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Turpentine Wind

by Kurt Swinghammer

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andyscenicmeyers
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andyscenicmeyers What a gorgeous, balanced album. The songs are poised like a boat rocking on a lake. Things are interesting and unfolding, and are all making beautiful sense. Favorite track: Dangling Pine.
Pete Kowalsky
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Pete Kowalsky Owen Sound has the coolest chord progressions I've heard in a while. Swinghammer hits this album outta the park with some fun whimsical tunes and more amazing treats as well. Great stuff, sir. :) Favorite track: Owen Sound.
Christopher Lalonde
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Christopher Lalonde The romantic notion of going out into the forest to create a worthy masterpiece is juxtaposed with the reality of trying to earn a living as a commercial artist - did Kurt let himself down, or his idol? The lyrics and music are an ear smorgasbord. Favorite track: Fine Art of Selling Out.
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1.
Owen Sound 04:51
Owen Sound - lyrics Sound, Owen Sound Off the bay Through the town On the wind In the ground Old Bruce Grey Calling Down To the harbour of Georgian water blue With elated dreams As lovers fall asleep And swim beneath the night Towards the sound Sound, Owen Sound From the north Southward bound Glaciers came Then turned around And left a cleft Where life was found In the harbour of Georgian water blue With elated dreams As a young boy falls asleep And swims towards the light Towards the sound
2.
Doodle Head 02:49
Doodle Head - lyrics A brand new day is an empty page Fill it up and sign it with your age Playing hockey and war is such a bore Compared to the pictures you have made God bless bees cus bees make wax Wax makes crayons that come in packs Of 25 lively colours There's a world beyond the lawn Waiting to be drawn Doodlehead If you don't like what you see Doodleloot do all you can be Doodle head Look real hard in your back yard And see a frame around the trees The land will always draw you too One can't erase these memories God bless trees cus trees make pulp Pulp makes paper to colour up In pages by the hundreds They say Superman really is Canadian He just went south to get a gig
3.
Yellow Ochre Yonge - lyrics On the path of least resistance the laws of nature guide you there To the north shore of a great lake with a big smoke stead of air Off of offices and wet sweat shops a stew of studios and factories Where perspiration smells like hope like fossil fuel to machinery From charcoal to Venetian oil From black and white to a summer palette bright Yellow ochre Yonge goes down To neon Hogtown On the corner by the plaza with the Mephisto blues again To a sculpture carved in butter of the Beatles in Pierre Cardin All the piggies in this city know exactly who they are Some are slaughtered for another supper some work at the abattoir From charcoal to the table From black and white to a summer Friday night To an illuminated land where Sam The Record Man Is there to shake your hand every Saturday Cross-town on Bloor Honest Ed is at the door With free turkeys for the poor on the holidays Yellow ochre Yonge goes down To neon Hogtown
4.
Lily Of The 401 - lyric Long ago at the AGO Saw my very first art show The west wind nearly knocked me down Blew me straight past Harold Towne Take the Gardiner to the Don Plant bulbs till the day is done Everyone will be turned on For Lilly of the 401 Two lips I could kiss so long Tiny Tim t’would sing his song Petals on a pillowcase Frame a daydream of her face Does a happy home await your car Or are you alone in your boudoir Either way you are a muse So be amused while I play the blues Take the Gardiner to the Don Plant bulbs till the day is done Everyone will be turned on For Lilly of the 401
5.
Illustrating Man - lyric Written in his eyes sketched on his skin Permanent dyes seep deep within Read between the lines see where he's been illustrating man The never-ending tale the story of old A miracle for sale that never should be sold If intervention fails don't say that you weren't told illustrating man Whatever happened to the dream That you packed in a khaki green knapsack With some brushes and paints Now there's a noisy neighbor overhead A monkey on your back And a prayer to patron saints In Kensington skies a hard luck moon A squeegee kid tries to liberate a loon A car alarm cries a wilderness tune illustrating man Whatever happened to your idealism? Well I've got a hunch - the dream was just about pipes Now the mega city is a prison without a free lunch And you don't look good in stripes A net of telephone wires and streetcar lines Trapped and for hire in a web of compromise Follow your desire get out while your alive illustrating man
