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The Black Plum

by Platinum Bitch

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  • Cassette + Digital Album

    100 copies - first 22 copies housed in a custom trademark slipcover (sold out!!!)

    Includes unlimited streaming of The Black Plum via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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1.
let's just forge something out of wood let's just forge something out of metal and skin let's just forge something out of water and sin let's just try to forget all that could have been throw it in the ocean and pray that it can't learn to swim let's just carve something into wood with metal and skin let's just weld something out of water and sin let's just make up all that could have been let's just jump into the water and forget we know how forget we know how
2.
i once was a pharaoh child i sat upon your knee i was once a very sick little boy but you were so good to me you were once my crippled concubine we slept over seas your hands were bound in red velvet twine but your spine unraveled slowly under me i once had a thousand silver ships there upon my sails your eyes did gleam you gave me a cameo role in all your favorite dreams you were once a weeping willow tree when i was a tire swing your name was once the last word in the sweetest song that ill ever sing
3.
Reception 06:42
a song came out of a song / came out of nowhere / it was static in dead air / and you sing it as you walk / now you're surrounded unaware(s) / and when they stare at you from suv's / the song it will not care / i could trespass in my house / i will trespass everywhere / and there's a clang beneath the ocean / bears the shape of things to come / and there's a dog with teeth like shrapnel / chasing all who try to run / and the radio hums / what's become of all your children / with their ever changing names / as they choke down anesthetics / and shoot termites in their veins / and the gutter drains / and a woman smiles / and her eyes are closed / and children squirm / in sunday clothes / and we talk to strangers / (the / but) only ones we trust / and time will swim / and water will rust / and we speak to strangers / we turn to dust / in time we'll swim / our water will rust / and a woman smiles / and her eyes are closed / and the children squirm / in their sunday clothes
4.
Joy 10:00
held her back / held her back so straight / held her / back in place / she holds something / in her hands / with someone's hand / handwriting on it / she folds it closed / don't focus on those shadows / that picture will never come out / if its too dark / clutch for every last / her lens / hyper extends / the shutter gasped / clutch for every last ray / the eclipse flashed past / the blackness collapsed / until nothing but light remained / i've heard that midwives and pallbearers / sing the same sweet song / midwives and pallbearers sing the same / held her back / held her back so straight / held her / back in place / she holds something / in her hands there's someone's hand / handwriting all over it / she folds it closed /
5.
Still 04:24
a glimpse a clumsy angel's image an infants unflinching eyes the simplest thing but i could not understand a stillness amidst this constant motion of voices hearts and hands the simplest things are the hardest to understand but there's cotton in the wind and there is sunlight on my skin and these are old and true friends of mine there's a hundred billion people reaching for telephones there's a girl with a pen in her mouth there's a half a million cars leaving their garages with no reason to even put the doors down anyway the rust had eaten through the locks there's harmony trapped in homogeneity there is blood in everything there's a god at work in an unspeakable word there's just too much to say
6.
you were standing at the window i was looking in got your mothers bright red lipstick your daddy's drunk again if you like we could leave this town before the morning comes so that word don't get around if i drive too fast please don't make a sound it's one hundred and ten and the windows won't roll down always thinking the sky is falling into you when i dream i think too much i think i'll sing stunning eyes and golden hair it's about the heart you wear proud singing words in time in time for the taking of their castles with all our crosses and our bows walking around the pool see the reflections build as they're coming into shore speaking with the pilgrims that have lived this life before i believe that you never said that you never said that word i believe that i've heard it all before i believe but i've heard it all before the sound of trepidation as this aged body moves the sound of fading stations as we take a chance and lose the sound of trains as we close our eyes at gunshots in the distance we can hear the bodies sigh in time for the sun in time for the day aint it time for the sun aint it time for the day
7.
no focus just basic colors basic shapes some smoky shadowed figurines shifting along a fuzzy landscape no perspective inside this helium balloon for all i know could be on the ground might as well be on the moon but i've got no regrets from here just a rose colored rear view mirror no equilibrium no balance no composition just a tangled mess of lines just a raspy voice some butchered chords (to preach to the chorus) a twitching limb to keep the time and another forced rhyme yeah whatever fits like a straight jacket worrying about this for hours and hours like any of you could give a shit but no regrets my dear got a rose colored rear view mirror /
8.
Unborn, Mine 05:47
o my daughter my daughter will you be beautiful just like your mother will you be proud will you be proud to call me father o my girl my girl don't you be hardened by this world remember every oyster's tear becomes a pearl o my son my son will you find your daddy's gun will you use it on yourself and everyone o my boy that thing is not a toy is only good to destroy everything o my child my child you will be restless and wild and free just like your mother and me fill these shoes that i've worn spill your blood upon a thorn though this was written years before you were born i know that it's true though i've grown i've grown to see this plan is not my own or for me to see though all the while i've known what will be will be o my wife take my life for all it's worth we'll give birth to joy these crooked paths we've come i know they must lead us to some warm brighter day it is not so far away
9.
ok don't want to end up this way ok today it's ok if you don't want to live this way it's ok now quiet rooms they always get me down so quiet rooms are filled with sound cause its ok don't want to spend the day thinking about things that i cant change thinking about going away i don't want to be here anyway you say you want to stay i don't care it's frozen in place and i cant take anymore growing beyond your front door away you don't want to see anyone this way so just go away we don't want you here anyway go away we don' t want to spend all day thinking about the only thing that we can't change that we can change
10.
Omen 04:25
there is a great black bird always in the corner of my eye stops my heart i don't want to fly there is a great black storm always in the corner of the sky rips me apart i don't want to die i am not a monster i am just a ghost but it's all alright. hey hey lalala this is not an autobiography unsung this is only an autopsy undone but it's alright to put you inside of me into the vacuum of my sea swallows all i can't become this great black song that's always on the tip of my tongue but it's alright hey hey hey la la la alright
11.
slowly roll the waves across the tide sweetly sing the birds unto the sky thirsty they are for the days yet to arrive aint it wonderful and strange to be alive it's good to have you all along for the ride it's wonderful and strange to be alve slowly rolled the waves across the tide sweetly sang the birds unto the sky thirsty we were for the days yet to arrive it was wonderful and strange to be alive now you can count us among the ghosts along i95 but it was wonderful and strange to be alive
12.

