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Bike Mantras

by Sonoak

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1.
Numb Trickery 01:56
lyrics
I could only think of one way to get out to Washington I read so many books I tend to lose my mind in them I've seen so many films I romanticized a plot again I write so many songs I can forget why I write them I think I sing so many songs just to remember why I write them To remind him Not every one that's written can be timeless Who knows, one day I may even curse my kindness I write all my songs to be cast into the wind from my bike I chant them pedaling, sweating, to hear what it sounds like To feel that way again There was a time I was there Out there living and feeling and hurting with it I came back, intact It is the voice that pervades all your humming The only one you trust to be fact It's the catch that you never saw coming I'm alone with my words And there's no way of knowing How antiquated they are I'm afraid I'm losing context out here growing faster than a memory fades To feel that way There was a time I was there To be there
2.
It Was 03:12
lyrics
Leaving things can be hard Seems that with endings a regret of having lived is never far But to be sad, it only says "how wonderful was that? All of those things I think we would have never done If we'd stayed mad or lazy or scared or whatever hinders living" Seeing that it all was worth more than we thought And just like that again and again how it slips by without a thought It proves that we forgot things we knew So why when we're not happy do we doubt the day we'll muse "Too bad, now those days are done and oh how wonderful was that?" All of those things we wouldn't miss until they're gone Until it's passed, too bad It stings, the things I never knew I'd love The future's disquieting dark Can keep the cautious and guarded from ever venturing too far Into its path, into the unknown of the yet-to-happen land And of the happiness with no guarantee endorsed But looking back, how many times you said "how wonderful was that?" That includes naked by the river, scrawling notes onto his paper, he's alone He's a comer and goer but planes don't wait forever to be flown Oh, will his waves be ever separate from the universe's own? Flying past the farms a slowing moment, another flat, and a long walk home Home, home, home, alone Naked by the river, scrawling notes onto his paper, he's alone He's a comer and goer Maintaining a future is tough Seems that the weighing and the judging makes it harder when results insist "Too bad, you planned ahead and now you aren't where you want This kind of life's one where just wishing's not enough" But you could laugh, or cry, or feel Why not say "fuck it, if I'm stuck"?
3.
Vertigo 02:08
lyrics
A fantasy: my high school days And nostalgia seized me I came downstairs and knocked on your door I asked you if you'd want to go on the roof with me and in passing you asked "why?" I told you and you cried You were deep inside your room Feeling the same things I see no better place to call god! The unknown... No! The can't be known! The magical and mystical It stings or it rings hysterical Ok, so talking on the roof is really challenging my vertigo Something in me is bound to forget Until the end of time Just please don't be too long Without remembering it's all right Just please don't be too long To remember it's all right Just please don't be too long Or I may not have the chance to remember again Ok, so talking on the roof was really challenging my vertigo I began to shake and got cold I wanted so badly to be back inside, curled up in a blanket in a ball On the couch, safe and sound But we'd never see it resolved We had to get it all out and thank god no one had to fall Now again I know brothers are forever And it seems heaven is something metastable
4.
Wet Bike Mantra 00:27
lyrics
Oh no, it happened again I got wet in the rain on the way down the hill Now my shoes will squeak Who cares! Aren't you cool? Don't you like how it smells? Get dry when you go home You're never stranded in the city, only worry in the woods That's the point of the city, you're never really in the woods
5.
The Great Pigeon Chase 02:38
lyrics
Eye drop into my dream on the bed Restrained at the arms I saw box mountain queen, the first ghost that I’d meet, lifted Dad’s thumb has shattered and bled The first ghost I’d ever left dead Mom’s breathy singing was all I had going but I felt protected and ready To turn up the volume already I pushed it too far she yelled at me I spun on the chair and felt Valerie’s squeal and fell happy Ah, I don’t mind a thing Ah, it was the strangest thing Talking to you Walking with you Quiet with you Silent with you I drop into my dream Stellaless For the first time in years I saw An open sea Nothing more to think
6.
Stellaless/Stolen Bike Mantra 04:03
lyrics
When life and dream are one That's when I'm free To have all happen as it will And be without a big chase, when there's not one diversion I need To get me to sleep Stella-less, more than what's heard and seen I've tried severing every single tie just to tailor its seams And I've invaded every book just to pillage its scenes But nothing puts me at ease Like the love that I'm in with my friends When will I see you again? Be around me It was taken from me It was stolen from me What could I have done? What have I done wrong? Every day I seem to lose something I had Every single day something I'm proud of collapses My talents and skills The colors of my eyes My job, my bike, my friends The colors of my eyes My pride for most anything is as silly as the pride in the colors of my eyes My pride is as silly as pride in the colors of my eyes To be proud Is to pity those without Just be grateful When the day comes to lose what you love just be grateful to have had it at all But for god's sakes splurge on a U-lock!
