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Stars Turn Inside Out

by The Nature Strip

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1.
and they hang in the sky, little darts in the light and i soak it up like a cloth wrung dry for too long. and it’s all black and white and i love everything right now and i’m not on a thing but i feel higher than a kite you can’t ignore what’s given to you and the lights shining black on the road all looks clean and new and the air’s full of bats cos they know - are they on patrol? and the dog’s fur is wet and she sits, faithful and contrite and the stones on the ground rebound the light from satellites you can’t ignore what’s given to you in the beautiful rain and the sky’s full of light and they’ve come to end what they’ve begun no time for goodbyes, you’ll miss me now i’m gone and the earth is a ball is a pin is a dot, the stars turn inside out. you can’t ignore what’s given to you in the beautiful rain
2.
3 foot high sissy bar and a flag on the top nothing else can come close best machine on the block we light the wheels 3 foot high sissy bar we laugh at trucks we ain’t afraid of cars favourite thongs on my feet leopard skin on my seat we light the wheels we take the hills yeah yeah sissy bar 3 foot high that thing so tall it nearly touch the sky 3 speed stick on the frame watch your flares don’t get caught in the chain we light the wheels we take the hills yeah yeah we don’t care about dads and mothers whether they’ll split or stay together if they’ll laugh or if they’ll fight get drunk smash things shout all night no we don’t care about dads and mothers just go riding with our friends and brothers 3 foot high sissy bar no skin my knees lots of ankle scars Go wherever we want, thrillseekers on the hunt we light the wheels we take the hills yeah yeah
3.
Fly Through 03:10
you are to me like grass under my feet a shady place when the world turns up the heat you're my oxygen, my heroine my helium, my spine i dont know where you have to be stay a while keep me company you're the day maker the darkness melts away when you fly through fly through i'm a coward die a thousand deaths i'd do anything to keep you drawing breath it’s a wonder i don't understand as i fade leave it all behind who'll be there to hear me say goodbye more than anything i’d ask for what you sing when you fly through fly through colours flashing splashing over me crystal crashing lying here baking in the sun i can feel the process has began tell me something i'd really like to know how the earth ends who'll be first to go you’re the oracle, the miracle the way that you fly through fly through
4.
every time you talk it’s a song every time you talk it’s a song the rain and the sunshine hum along every time you talk it’s a song every time you move it’s a riot every time you move it’s a riot spirits inside you know no quiet every time you move it’s a riot everything you need is inside you people that you meet are there to guide you the truth is always there to surprise you everything you need is inside you it’s inside you every time you sleep it surrounds you every time you sleep it surrounds you you don’t even realise what’s found you every time you sleep it surrounds you everything you need is inside you it’s inside you
5.
What A Life 03:30
will you shine on the cliffs for me mirrors blazing far out to sea? while i crash from one wave to the next cry in the troughs and wave from the crests will you stay lucky for me four in my hand and one up my sleeve? when i spin the big coloured wheel cross your fingers do what you feel oh what a life even in this place i see my future written in your face will you dance the spanish for me rose in your mouth, red shoes on your feet? is that something you still want to do after all i’ve put you through? oh what a life even in this place i see my future written in your face i’m falling through seven layers of hell i’m counting friends on my way down the well will you keep searching for me? while i crash from one wave to the next the tide is fast my kitten can’t swim in the fog rolling over and over me oh what a life even in this place i see my future written in your face oh what a life living here with you do you get tired of this roller coaster too? roller coaster
6.
Worst One 03:27
please, i’m so weak i’ll take my medication on my knees these bones will creak you can’t beat the laws of physics you rock my boat, you make me seasick you were the worst one, won’t be the last one don’t take me over, don’t take me under dreams on my street i can’t rest until i find your feet swords through my words i don’t know why you’re contrary that’s not in my dictionary you were the worst one, won’t be the last one don’t take me over on and on i’m lying in your secret song like nothing’s wrong come to the freak show they do it so slow look in the window on and on i’m lying in your secret song like nothing’s wrong browsing in my library of regret i’ve a few you need to make your set i know the one you want to borrow, that one’s out, come back tomorrow you were the worst one, won’t be the last one don’t take me over, don’t take me under come to the freak show, they do it so slow don’t take me over!
7.
Hero 04:24
i’m the last man standing for the crowd blood and bodies everywhere around the emperor is weighing choices, he hears the cruellest voices drops his thumb to grind me to the ground well it’s alright, yeah it’s alright i’d gladly gladiate again for you flying back from space so deep and dark aliens and sun-storms dog my course will you want this travelled soul a thousand light years old but thanks to einstein younger than i was? well it’s alright, yeah it’s alright i named a dozen planets after you well it’s alright, yeah it’s alright i’d crash into that meteor for you my last trick is diving in this pool to fetch a statue of you way way down big shoes stop me swimming back up, my breath is leaving my lungs everyone just laughs: a drowning clown well it’s alright, it’s alright i stole the circus for you for a while well it’s alright, oh yeah it’s alright the elephants and tigers have you now
8.
Sugar Crash 02:44
i wanna go where all light penetrates i wanna go where no-one’ll set me straight no god above no saints watching over me a man and a woman pick from the apple tree you say this is holy if you would just hold me sugar crash you gamble night sweats in the day sugar crash you tremble unable to say sugar crash remember how you got your way give me a sign a stroke of the tender kind give me the kind of sweets that are hard to find i never understood what you take me for i never said that i’d knock you back for more in a new position we’re no longer wishing sugar crash you gamble night sweats in the day sugar crash you tremble unable to say sugar crash remember how you got your way in a new position come on in my kitchen sugar crash you gamble night sweats in the day sugar crash you tremble unable to say sugar crash remember how you got your way fresh batch my sugar crash flash trash my sugar fresh catch my sugar crash flash trash my sugar
9.
You look so relaxed in sleep i see you submerged so deep But what you dream about I can’t figure out We lose so much time each day sleeping our lives away and when you close your eyes I can’t supervise beginning to understand beginning to hatch a plan if i could only make make you stay awake all the time let me take you down beyond the nether this is what I mean by sleep together beyond the nether This is where we paint your face this is where we paint my face We’re together now we're together now Stay here for days on end i know you’re my special friend We both start to shake not asleep or awake This is the missing verse the one that I wrote at first Was a load of shit I wouldn’t have a bar of it Let me take you down beyond the nether This is what I mean by sleep together Beyond the nether Let me take you down beyond the nether This is what I mean by sleep together We can play this game in any weather Let me take you down beyond the nether
10.
If You Try 03:57
save me from the quicksand i can hardly feel myself i’ve got seconds left to love you could really use some help there’s a rope made of barbed wire and a life saver of thorns take your pick i’m ready can’t swim in here no more this is all my fault your kiss of life says it all so if you try to bring me round all the times i let you struggle looking on just like the crowd shames me to my very middle i’m a firm believer now when did i become an actor? when was that decision made? when did i turn out to be this villain, creep and thief? so if you try to bring me round even if i die you won’t let me down save me from the quicksand it’s up around my neck i got seconds left to love you no that’s milliseconds left i can’t see us now, no not now if you try to bring me round even if i die you won’t let me down

