You don’t want to want much You’ve made that clear' And oh, oh, is that right? Oh, what had he seen on the inside? Diagnosed young with Immense Potential Hunger insatiable yet deferential Loss-leading achiever, better value intents Now who’s the winner of our free content? I still want to be some rare creature Reaching past featureless, effete crowd-pleaser Cog-in-the-machine, or coquettish clock teaser Anachronistic hack’s sacrilegious fever And oh, oh, is that wrong? Oh, oh to put in a song? Oh, whether it was harmless camp From another also-ran Or some bad actor Wasn’t certain But I know, I’m a little extra and I’ll probably wonder where I stand With no direction Till curtain
5.
Lucky Ghost 02:19
When it feels you’re not on my side It’s like I might as well have died Years ‘fore you opened your eyes Oh darling for the first time I would wait, torn up by a want For someone I could only haunt Days into decades crawl by While I am watching your life You couldn’t want a kiss From someone you don’t know to miss I keep my phantom limbs far From wherever we are Can’t know if you’ll be left between Here and there from what I have seen Cursed to wish joy for your heart Though it may keep us apart If you crossed to the other side Not to’ve known I had lived or died I’d still say my fortune was clear So lucky to have loved you while you’re here
6.
I woke up in a city of sunken bells Where hard souls full of hubris Softshoe from hell to hell Sucked the day residue from my fingertip but how I got here I can’t tell I found work as a faith healer Batting cleanup for the local firing squad But the luckiest of my charges were the ones halfway to heaven Before the devil knew they’d gone Tried telling these people “there’s another way” Only to hear them say “hundreds of deeply flawed people can’t be wrong” My words seemed taken light Till I was taken in the night To see my boss Regretted to inform me so But he was gonna have to not let me go And sorry for my loss Wasn’t sure just what he meant Till in walked my replacement Justice blind, my welcome old Handed me an old blindfold
7.
Palekh 02:28
I was born a breeze, and you, a breath “Let us stay vapor,” we’d plead ‘Till someone see’d us to this tense We awoke as newborns Each a writhing ball of light We were instruments of vision Beyond certain frequencies Despite all the vibrations But I shake and age just to exist (To renew what peace we had forfeit) So we all shapeshift or go apeshit soon enough I’m proof--POOF--I’m breeze, you’re breath Stumbling towards birth, flowers bloom in reverse Big, twilight sleep in the dirt Like meeting the meet I’ll meet as I leave my body on this earth We were colonists by proxy All the sidewalks were enemies And the noon sun beat us like a ghost Burnin in a bad dream But I tossed some prophecy on those streets You were there With flowers in your hair And your pupils grew like you were lucid or in love And when the wine took my legs Your touch took my breath For it was wasted on anything I’d said or done before or since And if you didn’t, now you’ll see That I was you and you were me
8.
The Swailing 02:53
Like household pets with broken necks, their bodies dance ‘round their heads while I dream in infinities, the space between dumb terror and the door rolls over itself, halves its body, breaks its back, drags its weight inches--inches at a time, like no time. I've got time. I’ll find time. Holy ghosts stir up raw decrypt our root, stalks and leaves. Feeding family trees in poor soil with blood, memories, and faith—an unfixed concept but still, perched just out of sight We’ll comb the undergrowth by [the] swailing fire[‘s] light And not breathe nor speak Close our eyes so we can see See We’ll see
9.
Tender Offer 03:07
A shout in a holler for a hill to die on A chip on a shoulder that I used to cry on Tender offer Remember the old oak missing leaves Tried to put a grip of stitches in me And your eyes searched mine For something I might know I knew nothing--it's just as well I grew from that sick puppy Into a mama wolf who's only whelping runts And I don’t know anymore if you love me Or some memory I’ve not recalled for months But my tender offer still stands Tender offer Gone pioneering, came as a thief Is it any less endearing As when a heathen takes his leave? Tender offer Remember these Tender offers
10.
Yesterday, any way you made it was just fine So you turned your days into night-time Didn't you know, you can't make it without ever even trying? And something's on your mind, isn't it? Let these times show you that you're breaking up the lines Leaving all your dreams too far behind Didn't you see, you can't make it without ever even trying? And something's on your mind Maybe another day you'll want to feel another way, you can't stop crying You haven't got a thing to say, you feel you want to run away There's no use trying, anyway I've seen the writing on the wall Who cannot maintain will always fall Well, you know, you can't make it without ever even trying Something's on your mind, isn't it? Tell the truth now, isn't it? Something's on your mind, isn't it? Something's on your mind
11.
No fear of a vengeful god Drives faith into my chest To stave in the cage that cradles my heart And tame what remains of the mess So tell me, tell me I’m blessed Names of the Hare Names of the Hare Names of the Hare Call me what you will I’m not so entitled The moniker's fiction The scripture, verse is holy libel Names of the Hare Names of the Hare Names of the Hare Names of the Hare Define and conquer Every creeping thing Seeking shelter in all the tagging, the tagging and releasing Names of the Hare Invoked as dispersant When you cast that spell How can you tell if it’s working? Oh, Names of the Hare Names of the Hare Names, Names of the Hare Names of the Hare Names of the Hare Names of the Hare
12.
Wild Shade 03:06
Winged things, prizes or pests Fastened to death with the pins in our chests Or posed with a shell, we both fell from the nest To spend death as our life’s palimpsest Spitted things they dropped among leaves or buried beneath (didn’t know we were seeds) Kernels of truth assuming the lead Slowly fed by our foes’ entropy Hand-made examples Warnings to send Dry skin studies and Jarred wet specimens Cast out the garden Or lost to the wind Ways are found and held They spring up from within Wild shades, ageless, unmoved Will pour from the bodies that we all once used Resurrection men can claim the refuse If we fight, we still win when we lose

about

"Moves on...from their previous works, feeling more detailed and intricate, the intervening years between releases maturing their sound finely..." - Popoptica

"Nothing short of spectacular" - Motif Magazine

credits

released October 4, 2019

Recorded and mixed at Pink Noise in Massachusetts by Dan Thorn
Mastered at Big Nice Studio in Rhode Island by Bradford Krieger
Art, design, and layout by James Weinberg

Melodies and lyrics written by Benjamin Potrykus,
except “Something On Your Mind” by Dino Valenti (as performed by Karen Dalton).

Ben Potrykus - Vocals, guitar, organ, synth, banjo, saw, programming
Chris Barrett - Trumpet, euphonium
Chris D’Amore - Upright bass
Chris Mara - Drums, percussion
Dan Thorn - Keys
Erica Sutherland - Vocals
Fiona Wood - Violin
Gregory Tellier - Electric guitar solo
James Weinberg - Accordion
Miriam Lee - Viola
Sara Honeywell - Trombone

Thank you so much for making this happen. See you next decade!

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Christians & Lions Warren, Rhode Island

A "veritable underdog super group" (TheDig) formed in 2004. Ben Moy Potrykus (Bent Shapes, Receiving End of Sirens, etc), Matt Sisto, Chris Mara, and Chris Barrett are joined by Fiona Wood, Chris D'Amore, James Weinberg, and Sara Honeywell live. Also featuring Sam Potrykus, Kate Virginia, Greg Tellier, and more. ... more

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