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Imagined Lands

by TA Walker

/
1.
In dreams of rainbows and gâteaux Of soaring swine and airborne pies The white ship to the galaxy Dissolves in blue and empty skies A torn and yellowed calendar A rear-view sunset, tinted rose From bleached-white cliffs and silver waves Now verdant shores, the minds compose Imagined lands Fire-dragon foes Windmills to charge down And so we close One cannot take milk out of tea Nor turn an omelette back to eggs Now those before us scoured the feast And drained the wine, left only dregs Imagined lands...
2.
Folly Hill 02:00
[instrumental]
3.
Chill in the air For unwilling arms to believe in September Green becomes brown And suddenly leaves prefer ground to the branches The breeze no longer a friend As it felt in the days of the summer Now we become awkward guests In the halls of the nights growing longer And though you don’t worry As this is merely that point in the cycle The underfoot rustle Confirms that the summer now sleeps for a half-year Shiny sweet bundles of seeds Wait to fall from the branches they cling to The bushes on fire with the berries That serve up a feast for the winged ones Now through the tornado of leaves Whirled up by the first storms of October You trudge through, head bowed As if in the prayer that the worst soon be over You crumble… the sugar On top of a stew of blackberries and apples The chills kept at bay By welcoming tables and bowlfuls of comfort And thus the uncertainty leaves When you walk with the dog in the morning The warmth of the sun Now sings with the first quiet theme from the winter Bring in the corn And soon catch the scent of the pumpkin and toffee The autumn will fly And leave in its slipstream a land hibernating
4.
Stitches 02:22
The concert brought the house down And so you take your bow The rapture thoroughly deserved No time to falter now Your audience awaits you Their cheers demand you back This surface belongs to you In a gown expertly woven Or a life from start to goal We no longer see the stitches But just the seamless whole Your steps enswirled in velvet As you rejoin the stage A graceful glide through spotlights That bow to pay homage So steady in your confidence No pause to break your stride This encore belongs to you In a gown expertly woven...
5.
I thought up a nice surprise for our anniversary A white dove with a diamond ring for my wife to see The bird escaped, messed up the lounge And out the door it skipped I think it’s fair to say, for me This wasn’t in the script The best-laid plans don’t come to me Before I know - screwed up totally How can I tell you… The last time, no improvement - the Orient Express The tickets bought in secret I was sure that they’d impress Two days before, I learned there’d be no all-star cast to see How was I to know, the movie’s not reality? The best-laid plans... No matter how I try My schemes go off awry A mouse would have more luck than me
6.
Unnamed No 2 04:14
The Firework Fortnight finally stilled In the cold wet air tonight On the cooling floor, the dog is dreaming And still ignores the light Mmmmmm-mmm To sleep, maybe to dream Mmmmmm-mmm The other side unseen To gain the night’s reward A vigil to complete The dragon in the distance Feels the heat The quest feels never-ending Or it leads back to the start Perhaps my circular reasoning Delays my next departure Mmmmmm-mmm... Were I already dreaming now How could I be aware Of the sense of words I conjure From imaginary air
7.
Even Keel 03:05
You said, too long you’ve felt becalmed Be careful what you wish for You noticed the reef on your twentieth pass And you’re curious what that big fish saw Decided it’s best not to reel it in yet ‘Til you remember what came before The rudder now set and the deck-hatches sealed To maintain our course on an even keel Sailing around and around and around To give the illusion of progress At last a fresh breeze has picked up from the west And the foresail would settle for no less Head for the horizon and follow the sun Or whichever direction feels best The rudder now set... If you can’t tell a sloop from a hole in the ground You’re in good company
8.
The palm trees swayed in the fading daylight As hand in hand we sat Watching the sea - I saw you, you saw me Beneath our twin straw hats As I fingered the ring In my pocket, nothing Could’ve made that time any more right Let me spoil the ending Everything changed after midnight… The twists and turns that lie ahead Concealed from our view If there be dogs, or bears, or worse Maybe I’ll feel braver next to you? Oh yes... The ultramarine that topped off the scene Turned on its light display Many diamonds above illuminated a lovely End to a perfect day Yet eclipsed nonetheless As your answer was “yes” And the fireworks inside me did ignite Yes, that strains the rhyme-scheme, but Everything changed after midnight
9.
Town Gardens 02:16
[instrumental]
10.
Harbour Song 02:59
We found a hamlet nestled by the seaside Where more than fishing boats have come to hide An ancient harbour where a candle always glows We took a walk along the battered sea-wall I held you close so that you wouldn’t fall The way I haven’t always managed - well I know We shared a prayer in the trawlers’ chapel Our words were few - the Lord he knew them all And no-one else understands me as you do Did the careening world around us pause Or only just the way it felt, because It only mattered from the look I took from you I thought I saw a lantern out at sea A noctilucent cloud played tricks on me You agreed it looked convincing from so far And in the fading light of day It wasn’t just the gulls that flew away As we greeted every new-uncovered star

about

I recorded these songs in "bursts" when time and busy-ness allowed, between July and November 2018, initially as demos of my new material (and partly to get myself familiar with my new TASCAM DP-006 digital 4-track "pocketstudio"). However, I felt the results stood up pretty well in their own right, and I assembled this compilation to give to family and friends as a present for Christmas 2018. Now, the rest of you get to have a listen...

The songs themselves were written during 2018, with a couple dating from the "5-In-5" songwriting challenge in April, and others coming later. The arrangements here are relatively "stripped-down" - mostly vocals/guitar- and/or ukulele-based, with dashes of electric and lap-steel guitar, synth (Stylophone GEN X-1 - love this little box!) and percussion here and there.

For this Bandcamp release, I have left out for copyright reasons, the two cover-versions I included on the "family/friends" version of this collection. (If you were one of the fortunate "family/friends": honesty compels me to point out that I subsequently did a little more work on the mixes of these songs, so the Bandcamp "release" here sounds subtly different.)

Enjoy :-)

- Tim

credits

released January 11, 2019

A Sidingsound Production by TA Walker

TA Walker: acoustic 6- and 12-string, electric 6-string and lap-steel guitars; acoustic and electric ukuleles; synthesiser; percussion; vocals
All compositions by TA Walker
Recorded by Tim on a Tascam DP-006 Pocketstudio, mostly at home (but in a few other places too), between July and November 2018
Mixed by Tim at Sidingsound I (Logic Pro X), England, during the same period, and at the end of December 2018
Visuals by Tim (he probably also arranged the tea and biscuits, knowing him)

THANKS TO... Joy; Naomi; Mum; Dad; Waves for some great FX software "plug-ins"; Daniel Cho, for all I have learned from you about mixing (how did I manage before?); and the rest of you... know who you are ;-)

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TA Walker UK

Guitarist/multi-instrumentalist, composer and songwriter, often with "electronica", "lo-fi" and "prog" inclinations.

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