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. |
Chase It Down
04:04
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Lights go out
The street winds down just out of sight
Listen to you breathe
As the sky meets the night
A dream set in red, black, and white
To the wilderness and back
We carry on
Torn apart and turned around
Nowhere is too far away
To find the best part of a perfect day
And chase it down
Hours pass
While you rise above the routine
Threading through
Gunmetal gray, emerald green
The best looking part of the scene
Sort the diamonds and debris
For what it’s worth
Silver stars from rusted ground
Nothing is too much to pay
To find the best part of a perfect day
And chase it down
In your moment of weakness, I’ll be strong
Be my voice of reason when I’m wrong
Sunday gold and nocturne blue
My friend, my love, my life is here with you
Giving years to memory
We make that trade
As the clock becomes unwound
No time is too much delay
To find the best part of a perfect day
And chase it down
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2. |
Tape Recorder
04:02
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Hidden messages in signs along the freeway
Made up from the letters that burned out
Loaded question from an accidental asker:
“Is this really what your life’s about?”
Claiming a peak that’s always just out of reach
When the valley’s so low, the climb so rough
Afraid that the weight of years will wear you down
‘Til nothing feels too bad or good enough
Seemed like more when you were younger -
Eyes out the window, heart in your mouth
Knocked around, you cut off your dreams
To spite your soul and soon headed south
So often, the ID thieves and hangers-on
They manage to monopolize the day
And for every time they drag you down to this point
You’re surprised at what you gave to stay
Gone away, she’s gone away
But, of course, you know
She’s surely out there still
Gone away, she’s gone away
And though you could not keep her
Someone else surely will
The echo of her voice is all she left to hold
Caught by the tape recorder, stopped from growing old
History and heartbreak, regret in solid-state
11:55 - just missed her at the gate
Aching starts behind your eyes and swells like feedback
The crest of a wave that could split glass
Afraid that the weight of miles will wear you down
You turn around under the overpass
Patina of noise and flutter
Starting to color your way-back-when
Lost in that magnetic moment
Rewound and played again and again
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3. |
When the Penny Drops
03:44
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Kinetoscope pictures strung out in a line
Parceled-out images, focused and fine
For all of the mistakes that may have been mine
Know this is not what I meant
The great traitor of my personality
Taking on more than could be good for me
Well, though it’s not much of an apology
Know this is not what I meant
No, this is not what I meant
For more than it’s worth to hold onto this life
You shelter your family, your child, your wife
Forgiveness and fear balance on the same knife
But this is not what you meant
I know this is not what you meant
In the stillness between second hand stops
Breaking into a thousand regrets
When the penny drops
Kinetoscope pictures strung out in a row
In the direction this time has to flow
The flash and the silence and nowhere to go
Know this is not what I meant
If the bridge holds, if this moment won’t stop
There’s no turning around for us now
In the stillness between second hand stops
Breaking into a thousand regrets
When the penny drops
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4. |
The Exclusion Zone
04:14
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Cut back all the weeds
That had grown through the floor
Filled in a few walls
That weren’t there anymore
I’m better than I was
Maybe not what I used to be
Especially at night
When the quiet gets the best of me
No heralding wind
For an oncoming train
It’s heavy and dark
But it’s out of the rain
Some days you cross my mind
But those are thoughts I can’t allow
‘Cause if there’s blame to spread
You know I could have found it by now
Got to cauterize the past
It’s the only way to last
In the exclusion zone
The day the sun touched the ground
The day the forest took back the street
The day it all turned around
Should have watched what I wished for
The loneliness takes my breath
This shell of my home
Echoes laughter and tears
Stopped counting the time
Since someone knew me here
Seems like a waste to pay
Attention to all that tension
Whatever happened then
Here and now is my own invention
Sticking to the substantive
It’s the only way to live
In the exclusion zone
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5. |
Breaks for You
03:58
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Clouds roll in and the air blows clean
Balance of gunmetal gray
And emerald green
Clouds roll in just like every spring
But somehow the ease of familiar
Doesn’t offer anything
I’m so sorry
My heart breaks for you
To the north for a change of scene
Balance of gunmetal gray
And emerald green
To the north, now the years have flown
Still not enough time to prepare you
Even if you could have known
I’m so sorry
My heart breaks for you
Well, sympathy’s no solution
Regret isn’t restitution
Cold comfort’s no contribution
But they’re all I have to give
Such is life: jagged velveteen
Balance of gunmetal gray
And emerald green
Such is life; so easy to say
But even the best of intentions
Will not will the worst away
I’m so sorry
My heart breaks for you
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6. |
Portmanteau
01:59
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7. |
Glass Empire
04:09
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Oceans cut the land
Into pieces on which we stand
We gave it a try
Lost the map before the ink was dry
Heat wave settles in
How long ‘til the bloodshots begin?
