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I Draw Slow

by I Draw Slow

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sophie
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sophie I've loved everything I Draw Slow has ever done. This one's a slow burn, but once it creeps in, it doesn't leave. The lyrics in particular shine. Absolutely gorgeous across the board. Favorite track: About a Bird In an Airport.
Fiach McHugh
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Fiach McHugh A superb return - this album has a range of new influences, from 60s harmony folk-pop to the near-New-Orleans brass of Trouble. And still the unmistakable trademark voices, superb roots fiddle and banjo and tight production to satisfy longtime fans like myself.
And then a beautiful song in Irish - it's a total winner! Favorite track: Trouble.
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  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Package in a 4-panel eco wallet. Includes booklet with lyrics.

    Includes unlimited streaming of I Draw Slow via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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  • Streaming + Download

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

      $10 USD  or more

     

1.
How many times can I ask the same question? Oh love, so many, love I’m howling outside, praying hard for a connection And for love, oh love Turning and returning to the last light burning out for love, oh love Is it a craze, an illusion, an obsession? Or is it love, oh love? There’s a world outside your head You better come on out, you better bring out your dead There’s a world outside your skin You better come on out, or else I’m coming in Come on, let’s start again Ribbons of white, spooling out of every door and every window And they’re coming out for love, oh love Trickles of light pooling everywhere the water finds the outflow And they’re coming out, coming out for love, oh love Turning and returning to the last light burning out for love, oh for love Is it a flame, a delusion, an inferno? Or is it love, oh love? There’s a world outside your head You better come on out, you better bring out your dead There’s a world outside your skin You better come on out, or else I’m coming in There’s a world outside your head You better come on out, you better bring out your dead There’s a world outside your skin You better come on out, or else I’m coming in
2.
You change under observation Like the Copenhagen interpretation You’re the iodine and you’re the radiation Who are you today? I can’t see beyond the curtain And your principles remain uncertain Yesterday you were the path and the diversion Who are you today? Doesn’t matter Doesn’t matter You run reds at every junction You’re the x, you’re the y, you’re the dysfunction You’re the conversation, you’re the interruption Who are you today? You change energy to matter The soundwave, the glass about to shatter Yesterday you were the snake, you were the ladder Who are you today? Doesn’t matter Doesn’t matter Doesn’t matter Doesn’t matter Doesn’t matter Doesn’t matter Doesn’t matter
3.
There’s a bullfinch in the terminal On the wrong side of the glass I take my shoes off at security And I half-hope I don’t get past ‘Cause I’ve been trying to get some distance Between your world and mine And it’s a path of some resistance I’m not free just because I’m flying And I swore when I left you last time It was the last time I’d ever leave If I soared right out of the atmosphere You’d still have a hold on me I board when they call the number ‘Cause I know where I need to be If I change my mind I can always find you Left of the devil, right of the deep blue sea Right of the deep blue sea If I ever (there’s a bird in the terminal) take the low road (and he’s never getting out of here) WI know I’ll meet you there And you’re gonna pull me (I’m gonna make it the airport again) Into the bathroom (There’s the guys at security) And we’ll trade that diamond stare So, I check my pockets (Gonna get a little distance) For any evidence (Gotta get away from company) I want to leave without a trace And the destination? (I’m feeling the resistance) It hardly matters (Anywhere I ever run to) I’m gonna find you in every place And I swore when I left you last time It was the last time I’d ever leave If I soared right out of the atmosphere You’d still have a hold on me I board when they call the number ‘Cause I know where I need to be If I change my mind I can always find you Left of the devil, right of the deep blue sea Right of the deep blue sea And I swore when I left you last time It was the last time I’d ever leave If I soared right out of here You’d still have a hold on me I board when they call the number ‘Cause I know where I need to be If I change my mind I can always find you Left of the devil, right of the deep blue sea Right of the deep blue sea
4.
Dearly 04:25
The lost years are yellow Lens flares and wicker Postcards of dancers in Spain Sand in the bathroom Warm terracotta No recollection of rain Do I misremember A corduroy sofa As brown as the moles on your arm? Sunburnt sienna And oxidised copper The colours discovered by harm Dearly Sincerely Forgetfully yours Dearly Sincerely Forgetfully yours If I wrote a letter Addressed to the future I’d leave out our troubles and tears I’d blanch it in sunlight And love’s anaesthetic And leave it to weather with years The road out of chaos Is there and then it isn’t And clarity sharpens and blurs I want to believe it I really want to believe it The story that memory prefers Dearly Sincerely Forgetfully yours Dearly Sincerely Forgetfully yours
5.
