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Ramshackle Heart

by Lach

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

    Plus: jpgs or the original album artwork
    Plus: Home movie pictures from the recording sessions
    Purchasable with gift card

      £10 GBP  or more

     

1.
Another Night Without You The wind is howling and I never sing about the wind So something really bad must be happening I can’t see nothing except a storm about to brew O, another night without you Stoned in an alcove, high-pitched buzzing in my ear I came to see a band I’m trying not to hear All because I was going stir crazy in my tomb O, another night without you Caffeine shakes and missing you I pick up newspapers Search for I Ching clues I look in the eyes of the palms I press But nothing seems to solve this loneliness My imagination staggers to the bar I never thought it could get this far I order a whiskey better make it two O, another night without you This is a new feeling it wiped it's feet on my heart It's been this way since we've been apart It's insane we broke up I need some crazy glue O, another night without you Cigarette and sex sick My all night diner soul Yesterday's news and coffee growing cold I paint the eyes of the impatient waitress Bring a cup to fill this emptiness The walls are humming an insect's tune A nervous glance in a nervous room Honey, I don't know what to do O, another night without you A lifeboat on a restless sea My little life carved out of eternity And the jester wind it kicks me through O, another night without you
2.
Break The Day Me and myself walked into the whiskey bar Five thousand faces I thought I saw Five thousand faces all staring at me Ten thousand eyes and everyone could see that I had come just to talk to them Well, didn't I have a minute? Didn't I have a pen? Don't I have a light? No, but I'm on fire from everybody looking like the holy choir Get a move on Take me away Saddle at sunrise And break the day This here face don't got to many wrinkles Though some say it's a long, hard road I guess I'm just young, I guess, I don't know I guess, I never done what I was told Still, everyone is getting old and I'm not getting younger, I'm getting faint from everybody trying so hard to be everything they ain't Get a move on Take me away Saddle at sunrise And break the day Well, I'm all alone in the graveyard dawn Five thousand cattle are moving on I heard them coming I had my ear to the ground The din of their gossip made an awful sound I finished up my Jack and gathered up my toys I headed on back far from the cowboys Far from the safety of the stagecoach ring Out to the prairie where the eagle sings Get a move on Take me away Saddle at sunrise and break the day Saddle at sunrise and break the day
3.
Everyone's Therapist Laurie’s got a job she hates it won’t let her do her art You can't finish something that you didn't start Me, I got a gig to get to, tonight I’m working sound I got to help another band break down before the band leaves town After the show they mobilize and they hit me with a kiss And they say how sad and grateful they are to be leaving all of this And as I watch them head out into fortune’s mist I realize I’ve become everyone’s therapist Susie hasn’t got a clue how to act off stage Straight lines and missed cues make her life an endless maze She uses booze and fantasy to keep her self alive Reapplying mascara to look good for the ambulance ride Backstage before the show she asks, "Does love exist?" She’s tried men and women and she's always ended dissed And if I wasn’t so nice I’d be hard to resist How’d I turn out to be everybody’s therapist? Donald is fucked up and he knows I’m a sober guy So why's he spend so much time telling me how great it is getting high And it's blah-blah black sheep listen to my bull And it's yes sir, yes sir, three bags full I’ve heard it all before, the classic junkie list How the world is against you and you’re so depressed And all I wanna do is draw a dotted line upon your wrist How did I turn out to be everyone’s therapist Now is there a sign above my head blinking "The Doctor’s In” Or does working sound make some believe I'd be a sounding board for them They just wanna look good, look grand for the magic show But all that smoke and mirrors it just leaves them wanting more I don't got the answer, I should chill I guess There but for the grace of god I go and I know I’m thoroughly blessed Still, I'd like to thank-you, you been a great audience You been listening and attentive you’d make a great therapist You’d make a great therapist (Your hour's up, Lach)
4.
She's Brave Now All tied up with a ribbon and a bow She has earned her delicious sorrow Carried her pain like it was precious cargo Kept it hidden so no one could know But she's changed all that She's brave now Surrounded by herself and false friends Days wet with horror, nights that never ended Trying to get out with so much coming in Unable to make the slightest decision But she's changed all that She's brave now That girl opened up herself to the pain inside She’s tried to hide for so long That girl she said goodbye to yesterday She’s turned to face the sun Well, come on, she's brave now From time to time I see her face in magazines I always check, I check to see if she looks the same But she's changed She's brave now That girl opened up herself to the pain inside She’s tried to hide for so long That girl she said goodbye to yesterday And turned to face the sun Well, come on, she's brave now That girl opened up herself to the pain inside She’s tried to hide for so long That girl she said goodbye to yesterday And turned to face the sun Well, come on, she's brave now Yeah, come on, be brave now
5.
Stunned 03:18
