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Lost World

by Django Haskins

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1.
Man In Sea 03:25
MAN IN SEA Man in sea I’ve always been Feel the ocean pushing in My father flew and so I dove Where his shadow could not go And I will rise below They cannot find me here Coming up just for air I will not be the first child to disappear Man in sea A cold embrace Looking for my father’s face Thumping heartbeat in my ear Is the only sound I hearfa And I will rise below They cannot find me here Coming up just for air I will not be the first child to disappear Man in sea
2.
THE WOODPECKER I beat my head against the gates of the city Like a woodpecker with a grudge I didn’t know that it was standing empty A casualty of the flood Having sold all my possessions to get here I was loathe to turn away So I kept it up an hour or so and then went looking for a place to stay Same dream Same dreamer In a different world There’s many a slip between cup and lip And sometimes there’s no cup at all Dear reader, I would start my letters Then I’d rhyme what I had to say Now I stuff paper into empty bottles and watch as they float away Like a record of Johnny B. Goode Sent to echo forever in space We go searching for an innocent ear In the universe’s empty face Same dream Same dreamer In a different world There’s many a slip between cup and lip And sometimes there’s no cup at all
3.
Lost World 03:07
LOST WORLD This used to be a deli something else before Lost world This wall contains kisses and curses and more Lost world Now it’s just another damn candle store Your promise was a promise until it expired Lost world The cabin that we dreamed was destroyed by fire Lost world Singing campfire songs in a ghostly choir I remember only colors There was so much green I was younger than I thought that I would ever be Each successive autumn proved I never should have followed you] Everyone’s carrying a different map to their lost world You used to have a sled I had an orange cat Lost world Lost world
4.
CHASING MORNING LIGHT When you wake up from a dream And the light creeps round the curtains Check the clock just to be certain That you didn’t miss your flight Coffee still too hot to drink Helen says it’s time for boarding Pat your pocket to be sure and Shuffle down the center aisle Above the hours There’s only sun Chasing morning light When you step out to the street Morning traffic takes no notice Minor horns and burning coal this Is a strange eternal day Steaming soy milk in a bowl What is in this bun you’re eating Introductions all repeating In a ever-winding braid Beyond the hours Await the sun Chasing morning light
5.
I DREAM OF CITIES Guess I’ve always had a head for figures Even when they weren’t so good for me But you know lately I’ve been running circles Tracing over a certain memory I was alone No you were there It might have been Milan Someone cried, maybe me And then the sun was gone Every time I try to follow further There’s an alley or a traffic jam Someone hands me a ticket to the opera But I’m never dressed for la Boheme I was alone But felt you there It might have been Berlin In ruined houses crumbling And then we start again I’m underwater but my phone keeps ringing Clouds are puzzle pieces in the air Hearing snatches of a conversation Paraphrasing the book of common prayer I was alone You’d left for good It might have been New York I didn’t recognize my neighborhood They’d paved over the park
6.
KING OF HEARTS Drawing hearts on Hester Street Blue and yellow, white, green Take one home beneath your shoe I left it there to comfort you But as soon as I make them they all start to fade Still I will circle these sidewalks of gray Link them together like chain mail and then Say amen Drawing hearts on Hester Street Beside the benches where I sleep Grinding gears and siren songs Shake my slumber and drive me on Up over the river where all is serene Calling me calling me As in a dream I see my mother she’s already somewhere down there
7.
FROM AN AIRPLANE New blue of discovered sky Where the hemlock gave way Leaves a silver spider trailing white Non-stop to JFK But from an airplane I can see it all Every patchwork step and half-blind fall From an airplane You say there is nothing good In wishing storms away But when it is fight or flight The fighter holds sway From an airplane I control the seas Through a window in economy From an airplane I see Amelia All leather and elan Eyes wide as prairie skies Through clouded curtains she is gone From an airplane We can greet the sun Not beholden now to anyone From an airplane
8.
WILL THERE BE TIME I’m sorry to wake you it’s early I know it is But I haven’t slept much at all That story we heard all about the late architect And his grieving wife well it stuck with me What if I disappear What if I leave you here With all the unfinished plans Will I have left enough of me behind Will there be time Will there be time I never imagined that going to Disney World Required a masters degree Or spending a year living somewhere in Portugal There’s still so much of the world to see It’s not like we’re sitting around doing nothing We’re making a beautiful life I almost cry when I look at our children They never understand why What if I disappear What if I leave you here With all the unfinished plans Will I have left enough of me behind Will there be time Will there be time What if you disappear What if you leave me here With all the unfinished plans Will you have left enough of you behind Will there be time Will there be time

about

“Lost World” is Django’s first collection of piano songs and his fourteenth record. He recorded alone at his Chapel Hill studio, Calvander Sound, bringing in old friend Matt Douglas (Mountain Goats) to add sax on one song, and doing some post-production with the dB’s Chris Stamey. Since the onset of the pandemic he has been writing a song a week as a way of continuing to develop creatively in the face of a complete shutdown of live performances. Even as the world is partially reopened, he’s kept up the practice, currently up to 115 new songs, and from these he selected a coherent group of eight piano songs to form LOST WORLD. The mood is dreamlike, ethereal, and melancholy, a reflection of that difficult period of time. Touchstones included the minimalist work of Erik Satie, the dark theatricality of Kurt Weill, Bill Evans’ harmonic painting, and Sinatra’s thematic albums of the Fifties. It is a record you can put on and sink into like a hot spring, watching the steam rise as you begin to float.

Mortality and loss figure heavily in the lyrics, from “Lost World,” which explores the ways that we hold on to our own idealized personal golden ages, to “The Woodpecker,” in which a seeker arrives at their dream city only to find it long abandoned; to “I Dream of Cities,” where the singer “didn’t recognize my neighborhood/they’ve paved over the park.” In fact, the obituary pages provided inspiration for several songs, including “King of Hearts,” the story of a troubled street artist in downtown NYC; “Man in Sea,” a first-person tale of Charles Lindbergh’s surviving son who became a deep sea diver; and “Will There Be Time,” a meditation sparked by the story of late North Carolina architect Phil Freelon and his surviving family. And yet, there is an enveloping comfort in the melodies and soundscapes that balances the dark themes.

credits

released July 28, 2023

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Django Haskins Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Solo project of Django Haskins (The Old Ceremony, Au Pair, International Orange, Django & the Regulars).

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