6.
Evergreen 01:54
Evergreen - lyric For every colour that That May will sing Stay evergreen Evergreen Summer Fall Winter and Every spring Stay evergreen
7.
Dangling Pine Out on the corner hand in the air Hailing a cab to take him somewhere Climb in the back and he's suddenly there From the sweet perfume It gets stronger with every breath He can remember each little death The way she looked each time he left That candle lit room Artificial saccharine scent Triggering these past events inside Dangling pine from the rear view mirror Brings her to mind he can almost see her Take a look behind she's nowhere near Dangling pine The abstract expressionist up in the sky Splashes colours of passion on leaves as they die It's there to capture and he valiantly tries Day after day One taxi driver in Algonquin Park One taxidermist looking for Noah's Ark One tax on love and it'll break your heart When it comes time to pay Can't see the forest for the insect guts Where are squeegee kids when you need their touch divine
8.
Autumn night Alchemy of cold Jack frost white Changing leaves to gold Fall is the season it all becomes clear The calling and following leading you here Echoing deeper into the interior forest The test of a man manifest on a canvas A looking glass lake with an upside down surface Dragging a brush through the mirror veneer of wilderness But the masterpiece is in doubt Now you've mastered with ease The fine art of selling out West wind blow Jack pine bow with grace Northern soul Wears a weathered face Diluting the watercolours with antifreeze Deluding yourself through chattering teeth Pretty soon you'll be so numb you won't feel anything The paradox of paradise As isolation turns to ice Nobodies there to notice the fire isn't burning And the masterpiece is in doubt Now you've mastered with ease The fine art of selling out
9.
Ultramarine 03:55
Ultramarine The blues came in an undertow Taking him down below Where he’d seen in dreams Ultramarine A drop of life a drowning wave A water womb and grave Everything between Ultramarine sound flowing through his head siren of a lake bed Singing so serene Ultramarine Till glacial tears crystallize Or disappear in a desert dry Blood of Evergreen Ultramarine
10.
Canoe Lake 03:34
Heart of the forest Soul of the land Body of water Body of a man The bottom was clear The sky was opaque They found a canoe On Canoe Lake Some say it tipped over Some say suicide Or that some jealous lover Made sure someone died He studied the light From a bed of sand And forgot to reach out For Jesus's hand
11.
Northern Shield - lyric If you're alone Don't be afraid For you're protected by The Northern Shield I stand on guard On guard for thee You will be safe behind The Northern Shield They'll tear a strip out of the wilderness And slice right through these walls of stone So every Dick and Jane can proclaim their love again In Day-Glo aerosol and the disappearing ozone What has defaced Will be erased Restore the grandeur of The Northern Shield Always be Strong free For you're protected by The Northern Shield
12.
Turpentine Wind - lyric the end begins with the turpentine wind of winter dissolving leaves of deciduous trees to vapor cleaning rag clear-cut the colours of fall drag the lake wipe out the sky till there's nothing left at all taken down the end begins with the turpentine wind of winter spirits sting nicks in the skin then enter A knife is raised to scrape away all tell tale signs A life erased the scratches and crosshatches line by line taken down down to the white gesso ground white as bone white as snow white as sound

credits

released May 19, 2011

Lyrics and music by Kurt Swinghammer
Produced by Michael Phillip Wojewoda

Kurt Swinghammer - vocals, guitars, banjo, marimba, vibraphone, omnichord, harmonicas, theramin, kalimba, vocoder, organ, discClavier.
Maury Lafoy - bass.
Mark Mariash - drums.
David Matheson - keyboards.

Fergus Hambleton - clarinet.
Ben Grossman - hurdy gurdy.
Jeff Burke - bassoon, penny whistle.
Lori Cullen - backing vocals.
Kevin O'Leary - Algonquin Park & downtown Toronto field recordings.

Recorded at Canterbury Sound - engineered by Jeremy Darby.
Engineered and mixed by Michael Phillip Wojewoda.
Mastered by Joao Carvalho.

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Kurt Swinghammer Toronto, Ontario

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