Get all 19 Naevus releases available on Bandcamp and save 25%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Setbacks, Time Again, Man Eat Man Eat Man, Twilight Season, Water's Work, Curses, 034, Appetite and Application, and 11 more.
1. |
Ode to Rind
04:14
|
|||
|
When time was falling fast and free
I felt what could occur to me
Just for a moment it flickered there
And then was gone
Now sitting back in my coffin
As I do so often
I gather in and layer up the life
I was one
Do all that you have done
Then then lift your face up to the sun
Peel away that ragged rind
And see what you find
We are all fleshy fruit
We fall far from our root
To lie here rotting on this ground
Never found
Our seeds are lost in sewage
Adrift on tides of marriage
And none float free upon the sea
There is no sea
Do all that you have done
Then then lift your face up to the sun
Peel away that ragged rind
And see what you find
They cut your foot off
Trees of death
They give you a skin to cling to
And so you cling to it
As you drown in daily doses of it
Do all that you have done
Then then lift your face up to the sun
Peel away that ragged rind
And see what you find
Do all that you have done
Then then lift your face up to the sun
Peel away that ragged rind
And see what you find
|
||||
2. |
Not a Word
04:25
|
|||
|
Let’s have a languid start
A long, exhausted aitch
Mistaking content for actual life
A trail of discarded subscriptions
They cannot add, that’s not a word
Home office, oyster cabin, lying in state
Get by and ameliorate
Audit, attract, avert, abandon
Rivulet, revel, oval, ovula
That character was part
Of the wheel at the back of the wagon
But let us find a way
To a rousing finale
I cannot display
Any of the traits that they say
Would make a man appear to be human
And I cannot show
Any of the traits that they know
Would make a human being seem a man
A smirking Saint Peter
An electricity meter
Gastral/astral
Searing bodily pain
I carry a category upon my back
Skidding across the freeway
I don’t want to play on the water
Heaven is failing, an unreachable gulf
There are no angels or devils
Such tomfoolery
And perfumery
The baker’s oven, the dirty face
I cannot display
Any of the traits that they say
Would make a man appear to be human
And I cannot show
Any of the traits that they know
Would make a human being seem a man
Everything was hidden away
In a garden that got no sun
His body made from meat and vapours
And one shrunken claw
Left gathering ropes and things
Left sitting out of London
On roads and things
|
||||
3. |
Do it Twice
03:14
|
|||
|
Do it twice, do it twice
With a keyboard solo in the middle
Do it twice, do it twice
With a keyboard solo at the centre
All content lies
At the edges, at the sides
Do it twice and there’ll be more there besides
Do it twice, do it twice
With a keyboard solo in the middle
Do it twice, do it twice
With a keyboard solo at the centre
All content lies
At the edges, at the sides
Do it twice and there’ll be more there besides
I haven’t written the keyboard solo yet
But it will be there
Not quite in the middle anymore
Here it comes
Do it
Do it
Do it twice, do it twice
With a keyboard solo in the middle
Do it twice, do it twice
With a keyboard solo at the centre
All content lies
At the edges, at the sides
Do it twice and there’ll be more there besides
|
||||
4. |
120 Days of Sediment
03:36
|
|||
|
The trees grew upside down
The sewers were clogged with art
All the demons home to roost
Bite me on my toe and knee
My arm is meat-shaped
A fragile idea in an ugly shell
I feel rain where there is none
Steam is a noose, descending fast
I was working away
At the flint of my flame
And like ashes in the cannon
Hell is now and waiting
Animals are clean
Blind as an apple
And the Devil’s eye
I thought it was a mask
You, me and human
We’ll hide and we'll hurry
All our dreams came true
But in the wrong order
|
||||
5. |
Shame
05:03
|
|||
|
The day is long, there is no morning
I touch on nothing but
The romance of shame
I may go up
With nothing to excite
But a scent that may escape
With my Dracula binocular
I turn away to flee
With a shrunken eye and a shrunken dream
With legislation blasted
With language that is bad
Adaptable relatives reform
Distant from the nation
Honouring the body
Staying in bed to win a seat
The day is long, there is no morning
Flagged when aboard
Exhausting my patience
Getting to the end of this
Looking for offense
Sensitive to mess
I find a body part in a fish
In a fish…
Expelled with ill will
The girl lost all momentum
Circling imaginary mountains
She sees what’s left
And sees what’s left behind
The day is long, there is no morning
The day is long, there is no morning
