Get all 9 Stephen Rippy releases available on Bandcamp and save 35%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Lamplighting, Anvil: War of Heroes Original Soundtrack, Chemistry of Confusion, Dungeon Boss Original Soundtrack, Mainland Static, Points, Diplomacy of Distance, Somewhere Close to Near, and 1 more.
1. |
||||
|
Wheels down and into the city
Roads web out like fractured windshield glass
Stretching through the shells of industry
To separate you from your history
Move on, two soles to the pavement
Concrete stream of the rush-hour class
Maybe there’s no better place to be
Than huddled in your anonymity
Waiting for the storm to pass
‘Cause now the crowded streets
Resonate like sympathetic strings
Wind you up ‘til you’re a coiled spring
And your heart begins to sing
Half a waking dream
With half a chance to see it through
Half a hesitation
And one step into the blue
Drawn out by the strength of numbers
Find your way up from the underground
Maybe it’s enough to start again
To cut away the loss and shed that skin
She’s not gonna come around
But now the crowded streets
Echo as the bells begin to ring
Gather speed like moments on the wing
This could really be something
Cameras on the corners
Claim the time that gets away
Reconstruct your life from
Stolen pieces of the day
|
||||
2. |
Relay Station (MS2)
03:56
|
|||
|
A tired light settles itself
Behind the rocks
Igniting clouds
That silhouette a northbound flock
Another year and I’m still here
Minding the shop, watching the clock
Windblown and unknown
Held by the miles that separate this place
In my fence of silence
Removed from the mainland static
With some measure of grace
Contact comes twice a day
Along the cable run
Faint pulsing life
From some distant relay station
The wire burns; the world still turns
Whatever my situation
Nameless and aimless anxiety
The spirit of the age
Those envoys of white noise
That shut out every chance
To do much more than disengage
And this one last tie
That keeps you bound to me -
I cut the line and I am free
|
||||
3. |
||||
|
Went off to see the world
And got just what I bargained for
A steamer on the sea
Some other life that washed ashore
Stood on the dock
Smoked cigarettes to hide the fear
Shook hands and parted ways
And then the black dog chased me here
Went off to see the world
And got lost on the way back home
A sleepless sleeping car
A night scene painted monochrome
After the rounds
After the heavy-handed cheer
They go the way they came
Leaving the black dog with me here
It’s just the black dog with me here
Went off to see the world
Came back to stand on my own ground
Turned over all my dreams
And built a house with what I found
Each hammered nail
An echoed mortar in my ear
A face down in the dirt
I know the black dog sees me here
But through it all she comes around
Clearing the debris that keeps me from me
And if I told her, she would let me let it go
Well, some I’ll say but some she’ll never know
Went off to see the world
And got more than I bargained for
A memory to keep
On the locked side of my front door
Behind my eyes
That image dulls each passing year
But still I’ll hold her close
To send the black dog far from here
|
||||
4. |
||||
|
I kill the engine, lock the shed
And lean against the front porch rail
On paint that’s cracked and peeling
My usual trip into town
I get the latest secondhand
The rumors are revealing
And the darkness has its say
At the long end of the day
Maybe you’d have me first in line
An echo of your storied past
But my war doesn’t lie there
Under a shadow as a child
Watching the land devour itself
As we fought hard for our share
Suffered every cut and bruise
But for now it’s mine to lose
So I hold out hope of the slenderest kind
Is this what you’d want?
Knowing would ease my mind
‘Cause it’s hard and getting harder still
To find any faces unlined
From years of hurt and regrets
And leaving any safe bets far behind
I shut the lights off, bolt the doors
And climb the stretch of lonely stairs
I still see her ascending
And now you’ve joined her, gone too soon
Leaving only the space you filled
These walls I keep defending
While the darkness has its say
At the long end of the day
|
||||
5. |
||||
|
Attic window, evening hangs low
Falling on almanacs, old 78’s
And a crystal radio
Memory sprawls between the walls
And over hours spent on years of waiting
For a larger life to call
But isn’t that the way it happens?
So common and right on cue
That world I had, the good and bad
Passed me by before I knew
Living room chair, still see you there
Pinned down by aging ghosts gathered in the gloom
Of your middle-distance stare
You crossed the sea, shared that story
Though he came home and took it out on himself
And you saved it all for me
But maybe that’s the way it happens
If the scars are kept from view
That world we had, for good or bad
Passed us by before we knew
Front steps losing ground to a street
You wouldn’t recognize as yours
Not sad so much as true -
The wheels turn fast beyond these doors
Shadows cast in magnesium
And rendered sepia or gray;
They’re all I’ve left to hold
Here at the long end of the day
But isn’t that the way it happens
When seasons collect their due?
