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Desert Archaic

by I Am the Albatross

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Bucky
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Bucky I Am the Albatross are breaking all the boundaries with their progressive strain of Americana meets distorted Psychedelic rock. Stroking the listener with a heady combination of dark folk, bright eyed blues, and a penchant for intricate guitar lick mastery, Desert Archaic delivers a top tier album for fans of all things rock, folk, blues and Psych. The artwork says it all and very excited to receive my vinyl. Favorite track: Ladder of Rivers.
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  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Limited edition 12" inch vinyl album! Pressed on random colored vinyl, includes lyric sheet.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Desert Archaic via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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      $20 USD or more 

     

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $7 USD  or more

     

1.
Homeland 03:05
An ocean flowed And the I-10 rolled Through the coral and shoal and the sandstone, Through the ridges and rifts And the submarine cliffs, And in the shallows we swam the Trans-Pecos. Then the sun, it was hotter And the hands of the Daughter Swept over the earth and it bloomed. And our toes touched the sand, And as beasts of the land We clasped hands and we ran And I knew. And we drank deep at the sunrise, And white poppies grew on the mountainside, And we burned our fires in the valley wide, And our medicine opened the dreaming eye. Then the high, high winds Came rising again And we circled the I-10 Riding like wild men 'Round the shimmering ghosts And the glittering bones Of our boundless home And I know, O, I know.
2.
I Was Born 03:16
Well, They came a wandering across the Divide To a river where they passed the time. There, they drank their fill Then went upon the world until They spun along that west and wayward line... Born of the dust, I guess Then set upon the wilderness, Freeborn, alone on high. And in the alcoves and groves there They built a home Setting spark in the circle, They lit the great high desert night. O, and I am bound by place and time, Descended of a lonely line A broken branch, unmoored in waters wide. Yet I hear my only name On these hills and plains Called out from country that surely is mine, So lay me down On this quiet ground 'Neath the summer storms Where I was born Here in the rain shadow Here on the Old Plateau Here at the headwaters Here in the pines Here where my head lays Here in the good days Here in my only time. O, lay me down On this quiet ground 'Neath the valley sun Where I come from I have strayed again, Turned to face the wind Let my heart wander And cast my eyes low. Bound by time and place But I have known the days, The windless calm Of my remembered home, As the night moves on Wild, and without form Still and warm Where I was born Where I come from
3.
Come the morning I will wake And run the ladder of rivers down, North to south bound now. On summer boughs that sway and shake In this easy living now I'm traveling down. You will arise again Under the golden banner Out on the shadowed plain Where all your buried letters lay Uncovered by the wind That is forever blowing in. And we will wake To sail the ladder of rivers down, North to south bound now. In these swelling summer days Of easy living now We'll travel down. And your pale eyes again Will see the glowing desert, We'll chart the rolling plain And cast off in the fairest weather days Borne by the wind... To never search again These cold flatlands Or lose your way again In this maze of sand But to drift free Over the Trinity on waves Rolling away... You will arise again Under the golden banner On the shadowed plain In the fairest weather days Borne by the wind... On and away.
4.
Sonora 04:07
Keep on going On in the waving sun Where light will bend In endless sweep and shadow Into the heat of day Where the horizon fades and then Again is wide outside my window, Rising. Keep on going Cutting the canyon walls The old stone falls around The wheels below Into the heat of day Lost in the colored waves That spin away In the wind outside my window, Rising. The only road ahead The only known path that led The way in the breaking day, Where the world is always rising. An age of great beasts The shore transforming A bright country Stretching in the sun Black ridge running Highway humming A distant coming rain... And the world is always rising
5.
A Curse 04:41
