Get all 4 Marlena releases available on Bandcamp and save 20%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of The Birds in the Black Barn, Sympathia Malevolens, You Rang (Single), and Circled by Wolves EP.
1. |
Sympathia Malevolens
07:30
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1. Sympathia Malevolens
I’ve always desired a wholeness that we pretend.
To move past and beyond a flickering attention span.
But Schelling’s System is a strong cup of tea.
You’ll forget who you were like the dregs from the leaves,
but you’ll take back your dreams from the memes on the switchboard
who dictate your will and the space between the poles
of right and wrong and how things should be:
Quixotic, brutal, and free.
Have you ever seen the wind cut through your body
Possessed and shorn of our warmth in ourselves?
The mimic becomes your nerves and your conscience,
blown from the word, the switchboard, the poles.
But can I take your hand?
I’ve listened to the way you answer the void long enough.
Use the tools but don’t nail down your hands.
Don’t leave me here with all these clonic vultures
with only half the answers.
I’ll turn my insides out.
I spent my childhood being afraid
of a monster without a face or hands but who touched me just the same.
And now I see him clear for the first time,
and sympathia malevolens is written down his spine.
And now I don’t mind being afraid.
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2. |
The Real
05:19
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2. The Real
Don’t worry, we’re in control.
The real won’t harm you.
Just cover your head,
and wear your mask.
Well, I’m going to the water’s edge,
and I’m going to the reactor’s core.
Our babies are coming out
with eyes that see the real.
Don’t fret. We’re here to serve you.
Your needs are ours.
Just choose your martyr
and man this drone.
Well, I’m going to those children’s graves.
Let their blood wash over me.
Our babies are coming out
with eyes that see the Real.
I won’t let you burn them out.
Nothing left to be concealed.
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3. |
Underwater
06:22
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3. Underwater
And I’ll keep this voice alive underwater.
Far away from cellphone hiss and cannon fodder.
And all you fuckers won’t be missed,
nor your martyrs in uniform.
Not even Christ will forgive what you did,
and I’ll be glad when your number is called.
And it’s a strange thing that it may never be called.
It was the easel that painted the throne.
And I swear I won’t look away when you stare at me.
A hundred to one I’ve seen the end to your means;
You’ve nothing to teach me.
Except how to feign a sense of control
On a burning blind carousel.
At least you look good poised on that pole
while the waterline is rising up.
And it’s a strange thing that you’re so ready to drown.
It was the easel that painted the crown.
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4. |
The Garden
03:35
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4. The Garden
Don’t look down.
My dear lady, you’re falling.
Don’t look up.
My dear man, it’s nothing
but the blood and desire of your sisters.
But didn’t you expect anyone to hit the bottom?
If I could cease to fall, I’d trade my martyr’s blood for a child’s.
Don’t look down.
My holy father I’m crawling though the dirt
and gravel of your garden
where I found, underneath a tree in a shadow,
a child’s toy that fit together like a puzzle.
But didn’t you expect anyone to hit the bottom?
If I could cease to fall, I’d trade my martyr’s blood for a child’s.
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5. |
The Cornerstone
04:34
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6. |
Cheap Perfume
05:23
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6. Cheap Perfume
In a cold office room,
I learned my soul was cheap perfume,
and my smile a salesman’s line,
and my love a childish crime for which
I’d be sued and used.
And I feel like I’m living in some bad cartoon
where the words kill the people and the symbols rule.
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7. |
Traffic Lights
06:52
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7. Traffic Lights
I’m getting tired, and you’re asleep.
The computer is on, and the traffic lights blink.
Out in the woods, there’s a place
where the robots gather so they can find their peace.
They walk to the mall where there’s no air,
and they try to buy some flowers
to put on top their hair.
But they’re getting tired, and you’re asleep.
The computer is on, and the traffic lights blink.
Out in the cold, on a wooden playground,
the tire swing hands idle,
and the robots gather round.
And one asks the other: "What does this mean?"
The computer is on; would you please go back to sleep
and watch the traffic lights blink.
I’m still waiting for you to cut it off.
But I’m getting tired.
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8. |
The Shallows
08:04
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8. The Shallows
You frame our love.
Your field of vision is not as wide as you think.
Your control is an illusion.
After all, you could have been born in the country.
Wouldn’t that strip away the shallows?
Your frame is you.
Your life is a collection of superficial judgment.
Your culture is yourself.
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9. |
The Fox
02:38
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9. The Fox
Go to sleep my chosen one.
I’ll sing you a song about a fox
whose tooth had gone dry for the taste of blood.
He slid under the fence and stood with his white friends
and rubbed up against their product skin.
He said, “I’ll help you bury your heart.
I’ll help you bury your head.
I’ll help you bury your own death.”
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10. |
From a Conscience White
04:56
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10. From a Conscience White
I’m caught in a landslide of agreeable ash
pouring out of your mouths.
We’re all talented dancers avoiding the cracks
Of what’s revealed in our thoughts.
But not a day too soon,
I’ll retreat from this room.
My feet rise off the ground:
Release in honest sound.
But when you close your eyes,
I’ll be inside.
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Marlena Portland, Oregon
Melancholic rock/metal from Portland, OR, 2009-2020.
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