Oh, when you whistle down the wind
When you needle the dark with your mind
When you're firing volleys of words in an arc
When you're snuffing out all that's still alive
And a droplet falls
From the dropper's eye
Blooms like a wave
That slowly overruns all of your days
And slips the caul
From off your eyes
You face alone
A fear that's dragging us all in its wake
And you kill the lights
I know
You're in the river now
And you yield to the water's embrace
And you lie like a stone on the banks, giving out
As it carries off all of our names
I know that sound
I know what it likes
I know it feels
Like all the guns of a battery trained
Right at your eyes
Because it's real
Because it pulls
A thread of slowly unraveling days
Annihilates
Your mother tongue
Your only light
But hold this sound
Follow it all the way
And put down the knife
The night is here
But still is spinning out stars in its wake
And that stubborn light
Pools in your heart
Warm and nacreous, baby
The milk of sighs
And dreams
Backchannels was written by Jonathan Meiburg.
Backchannels was produced by Danny Reisch.
Shearwater released Backchannels on Fri Jan 22 2016.
[“Backchannels” is] about chasing away the voice that tells you that sometimes the very best thing you can do is kill yourself… I can always sort of feel a pall settle over the room when I say that. The thing is that I think a lot of people hear that voice. I think it’s more common than you would th...