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Clear Sky Relapse

band name

by Swallows

Clear Sky Relapse Cover Art
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04:14
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about
The Clear Sky Relapse EP features songs written for the "Covert Transmissions" collection

PRESS:
Clear Sky Relapse (EP)

RATING: ***** (5 out of five stars)

Review by Dave Griffiths: Appears in Buzz Magazine (Australia) and Cross Culture (Australia)

It seems fitting that Minnesota based folk rockers Swallows have gone with a bright sun on their Clear Sky Relapse EP because it really does feel like a new dawn when you give this album a listen. It is a stunning surprise.

The title track ('Clear Sky Relapse') has to make it onto people's Top Ten tracks of the year lists… it is amazing and really shows what a vocal talent Jeff Crandall is…why this track isn't being played on more radio stations is beyond me.

Crandall gets gruffer on 'Rattle Them Bones' and the music flows taking the listener along on a journey. 'Home' really does feel like the odd song out here. It's very blues-country sound seems to take something away from the other tracks on the EP.

The very slow 'I Will Not Burn' allows the listener to really realise just how much emotion Crandall gets from his voice (honestly you have to hear it to believe it) while Aaron Kerr's cello playing on 'Ballad Of Charon' really gives the track an amazing mood. The beautiful 'High Water' then closes an EP that is truly a great listen.

Swallows make folk-rock sound heavenly… and Clear Sky Release is one of the EPs of the year!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Clear Sky Relapse (EP)

Stuart A. Hamilton, Zeitgeist (UK),
December 27, 2010
It’s been a couple of years since we heard from Minneapolis/St. Paul rockers, Swallows. That was back when they released the delightfully titled Songs for Strippers (And Other Professions). That was a goodie, “a collection of inspirational songs honouring strippers and burlesque dancers everywhere.” With added cowbell.

Well they’re back with a follow-up and what it lacks in lotion it makes up for in slightly grubby, blues-tinged, American rock. It’s a wee bit rootsy with lots of acoustic instrumentation, offset by the always listenable, albeit raspy voice of Jeff Crandall.

They’re still in love with the sound of The Bad Seeds / Grinderman / Tom Waits, which is two thirds of a good thing, so tunes like ’Rattle Them Bones’, ’I Will Not Burn’ and ’[Ballad] Of Charon’ make for very pleasant listening. Although never easy.

It’s only a mini-album, 25 minutes long, but good things often come in small packages.
credits
released 21 August 2010
jeff crandall - vocals, guitar, piano
aaron kerr - cello, bass
tyson allison - vocals, guitar
ben steen - drums
mike nordby - percussion
frank spencer - guitar

all songs written, arranged and performed by swallows

recorded at covert transmissions, st. paul, mn,
gildersound, forest lake, mn

recording produced by
jeff crandall and swallows

recording engineered by
randy gildersleeve and jeff crandall

recording mastered by
randy gildersleeve

© 2010 swallow the music llc
p.o. box 25224
st. paul, mn 55125
swallowthemusic.com
myspace.com/swallowthemusic
swallows@swallowthemusic.com
tags
tags: acoustic americana blues cello folk indie minnesota piano rock strings Minneapolis
license
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"Dramatically haunting yet vibrantly melodic ...soulfully organic rock alternative sounds from Minneapolis." - Chicago's Southside on the Town

"Where the Minnesota sound is headed." - Hymie's Vintage Records

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Track Name: Clear Sky Relapse
I don't wanna come down
I'm riding high up in blue
Caught up in the jet stream

See the contrails drift behind me
Some strange clear sky relapse
A moment's grace, a camera's flash

Waiting for the crash

I can't help but see the sights
Of a 12-gauge shotgun
Locked onto its target

I’m a bird without a future
A stone's throw from the end
I could lift up and take flight

Try to save my own skin

But I don't wanna come down
I don't wanna come down
I just wanna be right
I just wanna be right
I just wanna be right here

No I won't disappear
No I won't disappear
I hope the wind will catch me

And carry me to happy

Where I stop repeating
Thoughts like records skipping
Forwards backwards jumping

Caught between the grooves 'til I

Only hear the static
The sound of my heart pumping
The flutter of wings too weak to fly

No I won’t come down
I don't wanna come down
I just wanna feel right
I just wanna feel right
I just want to be right here

No I won’t disappear

I just wanna feel right
I just wanna feel right
I just want to be right
Here
Track Name: Rattle Them Bones
Sleep, lay thee down to sleep
Cover your ears
The wild men out prowling

Tonight the full moon is bright
The Harvest Home come
It’s time for rejoicing

So, don’t let them break down the door
Don’t let them rattle them bones

Tonight, old bogies will haunt
The vineyards will flow
The demons come calling

Burn, their fires will burn
With reckless delight
They’ll dance ’til the morning

So, don’t let them break down the door
Don’t let them rattle them bones

Howl, hear the wind howl
The time will come soon
For long winter slumbers

But tonight, the wild men will fright
And all will delight
At the Wicker Man’s burning

So, don’t let them break down the door
Don’t let them rattle them bones

Peace, child, wait for the dawn
Sleep, child, and demons be gone
Track Name: Home
Oh, Lord, I want to go home
Oh, Lord, I want to go home
Feel it deep down in my bones
Oh, Lord, I want to go home

These legs too tired to roam
These arms can’t lift no more
This heart done turn to stone
Oh, Lord, I want to go home
Track Name: I Will Not Burn
Staring at this hole in the ground
I could slip right in without a sound
Down where things get lost and never get found
Smoke around this hole in the ground

Where I'm standing
Is deeper than I want to be
Where I'm standing
Is deeper than I want to be
Is deeper than I want to be
Is deeper than I want to be

But I will not burn
I will not burn

Cannot move 'cause I'm on guard
And I won't stop until the last beat of my heart
Falling is easy, so I have to make it hard
Please don't let me drop my guard

Where I'm standing
Is deeper than I want to be
Where I'm standing
Is deeper than I want to be
Is deeper than I want to be
Is deeper than I want to be

But I will not burn
I will not burn
Track Name: Ballad of Charon
It’s late
The air is thick as a blanket
We set sail against a new moon
The deck is cloaked in its pallid light

I watch the souls congregating
Around a starboard light
I used to long uncharted worlds
Now I’d settle for some peace of mind

I feel the wheelhouse churning
Mechanics in motion
The last outpost of the living world
Shimmers in and out of sight

I’ve lost my taste for eternity
But you’ve got to stick at something
Tick, tock, another hour off the clock
Counting down to nothing

I wish I could turn this ship around

I take a long drag off my cigarette
Gaze over water deep and still
I can hear the sirens’ call
Echoing through the netherworld

We all wait for our turn
To lie down and claim defeat
We brace ourselves for the sucker punch
That will drop us to our knees

I wish I could turn this ship around

Only time knows what’s lost

It’s late, I check our bearings
And chart a course for the hidden deep
Sometimes you’ve got to stop yourself from hearing
Hope is a vanity and it will make you bleed
I said hope is a vanity and it will make you bleed

I wish I could turn this ship around
I wish I could turn this ship around
Track Name: High Water
Drowning man
High water
Hard winds
Blind rain

I don’t know why I won’t lend a hand
I don't know why

Red clay
Cracked broken
River
Dry dust bone

The sweat on my fingers
Sucked up by the noon sun
The fields lie fallow
River - dry dust bone

Sky bleeds
Redemption
Hard earth
Gives way

High water
Moves swiftly
Over thirsty
Low lands

It came to me like a new horizon
Came to me
It came to me like a new horizon
Came to me and washed away my pain