I’m never gonna get you home The sky’s like steel, baby you don’t even feel the cold And I know I’m gonna feel the cold My blood runs blue and it’s breaking up a heart of stone You’re looking brand new to me Your hair turned black in the drag of the bitter sea My body’s got a lot to learn I’m gonna drench my skin, take away the sin of the world And maybe I can feel it Gloria, Gloria, Gloria, Gloria December came dashing in Ice-white stars, the slice of the winter wind Made me feel ill-at-ease Used-up songs, the wrong kind of memories But I took it through the old routine Stringing up lights, trying to keep it evergreen ‘Cause that’s the loving thing to do I’m gonna stand in the sting of the sea I’m gonna make it new And then I’m gonna feel it Gloria, Gloria, Gloria, Gloria I know I’m gonna feel it Gloria, Gloria, Gloria I know I wanna feel it, Gloria
6.
Crosses 03:49
Oh, Your Lady of Grace on her motorcycle Off the beaten track Oh, Your Mhuire Gan Smal, little plaster idol Bringing all believers back All believers back Ford these flowering stones, see the birthright for myself Wreathed in rosary smoke, for protection, for my health Sing that travelling song And go back where I belong In a wild direction On the wrong side of the road And I know how it began and where it ends I can swerve around the wreckage on the bends Slow down for the dark stretch where the river overflowed And all the little crosses on the road Sail past housing estates over chevrons like a drum Shelters emptily wait for the traveller yet to come It’s not like anything’s changed It’s not like me to make strange In a wild direction On the wrong side of the road And I know how it began and where it ends I can swerve around the wreckage on the bends Slow down for the dark stretch where the water overflowed And all the little crosses on the road
7.
Trouble 03:39
Trouble, trouble You took your sweet time Came to make trouble, You’re gonna leave satisfied It’s coming, it’s coming Now give it a name Something has to change Trouble, trouble Doesn’t rain but it pours Don’t ask permission Come and take it, it’s yours It’s a struggle, it’s a struggle Just holding your ground Don’t turn your army around (Don’t turn your army around) And I never realised How long you have suffered til now (Don’t turn your army around) And I never realised How your patience and your poetry Would bring it all down Bring it all down Trouble, trouble Don’t waste this day Stand in the sunlight Get in the way It’s a struggle, it’s a struggle Thankless and slow And doubt is the devil you know Trouble, trouble They don’t stand for you The uniformed, the famous When you’re naked and nameless It’s a reckoning, beckoning Now level the ground Don’t turn your army around (Don’t turn your army around) And I never realised How long you have suffered til now (Don’t turn your army around) And I never realised How your patience and your poetry Might bring it all down
8.
When I first set eyes on you When I first set eyes on you You put a seed in my fallow heart You put a seed in and something grew So, I had to make you mine So, I had to make you mine In the profane world or the divine I had to have you or die trying If I scale this chapel wall If I scale this chapel wall Will you be there for my wicked fall? Will you be there for my wicked fall? Will we run until we’re found? Are we going to run until we’re found? ‘Cause if I get out of this holy town They’re going to run me into the ground Follow me, follow me, don’t ask why Follow me, follow me, close your eyes Follow me, follow me, don’t ask why Have I lived my life in grace? Have I lived my life in grace? Or have I laid it all to waste? Have I laid it all to waste? Have I lived my life asleep? Have I lived my life asleep? Playing a midwife to chapel trees When none of the apples are mine to keep Follow me, follow me, don’t ask why Follow me, follow me, close your eyes Follow me, follow me, don’t ask why Follow me, follow me, close your eyes Follow me, don’t ask why You know I’d lay down and die, you by my side Queen of the wasteland, king of the wild You know I’d lay down and die, you by my side Queen of the wasteland, king of the wild
9.
A chuid den tsaol Gafa i do smaointe féin, i bhfad uaim, i gcéin Caint gan bhrí B’aoibheann liom mo ghlór a ardú, lán de mo mhian Seans gur bheag an toradh B’fhéidir go bhfuil dul amú orm Ach níl insint béil agam I dteanga atá ídithe dom Is fiú bhain triail As rud atá i m’intinn i gcónaí a rá A chuid den tsaol Táim i bhfíorghrá leatsa, éist liom, a stór (I am truly in love with you, listen to me, my treasure) Seans gur bheag an toradh B’fhéidir go bhfuil dul amú orm Ach níl insint béil agam I dteanga atá ídithe dom
10.
Leisureplex 04:11
You tell me to meet you in the car park That’s a thing that other people do Leaning on the bike rack looks courageous I’m able to shut up. Are you? I brought a can of TK to look busy I haven’t got a phone, they’re not a thing yet It rolled under a car and might be fizzy I haven’t had the nerve to pull the ring yet Showing up in clothes you did your sports in Pointing out some cars you’d like to drive Telling me your parents should divorce Except it’s not allowed, til 1995 Someone dropped a grapefruit on the tarmac You press it with your shoe. Adidas patterns It makes me feel like telling you a secret But once upon a time nothing ever happened Something’s headed uswards we can’t see Because we always face the wrong way ‘round You leave a trail of breadcrumbs out for me And then I always take the long way round The long way round I need an invitation to a party In a place where other people go To misinterpret someone’s friendly gesture And have something to say you don’t already know Someone calls your nickname and I’m rattled I don’t know which to use, I’ll stick with neither I say I’m going home because I’m shattered I’ll never get this right and you won’t either Something’s headed uswards we can’t see Because we always face the wrong way ‘round You leave a trail of breadcrumbs out for me And then I always take the long way round The long way round Thank you for the ankle chain from Argos That’s a thing that other people do I’ll wear it til I lose it at the pool The summer after I’ll lose you

