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Dust Diner EP

by Levon Henry

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1.
[preamble] 01:20
2.
Lullaby 04:21
why i see wolves when i think of the ocean oh why i gather fever from the street when it’s oh so lonely and plenty’s out there too turned on the kettle and down went the pilot i wouldn’t believe you that he’d lived lying in the backyard the sky is resting now sometimes sleep takes a fucked up lullaby, lullaby i’ll stay in bed until i can remember just who i let in last night they’re out in the front room i’ll wash up on the rocks all my old flannels and tack dioramas long gone traded for some buzzard’s talk know I’ll never lose for I can’t chase them off i'm loving my failures because they'll keep me company loving whatever will keep me company how are you keeping the morning so hungry today sometimes sleep takes a fucked up lullaby, lullaby
3.
Canine Teeth 03:20
where did you go with my canine teeth my longest rope, my early belief i gave them to you to give back to me fool that i was to give to receive i stay in the truck and swallow the nails as the timberline thins I fill up the pails with runoff tobacco and the blood I don’t need fool I was to kiss just to be kissed she’s still in the car, back at the filling station and I’m halfway to canada without insulation i feel badly she likely won’t get the car started now she'll run the heater too waiting for me to come out fool that I’ve been to speak just to breathe and a fool she is for being so easily deceived and shame on me for letting her believe that I just stopped in to use the facilities and a fool she is, she oughta know it’d be just like me to slip off like that, without a word about it and a fool I am for letting her believe i was above any of those easier methods where did you go with my canine teeth the final condition of my early beliefs so the fool I am, to give to receive nearly to canada in my shirt sleeves
4.
Snake Oil 03:02
to produce flame tall and clean in passing it licks back, the faster forward on the filthy banks a bottle of snake oil you’ll take it any way it comes you’ve got an empty bucket you found a rusty nail i disappear behind whatever it is you need from me whatever it says on the front of the label let it be all things of which you think me able to produce flame calm and sure when leaving keep it from the open window on the filthy banks a can of turpentine still holds the same currency you’ve got an empty bucket you found a tarnished dime i disappear behind whatever it is you got from me whatever you read on the back of the can i’ll let it be all you ever think i am
5.
they’re lining up in every season just to be on national television put up roadblocks to let it through town till then to wonder how to get around and pouring out the rest of the aluminum cast the metal gone cold so quick i forgot to even ask was the motel too quiet or your pulse too fast to want to stay a while? as the light falls on the concrete terrain and i watch another steal back in its wake the letters you send i open quite late for them to take me anywhere and the envy of each connected star is for the ones who get pulled out of the jar and handled in pockets and sweaty palms and likely rubbed out but still seen on their own well scapegoats you know i’ve got plenty of them and now the looks i get are just empty gloves dear and i resign to have been one of them to secretly exist well maybe it’s better, that you left anyway i get the feeling for being small like a car in the night
6.
with new spectacles he said “don’t you ever try to breathe with the same breath that you use to grieve" too many times in the mornings i spend waking just to clean out the den from last night’s party get the grease out of the tub, take out of the trash, recycle the bottles sylvie was there i know you heard it, and you believed it too ain’t it just like that old fire bell says it’s rightly the end, but first a story to tell keep busy while you’re waiting for what’s new why there’s plenty of the old stuff still to sell to the neighbor’s kids they’ll take anything, a bit like her and a bit like you well i told them sylvie was no longer my friend but still kept mother’s kerchief around her neck it was a hand-me-down from my mother to her it is a signal that will play out later on is it already time to call in the cows i’ve seen a few friends, took the christmas lights now just barely finished clearing the porch in time to sit down and find my place in this book the protagonist is seasick but he gets along well with the captain god i hope he gets the girl you’ll never guess what happened the night before i was in the kitchen prying ice from the tray and everyone sitting around with nothing to say to each other, just silent expecting the door to open, one more time well i don’t know who invited her it is evidence of spring when the wood it creaks and the door doesn’t fit like it fit before the warm weather expects to be invited inside and who wouldn’t with such lovely eyes it’s bandit season everyone’s passed out at 4am in the front yard and the kitchen door is wide open sylvie walks in looking much the same while i’m trying to master the gin and tonic i didn’t notice the hand on my shoulder just like i missed that three-foot-boulder last thanksgiving wrecked the ford and hard a bird delivered, for myself, to the auto yard she says to me: you’re looking very well i say back to her: well how can you tell she says: at least better than at the beach you were all burned up by the time we reached the hotel i knew i might as well, she said, leave you then when they messed up our reservation and gave us a single bed i said that’s weak symbolism... when it’s self-fulfilling i’m so glad that she had a good time i’m especially glad she enjoyed the wine even gladder than that, that she’s also well and gladder still that she’s got a new friend i’d say thanks for not bringing him though seeing her and blue and twinkletoes and t-bone and j-bird all asleep out front i knew i’d already been robbed long ago, there was no need for the door guard i remember the first time she came into town she tripped on the curb stepping out of the car only used one hand to break her fall the other stayed covering the lines about her neck she’d had some trouble early on, much before our time i fit the bill for a while anyway that’s all any of us can really hope for no matter the differences of circumstance you get to keep what you can grab and hold on your way out while steady goin you get to keep what you can grab and hold on your way out while steady join you get to keep what you can grab and hold on your way out while steady going bury me later with a raincoat on i might need it, i might need it you can bury me later with a raincoat on i’m gonna need it, i’m gonna need it
7.
Dust Diner 06:59
i identify with this man he has shaved this morning think i’ve seen him before he palms along the vinyl booth and then sips his coffee with both hands outright he’s got that kinda look like you’ll never know which way he’s gonna go like he bowls with his left but shakes with his right ain’t one stretch of straight track in this country always some kinda weather to tire the boys out is he here to tell me something true or he's just some final eagle out along the land or just, making sure he ain’t the only damned one in a booth without a plan the neon shines outside and the cool air drifts in it is an un-brokered exchange he palms along the vinyl booth again for the moisture between unrelated on the same stage and looking straight this way maybe he waited for me to show my flake maybe watched what i took to decide what to take when he’s left the loose change and rising leaves his cigarettes on the table, nods ’your move’ sister, i’ll not call you anymore but it’s, too far back to walk to close the door still i play all the better tapes the ones from days you really gave walking quickly now and the manager is flossing in the back i walk out along the mud-darkened dawn-shadowed land though it has not yet begun to ring there is dust at the diner too much dust at the diner

