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The Last Holy Writer

by TREMBLING BLUE STARS

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  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

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  • 10" Double-LP (Black Colour Vinyl)
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1.
The bones Of every ship That ever came to grief Lie here Lie here Mystery begins Mystery begins Right here Right here They thought they were safe But they weren’t safe A watery grave A watery grave They thought that the rocks Were further away A lantern above the caves Mystery begins Mystery begins Right here Right here
2.
Idyllwild 04:09
A song on the radio Makes you shiver And want to curl into a ball Makes you want to be Seventeen And forget the future’s shrinking Life was so open then Now it’s closing in Life was wide open then Now it’s closing in One by one We’ve watched our dreams Disappearing Two girls against the world Summer nights warm and long Sleeping all day So many songs The shadow cast by long ago Puts a lump within your throat A girl whose favourite thing is snow Snow and being alone The ocean between us can’t Take away the past The ocean between us won’t Take away the past There’s a place all we shared Shines unimpaired Time flies Swift as an arrow The dagger of never trodden paths Photographs they break my heart Ambushed by the thought-”I don’t recognize her” I miss you! I miss her! Life was so open then Now it’s closing in Life was wide open then Now it’s closing in One by one We’ve watched our dreams Disappearing But the ocean between us can’t Take away the past The ocean between us won’t Take away the past There’s a place all we shared Shines unimpaired
3.
Sacred Music 04:47
Carry me away Sacred music Touch and unchain A wish to defy Gravity To slip away From the mundane Golden light From a window high A building for the longing Moved by the beauty But the need stays unattended No balm to leave you mended No balm to leave you mended Sometimes I sense a secret About to be revealed Is it just a trick of silence A slight of hand A skill? Desirous of Something more A prayer for something precious (something sacrosanct) Reaching and searching For something beyond All that I recoil from I sense a force at work Is it goodness? Is it nature? It tugs my heart Fills my thoughts And never leaves an answer And never leaves an answer
4.
A coastal road at night Leading to a Spanish Shipwreck A constellation of lights A flood of something so right So right Like stepping into a dream And is this place here when we leave? This once was an island This once was an island A pipeline under the ocean A painted angel’s kisses The wind outside the window A desert under darkness Like stepping into a dream And is this place here when we leave? This once was an island This once was an island The Snowflakes,1908 The team looks to the camera The whistle of a train Like a warm embrace Shields her, makes her feel safe. Like stepping into a dream And is this place here when we leave? This once was an island This once was an island
5.
Bone white Moonlight Pale lemon stars Adrift in The night sky My only company the past I dreamt of Such emptiness Such calm quiet order Between solitude and loneliness I’ve crossed the border She’ll never hear me say her name again Out of her arms and out I’ll stay She’ll never hear me call her name again We’ve made all the memories we’ll make I dreamt of Surrender Now I’d give anything to fight Anything To melt This eternal night Waiting for the light that won’t arrive Lonely in the coldest sky She’ll never hear me say her name again Out of her arms and out I’ll stay She’ll never hear me call her name again We’ve made all the memories we’ll make Anything to feel her warm lips Anything for just one more kiss Just one more kiss Just one more kiss
6.
Instrumental
7.
The world is beautiful and it’s waiting We’re hungry for what’s on the table Under clouds that keep on changing Hope returns and keeps returning That trace of sunshine in the winter That breeze when summer’s at its highest Part of the ride, of the adventure You and I will journey together Sharing whatever We uncover The dusk upon The Marsh The stations of the cross Rest your head on me and I’ll catch you Your head on me and I’ll catch you I’ll catch you This life that you and I are living It’s a scrapbook in the making Flick to the howl of England’s garden Save a page for November starlings Pinning down what we are feeling Is something we’ll never be awake to Love does the hiding we the seeking And there will never be a breakthrough Undefined it will stay A handful of snowflakes Trying to tell you how much and how Beyond squeezing your hand three times in a crowd Rest your head on me and I’ll catch you Your head on me and I’ll catch you I’ll catch you
8.
The days seem darker now This sense of winding down The days seem colder now This sense of slowing down When all I knew was your presence What to do with your absence When all I knew was your presence What to do? Left alone to travel on Left to grieve silently I see an open door I see an empty chair Someone’s left the room Still something tints the air I see an open door I see an empty chair Someone’s left the room Someone left too soon Left alone to travel on Left to grieve silently Maybe not today Maybe not tomorrow But where you’ve gone Someday I’ll follow There’s never time enough There’s no one who won’t leave A constant slipping away Nothing’s held in place There’s never time enough There’s no one who will stay To the past each day The future gives up space Left alone to travel on Left to grieve silently
9.
From a pale blue rosary From the presents I would leave Underneath your pillow Underneath your pillow From there to here From there to here From a pale blue rosary to here “You don’t need a reason to call” “You don’t need a reason to call” Could I have made it clearer Made it any clearer What was going on with me? How see-through must I have been? From the start you felt like home I lost that sense of being alone Through streets dark and empty You held me in a taxi How I needed to be held Needed you between me and the world I tried so hard not to give in I tried to do the right thing Whatever I was saying Maybe I was hoping We would get from there to here From a pale blue rosary to here
10.
Let her be your harbour Say goodbye to the sea Instead let love drown you It gets old being free It’s time to fall out of love With falling in love Time to stop this heart from wandering off You will never find As much as you will lose Time to keep in mind You can always choose Time for a talking to You’ve no need of a stranger The uncharted The new Open your eyes Your dreams have come true She took such a chance Here’s where you come through Show her she was right for believing in you You will never find As much as you will lose Time to keep in mind You can always choose Time for a talking to Don’t make the same mistake again You will never find As much as you will lose Time to keep in mind You can always choose Time for a talking to
11.
I knew I couldn’t stay A country town A dirt road I always had a taste For the glitter For the tinsel It’s just the way your heart beats It’s just the way your heart beats If you continue this way They’re gonna make fun of you honey For me there’s no other way No matter how many stones are thrown at me It’s just the way your heart beats It’s just the way your heart beats If you think you’ve gone too far Just keep going Just keep going If you think you’ve gone too far. When I look back I think You’ve come a long way girl. Someone once said to me “You were always yourself” The body is a canvas The body is a canvas It’s just the way your heart beats It’s just the way your heart beats
12.