I saw it in the moonlight, bleeding I heard it in the wind there, screaming Whispering like a demon to me now. I saw it in the eyes of the People Creeping in like a rising fever... Gonna tell you 'bout the ways of Evil now. Someday you're gonna know, You're gonna know, somehow, When there's a curse upon your home A hail of black stone Slow flame 'round the open spaces High water in the low places. I felt it in the chill of the breeze I heard it in the rustling leaves: The hard thieves of the sweet and simple way. In a dream on a peaceful evening... Falling stars in the gentle season... Ain't no reason to say no more, Ain't no reason to say, 'Cause someday you're gonna know, You're gonna know someday. Help me now Help me now, brother There's a cold wind blowing 'round... Help me now Help me me now, brother There's a cold wind blowing And we can't light nothing, It keeps putting our flames right out. One day we're gonna rise in a dream And set out along the path of the evening To dance the Dance And breath the Breath, Gonna open the door. And all the souls gone lost in the wind Gonna come to walk the earth again Free from the law of wicked men Forevermore.
6.
God bless and goddamn Jackal of the lowland Looming hand Jackal of the lowland God bless and goddamn The scalded waste Where the wild dogs reign Hero and a liar Guilt and hellfire Judge of all men Running in the Wasteland Anareta in the eastern sky Running in the Wasteland Running dry Mover of the seasons Pox among the heathen Pale Horse Of the Westward Course Shepard and a healer Soul stealer Judge of all men Running in the Wasteland
7.
White Bloom 03:13
Sons of the union Voices in the air Souls of the river And whoever rests there... I will go walking these hills on my own, Raging at the stone, Raging at stone. Out on that hill Where you rest on the breeze, I do remember But I don't believe it And to tell of it now It is only a dream, Written in the leaves As the evening falls over me. Steady as the winter burns, Steady as we climb Above the trees on snowy paths, Steady as they wind. Beneath the white Blooms the garden of rose Where new life grows So rest your soul Rest your soul
8.
The Valley 05:23
Thunderheads gathering above the plain Like an omen of change, And all your names come floating on waves Across a dry sea. Written on a page left in a suitcase from those old days, I read it again and the lonesome wind Comes blowing through me. I'm sending these words through the golden world Far away now And if in time you are reading these lines I'm sure they find you well. I'm walking in the half-light, circling the fields Far along now The smell of the rain coming over the ridge To the ringing of bells O, there I go again. I don't know what I'm saying. I'm thinking of you, my friend And all the time we spent... Thinking of the old songs, waiting in the dawn For the echo Over savanna and sand Tallgrass and blackland I am moving on. On the inland seas O, I am drifting. Close as we are, there are places we meet Even though I'm gone. I won't write again for many days. I will go along in my old ways. In the passing of time I find Something has stayed, O kind heart of the valley...
9.
Wayfarer 08:23
We lit out for the Territory Scratching and a twitching an a burning like Hell Marching to the war drum, sinking with the sun Singing “Hey O, ey Ah, ey a ah.” 'Twas the Captain and me in a fiery sea Only ones left of the whole company Adrift on the old San Agustin Singing “Hey O, ey Ah, ey a ah.” Well, Every young man must leave his home, Forever bound to seek the unknown. Your cold bones will always roam For there ain't no peace nor light in your troubled soul. Well, we seen some cut down in a buffalo wallow Seen a couple more boys strung up in a hollow Red entrails swinging But we kept on singing that “Hey O, ey Ah, ey a ah.” Not one good mount left between us two In the corner of the sky rose the old Blood Moon And they followed in dark there for all we knew Well, we got real still and quit whistling that tune... Every young man must leave his home, To seek the unknown, to make it known. Your cold bones will always roam For there ain't no peace nor light in your troubled soul. Listen: Yonder came a breeze from the dead black night And my head lit up with a bright, white light Fell back swimming in a great red current Reached for the stars, but away they went. I clawed at the shaft stuck deep in the bone Ran my hands through the warmth Pouring out of the hole I could smell the wildflowers back at the old home O, and I cursed my troubled soul. Mother of the red stone, mother of the ash fields Will I rise, or will I be bound here? Mother of this valley, mother of this plain What will be taken and what will remain? Magdalena of the caldera Will I wander this basin forever And leave you my history, leave you my name Mother of this valley, mother of this plain?

about

Recorded and mixed by Andrew Hernandez
in the summer and fall of 2016
at Estuary Recording Facility
and The Hen House
in Austin, TX.

Mastered by Alan Douches at West West Side.

All songs by I Am the Albatross.

Jesse Berkowitz- guitar, voice
Marc Henry- drums, percussion
Giuseppe Ponti- bass, voice

Art by Ila Rose
ilaroseart.com

credits

released August 11, 2017

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I Am the Albatross Austin, Texas

I Am the Albatross is a band from Austin, TX. Western Psych, Desert Garage, Heavy Americana, Gothic Folk, , Rock n’ Roll.

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