Stunned by snow's weight Stunned by the last minute of the last debate Stunned by relaxed skeletons of old friends Stunned to think i know how it ends Stunned by a meteors' silent escape Stunned to uncover another mistake Stunned by a missiles' satellite kiss Stunned to find out the things i don't miss Stunned by betrayal ignorant and fine Stunned by the closeness of distant friends of mine Stunned by poetry from inconsequential lips Stunned by doorways fading into the mist Stunned by hair turned gray as goose down Stunned by a football given the keys to the town Stunned by the moon's matador smile Stunned by the gentlemanly ways of a child Stunned by writer's who pause before they write Stunned by a magnet's pole-reversal at night Stunned by my fingers full of decision and time Stunned to realize that this is the last line
6.
I Don't Wanna Go When you've smoked your last tear and the salt has you thirsty for more And you've swam in your beer and you found yourself drugged up on the shore And nothing is solid since someone left you long ago Don't come moaning to me Baby, I don't wanna know Me, I tickle the spicy road with no hesitation Back then you could hallucinate with frisky abandon But now they want diaries or they won't subsidize your mission Don't come moaning to me Baby, I don't wanna know Cornflakes and Applepops come down for the new school exhibit Magistrates and artcops looking for shit to prohibit And all the cupboards are bare but nobody there will admit it If this is truth and beauty, I just don't get it So, take your pain confections and the pills of mad expression Take all your sexual confusion. Take all the things your used to using Take your heroes and your sideshows and your dreams of gold tomorrows Take the clatter of the gentry as they tumble about for your entry Take it! Shred it! Shoot it! Bed it! But please, don't take me Cause baby, I don't wanna go Babydoll, I don't wanna know
7.
Lonesome For You Well, you’re married now And the full moon howls In your business suit If you’re complete I’ll be lonesome for you With your life planned out And your objects solid And your holidays merry And your dreams forgot I’ll be lonesome for you Well, I’m a net pulled through your life I got all wet but that’s all right This lonesome feeling helps me write This lonesome song I sing tonight I’m wrapped in poems / lonesome for you In a coat I found / lonesome for you At a coffee shop / lonesome for you With all I’ve got / I’m lonesome for you With your new name / lonesome for you It's all the same / lonesome for you Every night and day/ lonesome for you In every way/ I’ll be lonesome for you Cause I’m a net pulled through your life I got all wet but that’s all right This lonesome feeling helps me write This lonesome song I sing tonight You’re married now The full moon howls In your business suit Your so cute I’ll be lonesome for you Every night and day In every way But it’s OK It’s OK It’s OK Ooga-Chaka-Oo
8.
My Gangster 02:25
My Gangster There’s a gangster in my family tree somewhere At times I hear his laughter and I wonder what he’s after in there And his limo drives my dreams Like an actor drives a scene Gets out with a machine-gun and asks if I'd like some fun He knows my answer because he’s living inside my head He’s a cancer and he’ll live until I'm dead Shiny leather blacktops on the ivory white dance floor Everything stops when my gangster walks through the door He motions to the maestro start the band up once more Everything goes back to the way that it was before Except everybody’s sitting around like a pack of hungry jurors While my gangster, the only dancer, he waltzes away the hours Bang, bang you’re dead, get the money and run A gangster ain’t a gentleman and an outlaw ain’t no fun And a baby’s a genius though a short-lived one Like a rainstorm in a desert a challenge to the sun A question left unanswered because now the dark night has come My gangster is loaded he carries a gun My gangster don’t do nothing for no one He rides the sideboard straight into heaven He lives life like life was religion And if you don’t get it it won’t be given
9.
Blue Overcoat I missed my connection No flight tonight I guess I’ve got some time to think I mix up a concoction of love’s sweet toxin I settle in to nursing my drink It's a cold, lonely night in Jet City I’m making my troubles float I take a walk up the runway pull on the collar of my blue overcoat And I don't have any luggage Just seem to have so much baggage And I try to lose it all in vain I don’t know where I’m going I don’t know why I came I can't remember where I've been It's a cold, lonely night in Jet City I can’t believe what she wrote I take a walk up that runway Pull on the collar of my blue overcoat So cold
10.
Sensitivity 03:43
Sensitivity Sensitivity's fallen for me In a bar down in Baltimore With batty eyes ala Zsa Zsa Gabor She's fallen for this troubadour With Sensitivity Sensitivity has fallen for me In a pick-up truck out on 109 Her wispy, willowy, wanton ways Kept me up four nights and five days With sensitivity Sensitivity waits for me In a bombed-out building deep downtown With her vampire lips and black wedding gown She welcomes me to the underground With sensitivity Sensitivity works for me With my shy ways and acoustic air A sly song and avant hair I will be leaving here With sensitivity Sensitivity waits for me While working on her sixth coffee In a college-town, cool cafe She's figuring out how to get to me With sensitivity Sensitivity's fallen for me And she shows me all of her poetry Shades of Sexton, Nin, and Poe In a loft down in ol'Soho Sensitivity's fallen for me And she writes about it in her diary She's got a hundred books on how to live Because she's so sensitive