about

FORMATS: 10" Double-LP / CD Digipak / Digital Album

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► Watch the Official video-clips of "November Starlings" on bit.ly/3oKbyZe
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When the TREMBLING BLUE STARS announced that they quit playing live, some fans started being afraid of losing an important part of their lives. But there was no reason. "The last holy writer" is the prove that one of the most influential bands in indie-pop is at its most creative, daring and inspired, now more concentrated than ever in writing the most beautiful pop songs you've heard for ages.

"The last holy writer" is the sixth album by TREMBLING BLUE STARS, the second one we release worldwide through Elefant Records. A big honour for a label that has been always run by fans, who have followed and admired Bobby Wratten's career since the early times when he fronted the now mythical THE FIELD MICE. On this sixth long-player, Wratten's writing climbs to its highest peaks, free of any stylistic ties and ready to explore new territories, without leaving aside his sentitive ambient-pop, evocative melodies and the eternal reference to the sound of the early 80's afterpunk.

The album opens with an avant-country experiment ("By false lights"), which marks the way to follow: this album is dark, intimate, melancholic and cloudy, but every now and then there's rays of sunshine coming in through the clouds, riding sunny melodic breezes. SLOWDIVE and THE CURE are still good references for this music, but they are too short to describe the unique sound of TREMBLING BLUE STARS, a sound that's ready to mingle melodic, sensitive pop with many electronic sounds, distorsions, noises, static and even field recordings that envelope the songs with a nostalgic halo. On one song, percussion is provided by footsteps on dry branches and shingles, and on another song a recording of dawn on the Romney Marsh provides the backdrop.

On the song "Idyllwild" they talk about a city in California (the demos for this album were recorded in Los Angeles) with a Rickenbacker sound that makes one think of psychedelic pop bands from the 80's like THE RAIN PARADE, filtered through the ambient-pop style we have learnt to love from them. Beth Arzy's crystalline voice is also specially bright in "From a pale blue rosary", a song that could have been played by MAZZY STAR or GALAXIE 500 at their most Velvet-ish moments. Because on this album there's folk, and there's electronica and 80's influences and, of course, there's the best pop music you can hear, as in that gorgeously melodic avant-country-pop gem that is "The tenth of always".

After the avant-garde, almost gothic experimentation of "Schnee gletscher glas" (a song inspired by the painting of the same title by modernist painter Bruno Taut, introduced by the voice of Daniela Neuhauser, from the band MALORY), "November starlings" feels like a ray of light, or "a trace of sunshine in the winter", as the lyrics say. However, soon the clouds appear again in all their darkness: the title on "Darker, colder, slower" says it all.

"This once was an island" or "Say goodbye to the sea" sail over programmed, glitchy rhythms, an indietronic mattress over which they lay the sweetness of a glockenspiel or the elegance of a cello (once again, they had the help of ELO's Hugh McDowell on string arrangements, as on the previous album). McDowell is also responsible of the majestic string quartet introduction to "A statue to Wilde", a tribute to Oscar Wilde, Derek Jarman and London's Theatreland where the delicacy of a music box (bought at Universal City, California) and the pounding beat of an almost martial live drum mingle without a hint of a problem. Beth's voice, one of the most evocative and beautiful you have heard from an indie-pop band, closes this wonderful album with which, we don't have a doubt about it, you will fall in love again with Bobby Wratten's music. They have hit the target again.

credits

released May 14, 2007

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