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Twin Solitude

by Leif Vollebekk

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1.
-- Lyrics -- West London alleyways San Pedro’s valley’s haze Works my mind just like a maze  When I see you around No honey you are not a kid You know how to keep it hid And I know just what you did In those buildings downtown In the party’s balcony  Where you caught up with me Said you were not through with me Well I could’ve guessed Afternoons were losing light December’s moon was shining bright That’s when that you thought you just might Settle for the best When we were in Vancouver town The time I finally let you down You were in some evening gown  I was wearing jeans Sometimes we run alongside each other Sometimes it’s like there’s no other Sometimes we make horrible lovers Sometimes we’re just mean The way you kissed my unshaven face And disappeared without a trace Maybe I’ll get my own little place Overlooking the ocean Pacific Northwest on a southbound train Buffalo clouds hanging above the plains Some say I’m different some say I’m the same Some say I go through the motions Well something did change inside of me Changed something in the way I see I see those shadows hanging on the street You can’t outmanoeuvre time I’m only leaving cause I can’t stay I always loved you and I never paid I hear that even in L.A. It’s Vancouver time
2.
-- Lyrics -- You was up to something I was up to nothing It was bound to happen anyway Rain in the streetlights, you in the midnights We coulda had it anyway A fire was raging down at the station It’s not ours to worry about you said No truth at all, I shoulda made the call Half a favour is no favour at all Wish it could’ve been another way You’re sharp, you’re clear, you’re there and you’re near But you’re too close for me to see The way that it was, no despite but because  We live in eternity Go Celeste who loved you the best As rain’s falling in the street Fluorescent lights pounding in the neighbourhood store Little bell rang when you came in the door Wish it could’ve been another way Now I am driving All Night Sedans All the things I should’ve done, well I do what I can Listening to the radio as it plays on in my mind How easily I lose the time Wish it could’ve been another way
3.
Elegy 05:24
-- Lyrics -- Minor chords and major arcana Little leather jacket and a black bandana Kicking over trashcans and telling jokes in Atlanta When I got the fever, it hit me like a fan  On the back of my hand I don’t know who I am  But I’m free for nothing good for nothing too Crazy to dream and still crazy about you Take a look at me now Reparations now are coming my way Dues I’ve recollected that I’ve never paid In the stained glass windows I feel the presence But that don’t mean I’m done with repentance Gonna find another way to climb out of this basement Gonna find out what that smile on your face meant Like a thief that you borrow, take hold of me, take flight I wanna do your bidding and steal away in the night Take a look at me now Heart’s on fire and so is the page Everybody around me is telling me to act my age Things are only revealed in the light that is given Oh, to be freed from the pardon when all else is forgiven Rain outside is blowing in the curtain Nothing is concealed, but nothing is for certain As I recall you were drinking from the sanctuary wine Well, don’t worry baby we’ll find all of our lost time Take a look at me now I remember you were standing holding your rosary beads Everybody around here seems to think he knows what he needs Seven ugly reasons kept me away from you then Nothing is much weaker than the resolve of most men I remember when we were standing alone in your room Staring out your window we knew you’d be going soon And I was so young I hope you knew that I meant well And when I looked in your eyes I thought I knew you could tell Now I’m blown back from the cemetery gates  You whom I loved dearly and now I must wait  To be reunited in the sky when it opens Well I may be tired but my spirit ain’t broken Take a look at me now
4.
-- Lyrics -- I want you, I just want you to be in a trance, too Maybe find something you can dance to Hold onto something you know is true And slip into the ether Don’t wanna tell anybody what to do Ain’t the one to give advice to you The kind I know you won’t listen to I know because I never listened either I saw you in the club getting all fucked up And the cocaine was all sucked up You felt the power of something But not for long I know you better than you know yourself Which ain’t saying much as far as I can tell You can sing your song and you can sing it well But quit putting me on Sometimes you question life itself Sometimes you just go home with yourself And take it out on the mirror You don’t see yourself any clearer Do you Quit putting me on
5.
-- Lyrics -- Red-winged blackbird sitting on a cattail’s end Red-winged blackbird sitting on a cattail’s end Light enough to be there, heavy enough to bend Red-winged blackbird sitting on a cattail’s end Meet me where the Land of the Living Skies meets Big Sky Country Meet me where the Land of the Living Skies meets Big Sky Country I wish my tears were in your eyes and your eyes were on me Meet me where the Land of the Living Skies meets Big Sky Country Last time I saw you, you disappeared down the street before the bend Last time I saw you, you disappeared down the street before the bend I said, hey, hey, my Eliza, I squint to blur my eyes until when The street looked like a cattail with you at its end
6.
Michigan 04:47
-- Lyrics -- Got my hat Got my guitar Pack up the back Get in the car Look out the back Window Say hello To all the snow That's piling up Along the road Not gonna stop If I can  Never been to Michigan Never been to Michigan All the news Has broken now All those things  Don't matter anyhow There's an eighteen-wheeler With a sticker for the Steelers And I'm done with healers And sycophants Never been to Michigan Never been to Michigan Sometimes life Gets in the way Of everything I'd of changed today No sweet direction to settle on You and me, Robert, We ramble on Captured time  In its essence then We were kids And we still are them Now there's a chance Maybe one in ten That I've never been Never been to Michigan Never been to Michigan
7.
-- Lyrics -- Constellations in the sky Then all’s blue in twilight light Saw your reflection in the pool That’s when I knew That I was yours And if all’s fair In love and war Nothing’d get In between us Road to Venus Saw you play upon the frets With just your little Silhouette Never knew No one like you And I still  Haven’t yet Followed you above the crowd Lonely as a cloud From Carolina  To Salinas Road to Venus Saddle blankets on the wall Now I don’t see you at all Cactus trees and cactus flowers I been waiting here for hours You just led me along Played me Like a song In my blood  Intravenous Road to Venus.
8.
East of Eden 04:50
-- Lyrics -- Tell me where are you going You got the jack of diamonds I got the nine of hearts When the cards get stuck together it’s so hard to pull em apart I think your face is showing Ain’t the first time that it’s snowing First time in years that it has stayed on the ground When it hits the street it don’t make a sound So there’s no way of knowing Tell me is she East of Eden She’s just like a book and I don’t want it to end Take her with me where I go  Turn her pages slow She’s just like a book I don’t want it to end Love how we talk at night Love how we talk at night In the blue electric light Love how we talk at night  Love how we talk at night In the blue electric light I know I’m not the only one I know I’m not the only one At least I’m not the lonely one I know I’m not the only one I know I’m not the only one At least I’m not the lonely one Just do what you were doing
9.
Telluride 04:21
-- Lyrics -- Throw the paper on the steps Then run away if you haven't yet Gone for ages gone for good It has been a while as it should Telluride, Telluride, Telluride People talking trash Soon to become ash Nobody asked to be here Sun's going down over yonder And I wonder I may be lost but I can see here Telluride, Telluride, Telluride Harvest moon is rising We'll be up all night There ain't nothing new  Under this ancient light For days I have been wandering Wondering all about What it's gonna take To finally get me out Telluride, Telluride, Telluride I’ve dressed up in poems And I've ridden on the rails I've seen picture postcards And draped them in the sails White ones they go blue Red ones go all green One thing that I'm sure of It’s never the way that it seems Telluride, Telluride, Telluride Oh, sweet sister come here I've got some news for you There's someone out there waiting And he's waiting just on you As for me I'm surely  Gonna miss my kiss from you But I don't wanna spend eternity  Trying to make you blue Telluride, Telluride, Telluride
10.
Rest 08:28
--Lyrics-- For years I’ve been working And travelling alone I eat out in restaurants Where men wear cologne Recognized as a stranger Every place that I went Sometimes I just close my eyes And begin my descent I’ll swim in the ocean When the water is high And I’ll find your bracelet I just have to try And the sky is so open And the wind’s heading south Sometimes I just close my eyes And put my hand on my mouth One time in a castle With turrets aglow I cast incantations So carnations will grow And I heard you were worried From a shell by the sea Sometimes I just close my eyes So you don’t worry about me When you’re lost in the meadows You just have to stand And I looked for the farmhouse It was covered in sand And the fire of the moonlight Made everything white I just had to close my eyes And dream it one night In the classroom the children Gather their hands They’re dancing to some chanson From some ancient land And they’re spinning in circles And the spirits they weep I’m just gonna close my eyes Rest is as good as sleep.