about

Dust Diner is the singing & songwriting debut of American musician Levon Henry, also known for his career as a woodwind multi-instrumenalist. This is his first release as a leader since the instrumental effort Music for Trains of 2013.

[dust diner as in: to dine on dust, as in: the dust not the shelf, as in: to ruminate on the alterations of nostalgia more than the actual events, as in: to discard the body but keep the flake, as in: i can't enjoy this meal because of everything else that happened in these four walls, as in: there is too much association going on, as in: too much dust at the diner, as in: that guy is making weird faces at me]

credits

released March 10, 2015

Levon Henry: Vocals & Acoustic Guitar (+ electric bass, track 3. additional keyboards and guitars, track 6.)
Dominic Mekky: Keyboards & Electronics
Tom Csatari: Electric Guitar & Effects

All songs by Levon Henry © 2015.
levonhenry.com

1, 2, 3, 5, & 7 recorded by Levon Henry at Le Petit Abri in Lyme, New Hampshire.
4 & 6 recorded by Levon Henry at the Garfield House in South Pasadena, CA.

Mixed by Mike Odmark.
Mastered by Julian Cubillos.

Artwork by Vaughan Ray.

Released by Tiny Montgomery, TM04
tinymontgomery.net

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all rights reserved

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about

Levon Henry New York, New York

saxophonist/multi-instrumentalist and songwriter from Los Angeles, now living in New York City. In addition to recording and performing his own music, Levon works as a saxophonist+ for the ~likes of others.

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