about

You can pay what you like with a minimum starting point of £7 (which is what most perps shell out or £100 or more for my lunatic perps! ), hey, whatever you like.
PLUS when you download the entire album you will receive, at no extra charge, a bonus track, additional artwork including alternative album cover takes, liner notes, lyrics and a little video memento of the recording sessions. (It's OK to keep that in mind when figuring out what you wish to donate ;-)

Thanks again!
Love
Lach

"Lach is renowned as a cult-pop catalyst, a wily bard, and Ramshackle Heart spotlights his talent for wired lyricism and unplugged rock'n'roll."- Mojo Magazine

"Antifolk hero returns! This album captures all that's best about the Antifolk movement: a mix of beat aesthetic, punk attitude and smartass wit. High-class shamateurism and dangerously fun." - Uncut Magazine

Ramshackle Heart was recorded in a studio converted out of an old RAF hanger in an abandoned airfield in Cornwall, UK. Engineered and co-produced by legendary British musician Neil Halstead (of Slowdive and Mojave 3) the album features local Newquay musicians and was recorded over a period of two weeks. Tea and scones were consumed, dogs frolicked , and sunsets appreciated.

credits

released February 14, 2013

Produced by Lach & Halstead

Lach - Vocals, Guitars, Harp, Piano, Organ, Handclaps, Harmonica, Tambourine, Bongos, Melodica, Rattle, iPhone NLog Synth, Whips and Instrument of Torture

Neil Halstead - Vocals, Guitars, Mandolin, Harmonica, Organ, Bass

Ben Hall - Bass

Caroline Banks - Drums

Adam Parfitt - Guitars, Mandolin

James Humphries - Conga, Bongos

Engineered by Neil Halstead at The Airfield 2, St. Merryn, Cornwall, UK

Mastered by Matt Colton, Air Studios, London UK

Album Art by Kim Gledhill, NYC, USA

Tattoo Art Courtesy of The Jonathan Shaw Antique Tattoo Archive, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

Art Direction by Lach

All Songs by Lach ©2010

Published by Blue Monk Music

Manufactured by Song, by Toad Records, Edinburgh, Scotland

Released by Fortified Records

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Lach Edinburgh, UK

Lach, founder of the Antifolk movement and star of BBC Radio 4's The Lach Chronicles.

‘Beat-punk-unplugged joy!’-The Guardian UK

‘Splendid! Best of it's kind!’- Mojo

‘Incredibly bright, influential, funny, poetic.’-Suzanne Vega

‘Best punk guitarist since Johnny Ramone.’-Billy Ficca of Televis
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