about

Vollebekk's latest, long overdue LP, Twin Solitude, is the product of everything that came before: the unending tours, the slow cover songs, the experience of seeing Prince, alone at a piano, as he altered a room. It was time, Leif understood, to make a dark blue and purple record. An album of locked groove and slow pulse, heavy as a fever. And the lesson he learned from singing all those other people's songs was that none of those other artists seemed worried about anything except laying down their own souls, flat out. "I used to think, 'This will be kinda like a Neil Young song,' 'This will be kinda like a Bob Dylan song,'" he recalled. "I kinda ran out of people to imitate. And then there was just me."Twin Solitude is what happened when Leif stopped saying no. The songs started coming so fast: fully formed, impossible. "Vancouver Time" took 15 minutes; "Telluride" took less. It was as if the songs were waiting for him. Instead of obsessing about the details of recording, "I just showed up to the studio and went, 'Let's see what happens.'"

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released February 24, 2017

2016 Secret City Records Inc.

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Leif Vollebekk Montreal, Québec

Some artists go on feeling like secrets long after they've started being told. Leif Vollebekk is one of these treasures. Born in Ottawa in 1985, he taught himself music using instruments inherited from his grandfather: harmonica, guitar, piano, an old fiddle. Leif has release 3 albums so far : Inland, North Americana and Twin Solitude. ... more

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