7.
Sixteen Ways 02:30
lyrics
I want so badly to go back outside on the roof to tell you Sometimes I want to marry you 16 ways to get back to my Island I have so much love If I could hear it in their silence I'd be on my way To a perfect existence Even from so far away, if could hear them when I'd listen Through the Cyprus (across the oceans) And the mountains (this awful continent) And the pines I love you even from a plane when you're just a tiny dot below me Passing too fast for human eyes to see I think those who live with ease to see a century Might say to their cells "I love you even as a giant with you just tiny dots inside me" Well, I put 16 ahead of all of that long ago I never looked back But tiny dots can't scream Loud enough for the human ear to perceive And now my human heart is weak I know there's so much love If I could hear it in the silence There'd be no blind, deaf, or dumb Beyond descriptions of a science I'll listen for your songs On my bike in the wind
8.
Last One 00:52
lyrics
Not every song that's written can be timeless I know and this last one's written with that in mind in the breeze! Everyone's a child like me! I don't even know what it means!
9.
Bike Mantra 02:18
lyrics
I went 95 to 5 Now I go 9 to 5 One tune I've never known I went 95 to 5 Now I go 9 to 5 And sound to sound Can I go home? Left 495 for 5 Now it's four 9 to 5's Two 9s, alright Can I go home? Left 495 for 5 Now it's for 9 to 5's Two 9s, alright Can I go home?
10.
Schrödinger's Distance 04:20
lyrics
Irene and Sandy keep her from me Maybe it's best No "how have you been"s and "where will you go "s if you're going Seems I always hope to hear from you during hurricanes I expect a world from you, a world away When you close your eyes what will you see? And will I fade immediately, as light as a leaf? The sun behind the clouds is as good as gone But Ken was right, if I'd get above, it was there all along... But that's just not enough To believe is to never give the chance to concede So I chose to tattoo on me, the reminder in chief But there's nothing as real, a ghost holds my hand Well, I'll permit it in leave, but you're risking defeat 'Cause what if you turned and nobody would be there? If nobody would be there... I know somebody will be there I sang to the Filipino lady in vain, I wanted her so badly to smile, I knew not her face A Schrodingerian screen, the movement of her hand And then she called out to me "is that you playing guitar there?" Fall asleep with me I want to face the world, my dreams, the emptiness, the open sea Marry me so we can see all the world, the dreams, the emptiness for what it is Heaven's lessons, blessings given, uncreated, skies to be drawn and homes to be lived in Not this rotten prison, all's frozen, all for nothing, let it burn as something never seen again Alone I go into the void, stumbling, searching all for little lights, just barely living But together all is working, churning on into the nights, the vast unknown unwritten In the night, the world alive, laughing, sun is hidden, there's no reason - he's only kidding
11.
You Are Good 05:54
lyrics
When the noise and clutter's all cleaned up You can see the things you couldn't feel before You could be told a million times But no one's ever gonna change your mind How could they? No one sees all the love they got No one knows all their love at once Outside of moments and songs But I have something now to say You know that's just clutter in the way Of all the good You are all good (You are all the good) Just by wanting to be good When you say "that wasn't me back there" What you mean is "I don't want that to be me... anywhere" All the forces put in motion Acts like a domino effect An entropic noise and clutter Gives an illusion that that's it, just an ugly clutter But just as a face, it can betray All of the beauty in your soul Such is the case with human action There's no reflection in this world pristine as its purest origins I know it's difficult to break through Sometimes you can't will yourself out Just by virtue of your wanting To be the good inside yourself, try anyway Don't resent another's clutter Try forgiving every ugly scene I swear, when their guards down they whisper "I don't want that to be me" You are all the good They are all good You are all good

about

DOWNLOAD THE ENTIRE ALBUM FOR FREE AT:
www.practiceroomrecords.com/projects/sonoak/

Most songs were written in Olympia, WA during the summer of 2012, far from my friends. Starting over in a new place, knowing no one, is tough. I was also car-less to start and so I had to bike 20 mi/day (minimum) for work. I really like to sing while I ride my bike. Lots of my songs are written on bike rides and lots of them turn into little mantras meant to calm me down, to ground me, to bring me back to things we so easily forget day by day. Take it from me, world, ride yer bike, write yer mantras, get outside.

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released June 17, 2013

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Sonoak New York

Sonoak is my solo project. Please leave my bandcamp and go to my collective's website for free downloads and more info.

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