about

“Flat out brilliant…this band is really going places.” —Folk Radio UK

“Gritty as it is beautiful” —CMT

“The music of I Draw Slow does not seem like it belongs in 21st century Ireland, but that anomaly is exactly what makes the music special, even magical. Their subtle, polished, unobtrusive sound accomplishes a single-handed renaissance of the American folk music revival of the 1960s.” —The Irish Echo

I Draw Slow is one of the most unique bands on the Americana scene. Fronted by brother/sister songwriting team Dave Holden (guitar/vocals) and Louise Holden (vocals), this Dublin, Ireland-based group sits squarely at the crossroads of Irish and Appalachian music and has received critical praise for an original sound that bridges the gap between traditional Irish and American roots music. Joining Dave and Louise for this journey are bandmates Konrad Liddy (upright bass), Colin Derham (banjo), and Adrian Hart (fiddle).

The band’s new eponymously titled project I DRAW SLOW starts with the arresting opener “Bring out Your Dead”, a track that would not be out of place on Fleetwood Mac’s album TUSK (if the Mac played trad Irish music), with vocal echos of The Mamas & The Papas thrown in for good measure. They channel New Orleans trad jazz on the track “Trouble”, replete with rudimental snare and mournful brass. And on the duet “Queen of the Wasteland”, adorned by clawhammer banjo, fiddle and acoustic guitar lines, they draw upon Ireland’s long folk song and storytelling tradition to create a neo-folk classic that is both timely and timeless.

On their new album, I Draw Slow further cements their reputation as one of the most interesting groups on the Americana/roots scene. By coaxing the past into the present, they create a very personal sonic tapestry, drawing fans on both sides of the pond and earning slots on some of the most important festival stages across North America including MerleFest, Edmonton Folk Festival, Rocky Grass and Wintergrass. With the expansive musical platform of their newest release as a launching point, the possibilities for where I Draw Slow’s musical journey will take them next are limitless.

credits

released September 9, 2022

Produced by Adrian Hart / Dave Holden & Louise Holden
Mastered and mixed by Adrian Hart
Engineered by Adrian Hart, Joe McGrath
Design & Layout by Louise Holden, Dave Holden, Colin Derham
Photography by Cormac Figgis
This album was recorded in Hellfire Studios
and Crooked Water Studio, Dublin 2021
All songs written by Dave and Louise Holden
Holden Publishing (IMRO/SESAC), Administered by Compass Rights Management (SESAC)

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I Draw Slow Dublin, Ireland

I Draw Slow has been consistently redefining acoustic roots music for over ten years. Formed in Dublin Ireland, the award winning five piece is led by siblings and songwriters Dave and Louise Holden. They have released four critically acclaimed albums. Their last album, Turn Your Face To The Sun, went to Number 1. Their new Album will be released in September ... more

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