about

Abduction by aliens. Encounters with clowns and tigers. A game involving sleep deprivation. A library of regret. Einsteinian space/time delusions. The Nature Strip’s tunes are obviously written directly from experience. The whole thing rides - bumpily at times - on a magic carpet of guitars and vocal harmonies, synthesisers (real and virtual) and rhythms pulled from the bowels of old Casios, as well as played by human hands.

The Nature Strip began as the duo of Peter Marley and John Encarnacao, who did three albums as Warmer for W.Minc and Half a Cow (johnencarnacao.bandcamp.com). TNS is a whole new beast though - brighter, poppier, harder, faster . . . Their songwriting intersects in a rambling holiday house in Currarong, three hours south of Sydney on Australia’s east coast. Pete brings science fiction and vocal harmony hooks by the bucketful, John brings the curveballs and adult themes. They share respect for The Well Written Pop Song. Together they produce tracks that raid '70s and '80s power pop and new wave in an almost random fashion to make new pocket masterpieces of the misremembered.

Track by track:

Beautiful Rain
The album’s opener features the first reference to outer space, or aliens, with some guitars that jangle like paisley and others that tower and teeter like skyscrapers. Who knew that the portal to another dimension was a toy piano?

Three-Foot High Sissy Bar
No spaceships here - the mode of transport, and escape, is the humble dragster. The track itself stomps like a pair of Marc Bolan’s platforms, although it might be PJ Harvey wearing them. The drum sound is courtesy of the reverb of a two-story stairwell . . . and a pair of maracas standing in for drum sticks.

Fly Through
This one’s a blinding ray of galloping poptimism, though there is a verse about death . . . Highlights the Marley-E vocal blend. The Everly Brothers they may not be, but they got their own thing.

It’s Inside You
Enter the Portuguese guitar (it sounds a bit like a mandolin, but deeper) . . . and the cello for extra heaviosity. Another dose of killer jangle. The lyrics sound kinda cosmic. Light one up and let us know what you think.

What A Life
It could happen to anyone, seeing your future written in someone else’s face. As poignant as a Colin Moulding song on an old XTC record, this one ambles along on an acoustic-driven groove.

Worst One
This is the song that kicked the record off really, John helping Pete to finish a three-quarter done power pop monster. Some channelling of Big Star and Badfinger going on here.

Hero
Pete melts the stoniest of hearts, smashing through meteors, battling with tigers and giants, diving deep for the prize - all for you. With a half-broken piano and an r’n’b drum loop that rumbles like a dinosaur.

Sugar Crash
Do we have to spell this one out? ‘A man and a woman pick from the apple tree’. Quotes Robert Johnson and sounds a bit like Kiss gone punk.

Beyond The Nether
Outer space? Actually, more like the other side of consciousness, wherever that is. The closest thing to punk here, with a toxic Casio date-stamped 1980 contributing to the claustrophobia.

If You Try
A kindred soul to ‘What A Life’, this one also stares down love with a kiss of life.

credits

released May 1, 2013

Instruments and voices by Peter Marley and John Encarnacao.
Cello on 'Hero' and 'It's Inside You' by Anthea Cottee
Drums on 'What A Life', "Worst One', 'Sugar Crash', 'Beyond The Nether' and 'If You Try' by Jess Ciampa.

Recorded by Peter Marley with John Encarnacao
Basic tracks for 'What A Life', "Worst One', 'Sugar Crash', 'Beyond The Nether' and 'If You Try', and cello parts recorded at Building O by Adrian Barr.
All songs remixed by Michael Carpenter at Love Hz
Mastered by Michael Macken
John Encarnacao is published by Mushroom.

Cover art and design by Nic Dalton.

Thanks to Tobes Colvin, Hoot Gibson, Bee Levine, Zoe Carides, Tim Whitten, Paris Mason, Stephen Creswell, Jess Ciampa, Nic Dalton, Mick D, and MC.

naturestripband.com.au

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China Pig Records Sydney, Australia

Sydney, Australia label home to some colourful local identities. Lo-fi, power pop and the odd singer-songwriter.

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