This world I had, the good and bad
Passed me by before I knew
|
||||
6. |
Done and Dusted
03:59
|
|||
|
No justice in her court of flaws
Got the book thrown right at me
A slamming door gave me the score
Hard time in solitary
So I let loose the genie trapped
In this bottle out of spite
Three wishes gone to tying on
More than just my shoes tonight
Call it self-defense
From this turn of events
A future I might have trusted
Now it’s done and dusted
Last draft of our work of friction
Every chapter some new end
Her nom de plume was I Need Room
I guess mine was Will Not Bend
On page after page
The fabricated rage
Held water until it rusted
But it’s done and dusted
Somewhere a sunrise
Lights the day in broken beams
She’s a paper butterfly on her way to that sky
Through a hole in my dreams
Well, I’m sure you know
The way things come and go
They’re beautiful then they’re busted
This is done and dusted
|
||||
7. |
After Sunset (MS1)
03:31
|
|||
|
I like the way you tie your hair back
Highlighted by the hint of dawn
I keep it to myself
And know better than to ask
Who you were before the borders were drawn
We meet in secret after sunset
Exchanging currency and files
A cry of distant dogs
When the floodlight hits the woods
Well, your touch is worth the risk of those miles
Squeeze my hand and then
Disappear again
Slipping past some point of no return
Things fell to pieces in slow motion
Right there to see from years away
Pushed to the precipice
On a wave of wind-up jaws
Each one with some poisonous thing to say
And their misspent words
They were all we heard
Falling past some point of no return
Chose a side before I knew I had a choice
Spoken for until I learned to use my voice
Mainland static covers any other sound
But you and I can live again
In the silence underground
Styrofoam cup of cold black coffee
I take it semi-hypnotized
Remembering a time
I could cross the county lines
And this place was somewhere I recognized
In the open air
Neither here nor there
Drifting past some point of no return
|
||||
8. |
Safety Catch
04:13
|
|||
|
At the long end of the day
When the darkness has its say
And when the moon throws shadows through the window
Sights no one should ever see
In red and black they come to me
Images in a violent crescendo
The fever of a moment I don’t want to claim
Believe me when I wish I’d never heard your name
Restless thoughts with time to kill
Counselors and sugar pills
They weren’t enough to stop your blood from burning
Shattered glass, knocked-over chairs
And broken cries from down the stairs
The safety catch I’d never dreamed of turning
A silence as the world fell out from under you
Forgive me for this awful thing I had to do
You stole away the season
You stole away the season
This is where the static leads
Candlelight and cable feeds
Set off another short war of contrition
Once the promises are made
Then soon enough the faces fade
And give way to the next sad exhibition
The tension lies beneath the surface like a bruise
Remind me what it is that we’re afraid to lose
|
||||
9. |
Late Summer Storm (MS3)
03:22
|
|||
|
If you think it’s too cold in here
That’s a point you could make
But for all the open arms
That pull us close, that give when we take
That help us bend as we head for a break
Still, if you think it’s too cold in here
That’s a point you could make
Do you think it’s too bright in here?
I would guess that you might
Even so, you’ll want to know
What can stand up to the harsh daylight
Out from the shadows pulled into plain sight
Still, do you think it’s too bright in here?
I would guess that you might
It’s a furious world, broken down and maligned
Where the ones who shout the loudest
Are the first to change their minds
Here you are with the calm of a late summer storm
Got your own static to filter
Your own magic to perform
If you think it’s too loud in here
I’m inclined to agree
Though you have to find your voice
And rise above the disharmony
Offer some hope and some humility
Still, if you think it’s too loud in here
I’m inclined to agree
|
||||
10. |
Last Long Goodbye
04:46
|
|||
|
There’s a lot you might have done
To make this sit better with me
More than wringing your hands
And claiming double jeopardy
Somewhere along the way
It seems I missed a warning sign
Now you’ve aired your grievances
Let me spare you most of mine
With a last long goodbye
The weight of things unsaid
Still hanging in the air
As a last long goodbye
This road ends at the water
Sink or swim, I’ll follow it there
Head out west to Amarillo
Where they bury their dead cars
Straight across Arizona
Desert-dry and cut from stars
On through a country worn out
From tearing itself in two
The more I look, the more I see
It’s uncannily you
On my last long goodbye
For whatever it’s worth
I’m trading up my share
To a last long goodbye
This road ends at the water
Sink or swim, I’ll follow it there
Night falls on the shuttering motels
Postcards from the ghosts of travels past
Turn in by the vacancy sign
And toast another dream that’s fading fast
There’s a lot you might have done
To make this sit better with me
But then maybe the distance
Is its own diplomacy
Take my chances with the terra firma
Sliding below
A thousand miles behind me
With five hundred left to go
Of my last long goodbye
There’s nothing to defend
And nothing to declare
Just a last long goodbye
This road ends at the water
Sink or swim, I’ll follow it there
|
||||
Stephen Rippy Dallas, Texas
Stephen Rippy is a Texas-based game soundtrack composer; notable releases include the "Age of Empires" series, "Halo Wars,"
"CastleVille," and "Dungeon Boss."
Maintaining a separate body of work as a singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, Stephen has independently released numerous solo albums as well as 2 EP's with Dallas band The Presumptions.
... more
If you like Stephen Rippy, you may also like:
On “WARM,” Tweedy offers his most honest and direct songwriting to date.
go to album
Lost Time Behind the Moon
by Scott Hirsch
The sophomore solo effort from Hiss Golden Messenger bassist Scott Hirsch offers a fresh batch of songs that kick back to classic country, tempered with a satisfying dose of psychedelia.
go to album
Buffalo surf rockers The Hamiltones serve up more jagged riffs and racing tempos on this sci-fi-themed outing.
go to album
Changes Happen To Everyone, Everywhere
by Chet Sounds
Recorded in a shipping container, the Australian artist's quirky second album is a love letter to 70’s classic rock, folk, and psychedelia.
go to album
Titan Agronomist Project Volume 2 - A Juggernaut that Cannot Be Stopped
by Randy M. Salo
Marauding symphonic metal that pairs stampeding riffs with castle-size organ and tremendous blasts of brass.
go to album
ROADHOUSE "Supernatural XS"
by Roadhouse
Electronics collide with guitars and glitchy rhythms to create brain-melting computer music on the latest from Roadhouse.
go to album
The French electro-folk trio embraces a post-rock sound on their latest album.
go to album