The day is long, there is no morning
|
||||
6. |
Show Me a Boat
05:29
|
|||
|
Dredging the pavements
I’ll never explain
Stranded on camber
The dust is the pain
They gave up counting
Buildings now wane
Hunting for utterance
Biting the game
I am late
I am always too late
Show me a boat and I’ll miss it
The warmth is insipid
Dimly declined
My manner is limited
The heat despised
Owning the goal-hole
Leaves you unphased
Removed and remaining
A shelf-life in haste
I am late
I am always too late
Show me a boat and I’ll miss it
And I am sorry
I’m sorry for you
But mainly I am sorry
For the things that I do
And I’m sorry also
For the others that I see
And this apology
Will be the death of me
Show me a boat and I’ll miss it
|
||||
7. |
The Endless Winter
06:37
|
|||
|
Impatience teaches you what’s right
In time to amputate, to fight
But too late to find the means
To quell the stirring of your dreams
Horizon lies, horizon waits
No disappearing pearly gates
Relentless and forever sly
It jabs you sharply in the eye
It lies in wait for its own sake
The endless winter
Time undone, no other state
The endless winter
It waits to face you on the bridge
The endless winter
To paint a portrait of your sin
The endless winter
Distorted thoughts, haphazard meals
No present time, no future deals
Disused damage, misused lock
Shattered branches, broken stalk
Take your cupboards, take your shelves
Fill them up with your own Hell
Stack your papers, file your forms
Walk your carpets, leave them worn
It lies in wait for its own sake
The endless winter
Time undone, no other state
The endless winter
It waits to face you on the bridge
The endless winter
To paint a portrait of your sin
The endless winter
A thousand pigs are at your trough
The endless winter
A thousand days are not enough
The endless winter
To save you from your disrepute
The endless winter
To cut your tongue and leave you mute
The endless winter
|
||||
8. |
Fearing
03:58
|
|||
|
I feel a terrible fear
All of the time
It’s eating away
At all that’s yours and all that’s mine
It’s eating our home
It’s eating our bed
It has consumed
All that we’ve said
This fear is taking
All that I hold
This fear is stealing
This fear is sold
Your back is clean
My back is scarred
Your resolve is solid
Mine is halved
You turn your face
Into the light
I turn my back
Against the fight
You move your body
Into the world
I fold my arms
Around the pearl
You move your body
Into the world
I fold my arms
Around the pearl
|
||||
9. |
Time Again
04:47
|
|||
|
By day it turns upon a hatpin
And by night it saps your right
To force a word in edgeways or
Reveal what once could have been right
By noon you have been grappling
With the hours that stain your days
By evening you are charging
At the carpet of your grave
You do not gamble
But you gambled and you lost
The right to say a word in anger
To reciprocate the loss
For the safety of your fledgling face
For avoidance of disgrace
For lessons learned and patience unearned
You will find it’s time
The leaves did not land
At the grand gates of your lean-to
But fluttered off instead
To decorate your ruler’s head
The birds vociferously
Shout back at you all the words
That you have said in anger
While below the worms crawl back to bed
For the safety of your fledgling face
For avoidance of disgrace
For lessons learned and patience unearned
You will find it’s time
It’s time again
The dogs, they dance across the sunset
Mice, they form committees
That will offer up their judgements
In the face of all that you have read
And when the dust has been accumulated
And when all is done and said
You turn toward the door
That’s never yours instead
For the safety of your fledgling face
For avoidance of disgrace
For lessons learned and patience unearned
You will find it’s time
You will find it’s time
You will find it’s time
It’s time again
|
||||
Naevus London, UK
Lloyd James: voice, guitar. Ben McLees: bass. Hunter Barr: drums. Sam Astley: guitar.
Naevus recommends:
The brand new Naevus album, released in 2020. Features numerous guest contributions from Tony Wakeford, David E. Williams, Andrew Trail and more.
go to album
Lark Blames is Lloyd James and Marc blackie. This 2-track single includes guest spoken word by the late great John Murphy.
go to album
Legendary political punk outfit Crisis reformed in 2017 with a new lineup which includes Lloyd James of Naevus as vocalist. This is their latest release.
go to albumIf you like Naevus, you may also like:
LOCKDOWN SIEBEN Digital Bonus Album
by Sieben
supported by 4 fans who also own “Time Again”
go to album
The first new album from iconic new wavers Modern English is as muscular as it is tuneful.
go to album