about

This collection was the first (arguably) "official" release from Platinum Bitch. Most of the songs were written sometime between 1998-2002, during some stormy vagabond period, then eventually recorded at home using borrowed instruments and pirated software around 2003. I released this on burned, handwritten CDs in various incarnations, most commonly as "The Black Plum / Seven Gestures" EPs, a "gesture" being a song written and recorded in one take (similar to a gesture drawing). The piano parts were recorded using a karaoke machine in a practice space at some community college. Many supportive friends, a few accommodating neighbors, an ambivalent security guard and a 24hr Kinko's made this whole endeavor possible.

This particular incarnation includes all the original Black Plum tracks (with minor adjustments made to clean up the source recordings) and a few different Gestures, as well as some other random stuff recorded during that time, which I had no idea what else to do with. This version is included as a "digital download" companion to the cassette released by the good folks at Hope For The Tape Deck. www.hopeforthetapedeck.com

credits

released June 10, 2014

13. *Wrong With You
14. *Shiny
15. *Womb
16. *Felt On A Piano Wire
17. *Minor
18. *A Gesture For Absence
19. *Azella
20. *Ring
21. *Omen (Acoustic Version)
22. *Reception (Acoustic Version)
*Bonus Material included with digital download

Cover etching by Angie Melchin. www.angiemelchin.com
Violin on Reception by Eli Brossell
The words for The Soft Geometry of Elsewhere are by Melissa Sandor.
All other stuff is by Tim Sandor
Hope For The Tape Deck - DUDE026
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. 2003, 2013

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