We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

A Most Imperfect Machine

by Drew Stephenson

/
  • Streaming + Download

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

      £6 GBP  or more

     

1.
Gagarin, Glenn, Shepard. Bykovsky, Armstrong, Aldrin. Tereshkova, Leonov, Collins, Cernan. As we stood on the shoulders of giants, Black and white reels on the news. We left this new world behind us, And turned away from the truth. Sputnik, Vostok, Apollo. Gemini, Vega, Atlas. Redstone, Saturn, Soyuz, Mir. Were you building a bridge to the future? Did you know what you'd hoped to find? Did you keep looking over your shoulder, To check they'd not fallen behind? Canaveral, Zvyozdny Gorodok, Vostochny. Houston, Pasadena, Goddard. Moffet Field, Plesetsk, Korolev, Baikonur. Did you look around for footprints? Kick up dust that will never fall? Did you know in the heart of the silence, That it was never a race at all? Virgil, Roger, Edward. Vladimir, Christa, Valentin. Georgi, Elliot, Viktor.
2.
Collateral 03:31
There's a truth A brutal truth You suck upon Like a hollow tooth You pick apart With your troubled mind It was never you It was never right It's just collateral Along the way It's cutting through It resonates A pressure point Along a line Carving out And killing time With a line in the sand and a gun in a hand This is a heart, neither good or bad There's a change gonna come, a mechanical storm Shake you up like a meteor fall With a line in the sand and a gun in a hand This is a heart, neither good or bad There's a change gonna come, a mechanical storm Shake you up like a meteor fall There's a truth A brutal truth It was never right It was blue on blue
3.
No Dreams 03:44
There are things you do because you must There are things you do because you can These hours are for the dead and just But I don’t sleep like them. If the rumours turn out to be true and no one remembers your real name and you’re hungrily gulping air and coughing it out But the ore-trucks will run over your grave Sleep, let me sleep. But please, please no dreams. this machine has stopped working again like a train broke down on the rails hanged with questions unanswered as if to say 'why are you watching me fail?' I don’t believe that guy was Jesus I thought we let the whole place be So I lie here listening to the cars And that just got me to thinking Then he said “On the inside I’m a different shade of grey And if I’ve finally understood the choice We all eat metal in the end” Sleep, let me sleep. But please, please no dreams.
4.
Red 04:22
Can you fall asleep standing up like I can I get pins and needles in my fingers and my hands When I lie down, down, when I lie down. I swear that light was never on when I left home. And I hear interference on the radio, are we alone? And you suspect we're heading down, down, we're heading down. Say a prayer for the cold grey men Say a prayer for the ones on the streets Say a prayer for the cold grey men Say a prayer for the secret police There is no real, just a string of fronts, But you wouldn't be you without the things you've done. We all wash clean when we're gone, But I can taste iron on the tip of my tongue. And my blood is running thin and cold Are we on Red yet? And you pull your shrug a little tighter round your shoulders We're on the 3am shift again When it goes, when it goes down, down, when it goes down. Are we on Red yet? Are we on Red?
5.
Breathe 04:43
There's an end to days like these. These cliffs lift us clear of drowning seas; The Keeper gave us breath to hit the brakes. Up so high you can almost see St Peter looking tired, But the queue goes on forever, And who the hell declared he had to shut the gates? These seasons will turn again And broken promises cast themselves afresh, But the lighthouse is refusing to cooperate. And this harbour holds no safety here for them. Is any of this ever good enough? And why the hell d'you make these drills we have to fail? Breathe, just breathe. We're not ready for more than this. Breathe, just breathe. It's taking all we've got just to exist. Someone took the writing from the walls, Wrapped it up tight and small, And sent it out to make the palace buildings shake. Take a seed. Let it breathe. Let it feed On hope and fear and all we had for free. Who the hell said we had to play this game? And who the hell said these rules weren't there to break? Breathe, just breathe. Don't let this promise slip away. Breathe, just breathe. It never has to be this way again.
6.
All these maps are missing lines And these junctions have no signs We can only stumble for so long With crumbling hearts and crumbling bones There is no sun to guide my hand From this unfamiliar land Where is my pilot? Where is my driver? Where is my navigator now? Where is my pilot? Are you my driver? Are you my navigator now? These are unfamiliar stars These constellations are not ours Lightning flares upon our masts We have sailed beyond our charts There is no compass on this ship Whose needle doesn't spin Where is my pilot? Where is my driver? Where is my navigator now? Where is my pilot? Are you my driver? Are you my navigator now? I am lost. I am lost. I am lost. I am lost. I am lost. I am lost. I am lost. I am lost. I am lost. I am lost. I am lost. I am lost. I am lost. I am lost. I am lost. I am lost. There is a house at Old Hound Corner And on day three I lost my shoes
7.
OHIO 05:15
