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oracles 2: all my cities

1/24/2012

LYRICS
(by Gina Loes)

I would go away to find out what it meant
Sugar me up sun by sun I’m
Never gonna know ya till the days are done

Turn it inside out, show me how it’s made
Shake it real hard ‘til every bead falls
Sweaty like the summer that you
spent with me

Everything it’s adding up
Take your time we’re lining up the buttons
I’m holding on to all of its strings
There’s dreams of this in all my cities, oh!

We go hand in hand
We fit back to back
Just cover me up, some fine moon
I never want to wake up it would be too soon

One day at a time
Never need to rush
Just follow me now, going to take you home
Going to show ya ‘round the desert where this girl was grown

We’ll party like the coyote! Coyote!
Come see where I come from! Come from!
Everything it’s adding up
You can take your time. We’re lining up the buttons
I’m holding on to all of its strings
There’s dreams of this in all my! All my!

I’m holding on to all of its strings there’s
Dreams of this in all my cities, oh

All My Cities marvels at the transitory human experience – born in one place, raised in another, and educated across oceans and borders in search of belonging and perspective. We travel, we explore, fall in love, and get swept away on to the next adventure. Work, study, and new opportunities pull us in every direction. All My Cities recalls memories of home merged with hopes for the future, and for the first time asks love to stay, explore and move as one.

The song was written in anticipation of the first time I (Gina) ever invited a loved one to spend the holidays with me and my family in Arizona. It emphasize the first time someone ever wanted to come with, travel and have adventures along side me. One of the first things I was able to share with him when we arrived was a piece of my mom’s home made bread, which she made six loaves at a time all through my childhood. Below is her acclaimed recipe:

Gina’s Mom’s Bread

6 packages yeast
3 cups luke warm water
2 cups butter
2 cups sugar
3 cups water
3 cups bran
1 tsp salt
6 eggs
5 pound band of bread flour

Dissolve yeast in water. Melt butter in sauce pan. Add sugar, water, bran, salt and eggs to melted butter. Mix the yeast mixture with the butter/bran mixture. Stir in about ½ the bag of flour and then add remaining flour one or two cups at a time, slowly, until dough becomes smooth and elastic. Knead the dough and then cover with saran wrap, and let the bread rise until double.

Grease 6 bread pans. Divide the dough into 6 loaves.Place into greased pans and let rise 30 minutes. Then bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes. brush the tops of the loaves with melted butter. Wait a few minutes to cool. Slice and serve.

Earlier this year, our feathered friend Lisa Rose designed a T-shirt for The Ruffled Feathers inspired by this song. The three rows of houses are representations of the three different cities I have called my home. You can order them here for only $10 until Feb 7th, which include a free download of the full album when it is released.

First: Phoenix, Arizona – saguaros, adobe, and sunshine
Second: Leon, Spain – historic buildings at the plaza mayor
And third: Vancouver, British Columbia – the place I now call home, for now.

- G

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Oracles 1: CANALS OF SUZHOU

1/24/2012

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LYRICS
(by Charley Wu)

Have you heard the song
As gondoliers float on
Through waterways and ‘neath bridges made of stone
Row to the rhythms of the dawn

I sailed down canals of Suzhou
(Ooh oh) Where lovers roam
My song is spreading, and the swallows are building their homes,
On the mountains where the mulberries grow

The mysteries of my mind
Come back to me
The pieces uncombined
Come back to me
Our summer stars aligned
Come back to me
My lovers lost in time
Come back to me

Summer time
Where have you gone?
The invisible cities of my mind are crumbling,
And falling into the sea

My dreams will
Travel on the breeze
Searching for the ancient days of youth
The places where memories take root

I sail down canals of Suzhou
(Ooh oh) Where the mangroves grow
But the sun is setting, and the ocean’s calling me home
It’s stamped on the marrow of my bones

The mysteries of my mind
Come back to me
The pieces uncombined
Come back to me
Our summer stars aligned
Come back to me
My lovers lost in time
Come back to me

Canals of Suzhou is a song about the places of our imagination. These are the midnight cities we construct while dreaming, populated by an infinitely varied carousel of faces–each with their own joys and sadness, and each with their own appetites.

Suzhou is a Chinese city established during the Spring and Autumn period over 2,500 years ago. The name name means “The Land of Rebirth” and it was here that my Grandfather grew up, amongst the many canals and waterways. When I (Charley) think of the city, I don’t think of how it looked when I last visited in 2008, nor do I picture it as it must have been for my Grandfather during the years of the Japanese Occupation. I think of Suzhou as it never was, except in the imaginations of those unsatisfied with the limits of the known world.

For hundreds of years, it was the furthest, most easterly city along the famous Silk Route–the ostensible city at the End of the World. And for the merchants who would travel thousands of miles in pursuit of Suzhou’s famed silk and spices, it was heaven on Earth. When Marco Polo visited in 1276 C.E. he called it “The Venice of the East” and marvelled at its beauty. On the map, it is right where the three red dotted lines meet on the Eastern shore of China.

There’s a book I really enjoy called “Invisible Cities” by Italo Calvino. In it, Marco Polo sits with the aging Kublai Khan and tells stories of the fantastical cities he has visited. Stories of cities suspended in the sky, cities tied together with string, beautiful cities, horrible cities, and impossible cities. The Great Khan, ruler of a crumbling empire–the largest that has ever existed on earth–soon begins to wonder if Marco Polo has actually visited any of these place. Perhaps they are all imagined… or maybe, they are all just retellings of the same city… of Venice, where he was born and longs to return.

“if the men of this city and of the rest of the country had the spirit of soldiers they would conquer the world; but they are not soldiers at all, only accomplished traders and most skilled craftsmen.” - Marco Polo, The Travels

- Charley

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Photos of Suzhou by Charley Wu © 2008
Marco Polo’s Map by Maximilian Dörrbecker (Chumwa) [CC-BY-SA-2.5 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5) or Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

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ORACLES UNVEILED

1/20/2012

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Dear Feathered Friends:

Just a few words on the eve of the great adventure we are about to embark on. Oracles is now complete. With the support of our Kickstarter pledges, we have been able to record, mix, and master twelve of our finest songs yet.

We have something great on our hands, and want to share it with you in an original and unique way. Beginning on Tuesday, January 24th, we will be releasing two tracks at a time, free to download. But most importantly, each song will be accompanied by a unique creative project. We will be releasing photo essays, short stories, original artwork, videos, and much more every two weeks. Each track has so much depth for us to explore and mysteries we want to share with you. Even better, if you come visit us every two weeks, you’ll have the entire album for free.

So follow along and find out what Oracles is really about. For now, please enjoy this beautifully illustrated album cover by Mike Ellis.

- Charley

ORACLES

1. Canals of Suzhou

2. All My Cities

3. Lead Me To Destruction

4. Dark Shorelines

5. Blueprints For Our Failed Revolution

6. Rosin and Horsehair

7. Mockingbird

8. Rooftop Garden

9. Our Beautiful Hearts

10. Lose My Soul

11. The Ghost of Bear Creek

12. Astoria

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