A night for eyesores
All the damage makes me miss you more
Meteor shower falls on the hour
Hands out to hold back the wind
It’s my glass empire to defend
March through the malaise
This job’s never worth what it pays
Cinder blocks laid bare
Flashes hanging frozen in the air
Passing time peeling paint from the ceiling
Snapshots paid for on the lend
Were our glass empires to defend
Well, I may not be the voice of my life and times
But I’ve got a feeling it’s enough to be here
The fight and the fear
My heart hangs heavy
And you’re nowhere close to near
My long memory
Isn’t what it’s cracked up to be
Just second-hand blue
Wish I could have done better by you
Staggering from those collateral blows
Love is fragile ‘til the end
It’s a glass empire to defend
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8. |
Crash My Life
03:59
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Letter to you, whom it may concern
A message from the outside
10:06 and all is well for now
Godspeed the rest of your ride
That easy weightlessness
I want it, I confess
‘Cause me, I’m grounded by anticipation
Consider this an open invitation
To crash my life
Memo to an endonautic friend
With whom I’ve much to discuss
Soon they’ll be lined up around the block
But for a time it’s just us
This quiet’s not by choice
I think you lost my voice
But still, offered without qualification,
Consider this an open invitation
To crash my life
Every now and then
The crows go walking by my eyes
And time and again
My comb finds a silver surprise
Well, I’m not old yet, child
I’m gonna make it worth your while
To begin to be
And grow up with me
So to conclude before
Signing off truly yours
Forget about a prior reservation
Consider this an open invitation
To crash my life
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9. |
Heart Full of Clouds
04:23
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Rain to bus to rain, pavement, and sky
Radio crackles a blue streak
These aching temples give no quarter
Long way to come to feel so meek
Don’t even know if you’re awake
But something in me says it just might take
Six months to notice that I left this week
Music filtered through the gauze of time
Exotic shadows smile at me
The diplomat bar asks no questions
‘Cause atmosphere is currency
It’s double what I can’t afford
Jetlag-wasted and a little bored
I find the elevator and my key
Heart full of clouds again
Head full of doubt
It’s been too long
For my excuses to ring true
Heart full of clouds
What did I get myself into?
Looking for a view not of you
Footsteps of an improbable past
Up a stairway that never ends
The top of the world knows no borders
And makes no enemies or friends
I wonder which you think I’d claim
Though being lonely was never my aim
How often do we get what we’d intend?
Heart full of clouds again
Head full of doubt
But then, they’ve wandered that way
More times than a few
Heart full of clouds
Until the reckoning is through
Looking for a view not of you
I’ll make my peace with this
Whatever else I do
Looking for a view not of you
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10. |
Brighter Times
03:56
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For all the damage that was done
We leave a lot of good
For all the dreams that this would last
Of course it never could
If it’s my nature to be surprised
It’s sure not my intent
‘Cause change is something to expect
When the money has been spent
Brighter times are coming
I’d like to think that’s right
But for now I’ll settle in
And wait out this long night
There was a truth to separate
From all the lies that bind
There were the promises we made
And never got behind
If it’s my nature to hold a grudge
It’s sure not my intent
Don’t want to push back memories
Just to wonder where they went
Brighter times are coming
I need to have that hope
But for now I’ll settle in
And find my way to cope
The ship has left the harbor and sailed to sea
Good luck with what you’re searching for
Good luck to me
And should we meet on some unexpected day
I hope we’ll have it in us
Not to look the other way
However many years have passed
With nothing much to show
However wronged we may have been
It’s time to let it go
If it’s my nature to have regrets
It’s sure not my intent
There’s nothing reached for wishing
There’s nothing left in that lament
Brighter times are coming
I do believe that’s true
So for now I’ll settle in
And count on something new
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11. |
With the Angels, Dream
03:40
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Early in the year
But closing out the day
You arrived on the wind
That swept the swirling sand away
Six and thirty Thursdays
Counted off the time
The ticking of the tempo
Reaching for a love sublime
Now the weary world winds down
The sun sheds one last beam
Turn your face toward the stars
And with the angels, dream
Rubber to the road
Headlong into a wait
Genetic disposition
Suggested you might be late
Six and thirty Thursdays
Crashing with the tide
A lunar pull to see all of this
From another side
Evening shadows swell the banks
To float the light downstream
Turn your face toward the stars
And with the angels, dream
Slow dissolve to nocturne blue
While silence sets the theme
Turn your face toward the stars
And with the angels, dream
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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.
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