The cabin lights are dimmed and low A thin nylon blanket and a seat by the window. This cardboard meal is exactly how i feel Just waiting to be taken away. If i'm honest with you i'm not honest with me So i'm sorry. I'm sorry to Campbellside and High Carlisle. I'm sorry to Curtis Stirling, it wasn't worth it. For the bloody back seat and the body on the beach. I'm sorry the signs on the wall didn't help at all. These strangers' conversations brought tears to my eyes Awkwardly turning away to empathise The safety information is secure in the rack Am i going home or just going back? If i'm honest with you i'm not honest with me So i'm sorry. I'm sorry to Campbellside and High Carlisle. I'm sorry to Curtis Stirling, it wasn't worth it. For the bloody back seat and the body on the beach. I'm sorry the signs on the wall didn't help at all. It looks like Ohio a million miles below me now And the edge of night is coming round Thirty five thousand feet above the ground But i can't breathe and i can't come down It looked like Ohio below me then But i'm blinded by a lightning storm again If i'm honest with you i'm not honest with me So i'm sorry. I'm sorry to Campbellside and High Carlisle. I'm sorry to Curtis Stirling, it wasn't worth it. For the bloody back seat and the body on the beach. I'm sorry the signs on the wall didn't help at all. I'm sorry to Campbellside and High Carlisle. I'm sorry to Curtis Stirling, it wasn't right. For the bloody back seat and the body they found. I'm sorry that the signs on the wall keep coming around. Yeah the signs on the wall keep coming around
8.
They're setting up the barricades, preparing for the big parade, With flags and bunting all arrayed. They're bussing in from far away, splashing out for a place to stay, But I, I will walk away. You and he caught a train, didn't matter where you went today. No sense trying to wait it out you said. They're stepping up the no-knock raids, and locking down the motorways, But I, I will walk away. I have thrown my phone in a roadside bin, Taken out the battery and broken up the sim. I have shaved my head and wiped my record clear, I am off the grid, I will disappear. I will disappear. Now I'm out beyond the city gates, blending in with everyday People who are not obliged to stay. It'll be all across the news at eight, reconfirmed the head of state, But I, I will walk away.
9.
I've been racing horses down at the corner field Where she told a stories of wildness You sang the young man's lament And they will never know a wild dog heart Wild dog heart Wild dog heart We spent days wondering, them and me, what you looked at when you stared through the glass, And in the years I couldn't sleep, We saw nothing but your wild dog heart. Wild dog heart Wild dog heart And these names you gave us, they made pictures in our minds Railroad cars and steelworks and the places left behind. There's a bear in a rage and he's tearing up the trailer park The bankers and representatives are praying for an ark The dealers in antiquities are revaluing their art But you just sit there wrestling with your wild dog heart. Wild dog heart Wild dog heart
10.
Road Song 04:36
Headed west, took the long road over High Carlisle. Left the maps, followed photos after Campbellside. Black and Whites, bleeding into Kodachrome. - And I will not remember the words that you said. Which way from here? Packing light, just the memories of some southern years. Dashboard lights, casting shadows on your sleeping tears. Passing signs, they all point home from here, in the rear view they disappear. - And these maxims of mine, I'll repeat them again. Which way from here? This old frame is failing, with all that it entails. These old joints are aching, this old frame fails. Sharing loads, there have always been reasons for this road. Chasing storms, there is no right way to go. Satellites, across the sky tonight, they light the path we ride, - With all that it entails. Show which way from here.
11.
We waved away the guests and brought the plates into the kitchen Black ties and jackets over chair backs I guess we own them An old projector in the box with all the slides. Surprised to find the bulb still working. Never expected to spend all night On the floor, shining pictures on the ceiling. Just memories, colours and smiles Ones of parents young and childless Close friends now forever nameless Rope bridges through tropical trees A honeymoon roadtrip in 48 scenes. Just memories, colours and smiles Clicking through the boxes one by one Agfa, Fujifilm and Kodachrome Borneo, Guyana, Dar Es Salaam, Charleston, Richmond, on and on up to Vermont. Mosquito nets and whitewashed walls Landrovers and lorries in government cream Long hot nights and open doors Sheets and curtains in uniform green Just memories, colours and smiles Ones of family members long forgotten Ones of me, ones of you, turning ten, Aunts and uncles and perfect strangers Back when we were unafraid of danger Just memories, colours and smiles.
12.
You were a fox and i was a builder this morning As I raised up my hand in casual warning And Jacob is out on the corner standing He's running at fifteen years and counting And maybe one day I'll ask him why Me, I found babel in a bar in Amsterdam I’ve come to believe Rome was a dream This is the station were you said it began But should we be stepping out or stepping in Should we just be asking for more time Do you remember when the radio went down, We sang to each other 'til morning came round. These are the places where we always return For our clocks to reset and our fears to unlearn. And you can't get away from the woodfire's smell And the roof and the timbers are rotting to hell. And just for a moment you leave it behind And laugh like you did when you were a child. This regret is not an exact science of mine With ratios and rules beyond recalling We replay our parts and stick to our lines You were a fox and i was a builder this morning
13.
Untitled 03:46

about

What happens when you can't follow your dream, so you take the next best option? What happens when that turns sour? And can there be hope for redemption?

credits

released July 2, 2021

All songs written, performed, recorded, produced, mixed, and mastered by Drew Stephenson at Trollholm except 1, written by Drew Stephenson and David Ford, and performed by Drew Stephenson, Paul Ferguson and Dmitri Cernolev

license

tags

about

Drew Stephenson York, UK

Drew Stephenson is a singer-songwriter based in York, UK, writing conventional songs about unconventional subjects.
Death, monkeys and space hardware may all feature.
He is also part of The Southern Wild.

contact / help

Contact Drew Stephenson

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this album or account

Drew Stephenson recommends:

If you like Drew Stephenson, you may also like: