1. |
My Thousand Eyes
02:25
|
|||
|
All my thousand eyes, my thousand eyes are blinking
You said “everything don’t have to end just yet”
We are real or are pretending to be real now
Maybe real’s pretend
All my thousand eyes are searching for a reason
To douse the crops in gasoline with all my friends
Watch the dry creek bed devour up the ocean
Rust it red
New preoccupations
A view so far it gives me pause
New interpretations
As the gods descend on us
All my thousand eyes, my thousand eyes are blinking
There’s a neverending hum beneath the night
Leave a dollar for the tip, collect your things now
Turn out the light
New preoccupations as the gods descend
|
||||
2. |
Hyacinth
03:39
|
|||
|
Chrysalis, breaking out of it
Hyacinth, bloom and burn and burial
I have been vacant and unyielding
In pursuit of the anticlimactic
Callousness, let it in again
Sycophant, stained like rusted heaven hands
Holy man, vacant and unyielding
In pursuit of the rapture divided
But I don't feel like myself anymore
Viciousness, feeling it again
Faceless man, new age existential dread
I have been clenching fists and trembling
I don't know you and don't think I ever did
But I don't feel like myself anymore
Chrysalis, breaking out of it
Hyacinth, bloom and burn and burial
I have been vacant and unyielding
In pursuit of the anticlimactic
Viciousness, feeling it again
Faceless man, new age existential dread
I have been clenching fists and trembling
I don't know you and don't think I ever did
But I don't feel like myself anymore
|
||||
3. |
||||
|
Stoke the remedy
Incandescent streets
Is this a wedding or a funeral? I can’t tell by the attire
Hunting for a beat
Like Serengeti beasts
I was listening to Dirty Projectors in a Volvo by the freeway funeral pyre
I think I’d like to know you
You have been turning phrases around
there is a light in this room
Somebody turn the neon down
Floating idly by
Haze and highway signs
Are we blending in my darling, under the noise of Victoria line?
Never seemed to mind
Such a smooth rider
I was listening to Murkage Dave envisioning a situation when I wouldn’t walk on a wire
I think I’d like to know you
You have been turning phrases around
Embrace the colorglut now
Are we blending in now darling?
Never seem to mind
Listening to Dirty Projectors
By the freeway funeral pyre
|
||||
4. |
Nocturnalia
03:51
|
|||
|
I could hear the waves exploding
On the concrete with the churn of the tides
Nocturnalia in Charleston
We’ve been walking in a circle all night
Looking towards the glowing southern horizon
It rises as quick as it falls
I was always peeling open my eyelids
And driving as quick as you’d call
But you were always on the other side of bulletproof glass from all that
Trying to see clearly
Reach across the social distance
To versions of ourselves were cannot ignore
Sometimes I can still smell that apartment
And remember when you paused in the door
Looking towards the glowing southern horizon
Alight with all the factories and smog
Saw you silhouetted in ultraviolet
Alive with every graze of the palm
But you were always on the other side of bulletproof glass from all that
Trying to see clearly
And I was always on the other side of bulletproof glass from all that
Trying to see clearly
|
||||
5. |
Ohio
05:38
|
|||
|
Turn left up the street
Stumble off the train platform, I saw you shivering
Hanging out the window in the Lincoln Tunnel
Drag your knuckles across the tiles
I remember when you became more than just the sum of all your parts
Angel trumpets in the dark
But there are many things I wish I could remember
I remember playing your favorite song
Hoping you’d hum along
The rattle of the radio rumbles loud
Take a sip and drown it out
Crumpled pile of cans by the creek, a gravesite marks the night
Here lies older empires collapsed in a heap and prose too plain to write
I remember driving down broken roads
Your peeling skin exposed
AC broken, saw you sweating through your clothes
There’s places only we can go
But you were always watching from one side of mirrored glass
Think fast like cigarettes out of highway windows, galaxies collapse
So much closer to where I started than where I thought I’d be
You bring the smile, I’ll bring the teeth
Devour me
When did we become so halfhearted? A concrete field of reeds
You bring the smile, I’ll bring the teeth
Devour me
I remember you in an August way
Chiaroscuro haze
Saw you watching summer evaporate
Simple like the words you say
Wash the rust from your hands by the creek, a gravesite marks the night
Here lies colder embers than I’ve ever seen and prose too plain to write
So much closer to where I started than where I thought I’d be
You bring the smile, I’ll bring the teeth
Devour me
|
||||
6. |
Peeling Open My Eyelids
01:28
|
|||
|
Looking towards the glowing southern horizon
It rises as quick as it falls
I was always peeling open my eyelids
And driving as quick as you’d call
Looking towards the glowing southern horizon
Alight with all the factories and smog
Saw you silhouetted in ultraviolet
Alive with every graze of the palm
|
||||
7. |
||||
|
Don’t talk to me like I am a fool
There are things that I wouldn’t say to you
Montana, where have they taken you?
Bright blue fishbowl eyes, they see multitudes
And when I think of death, I think of you
You resonate like a catchy tune
Distant echoes now of what we might yet do
Montana, no requiem for you
I return somehow, all of time sliced through
And when I think of life, I think of you
And when I think of love, I snap clean in two
When you see me, will you know me?
I think I’ll know you
And when I think of death, I think of you
And when I think of love, I snap clean in two
|
||||
8. |
||||
|
Strange interactions in the night
Strange interactions in the night
I walk along the devil’s spine (as I rise)
Atop the plateau of a vaguely restless mind
Might need a greater length of time
Between the comedown and the high
Always assumed I would be wise (by this time)
Now there’s a version of me I don’t recognize
You turn to ask “are you alright?”
If I hold my breath as long as I might
Let my lips turn blue as I look on the bright side
Maybe I will rise to the fight
Maybe I’m sleeping on the couch tonight
Can’t find a place to place the blame
This mega city has gone practically insane
The siren’s shine lights bleak terrain (as I lie)
Sleep so near waking that it’s hardly worth the name
We tried to drink the fire down (good faith aside)
Numb out the chaos that surrounds this hallowed lounge (we toe new lines)
Under the overpass we found (newer vice)
Evidence of exodus and needles on the ground
If I hold my breath as long as I might
Let my lips turn blue as I look on the bright side
Maybe I will rise to the fight
Maybe I’m sleeping on the couch tonight
If I hold my breath as long as you say
Paint your lips bright red as your pray for a good day
Maybe we can find newer veins
Maybe solutions don’t all mean the same thing
Might need a greater length of time (good faith aside)
Between the comedown and the latest high (we toe new lines)
We climbed the tower, we swung from heights (as I rise)
In resurrection I’ll stay dry, strange interactions in the night
These streets they hardly look the same (this tired game)
Sometimes I think I am to blame for all the change (echoes your name)
These pangs of love are drunk and strange (break my stride)
You turn to ask “are you alright?”, strange interactions in the night
You turn to ask “are you alright?”
|
||||
9. |
Useful Machine
04:45
|
|||
|
Perched atop the shoulders of a stepfather
Frozen rocks floating in a glass of pink lemonade
Ominous, I think the writing’s in the room
I give up on understanding anything
And I watched him grow wings
And tear apart the fabric and the scenery between
He ached to be a useful machine
He ached to be a useful machine
Do you know what I mean?
Button up, it’s time to put your blazers on
Glamorous, it sizzles like the pavement on bare feet
Hit me up whenever you are back in town again
Cause he gave up on believing in anything, yeah yeah
And I watched him grow wings
And tear apart the fabric and the scenery between
He ached to be a useful machine
He ached to be a useful machine
Do you know what I mean?
And I heard a heathen sing
And dance upon the balconies of palaces unseen
He ached to be a useful machine
He ached to be a useful machine
Do you know what I mean?
|
||||
10. |
Harsh Light
03:19
|
|||
|
I was right to call
You could be halfway to me by now
You were there through it all
Belfast summer
You became a blur
Gracefully skip across the Catholic line
But you were there through it all
Call if you want to
At least I can say that I tried
You smiled and brushed me to the side
I’ve known you forever
Failing to fuel up on the fire
At least we can say we were here
You smiled and pretended to care
I’ve known you forever
Never held up under the glare of harsh light
Whiskey and cut grass
I was right to ask about things
Clotheslines like knives
Cut right through me
Nights we never had
Small decisions, the simplest things
Did you turn and look back?
Call if you want to
At least I can say that I tried
You smiled as the minutes divide
I’ve known you forever
Never stopped to consider why
At least we can say we were here
Your smile never quite disappeared
I’ve known you forever
Ecstasy and crippling fear and harsh light
|
||||
11. |
Monoculture
05:17
|
|||
|
I saw monoculture in the flick of your finger on a white lighter
New preoccupations as the gods descend on us
Take a second job, eliminate the noise, it seems hardwired
But I’m finally free to welcome in the rust
I saw monoculture in the lick of red lips and the yellow bile
The towering peaks align the sides of uncanny valleys I’m sure
They said religious ecstasy is when a short comes with your drink
Are you just wandering or free? Do you mean anything to me?
They said the living is the thrill until the pressure cooker spills
Are you just hunting for the kill or are you listening?
But I’m finally free to welcome in the rust
I’m finally free to let go of us
I’m finally free to let go
|
||||
Caracara Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
"new preoccupations" - our new album, available everywhere 3/25/22 on memory music.
•
tour in march with string machine.
•
love y'all, <3.
If you like Caracara, you may also like:
Live Forever
by Bartees Strange
supported by 79 fans who also own “New Preoccupations”
There's some music for all people on this record, and also, all music for some people.
go to album
supported by 60 fans who also own “New Preoccupations”
this album is one of my favourites records of 2022.
go to album
supported by 59 fans who also own “New Preoccupations”
I got to listen to some of these songs live during Origami Angel's tour in 2022, which was a really cool experience. I loved them enough to buy a CD!!!
go to album
Death is Nothing to Us
by Fiddlehead
Boston band featuring members of Have Heart and Basement take their earnest, motivational post-hardcore to thrilling new heights.
go to album
Springtime and Blind
by Fiddlehead
Melodic post-hardcore from the label that brought us Modern Baseball.
go to album
Elastic Australian post-punk with a heavy, and welcome, Dischord influence.
go to album
supported by 58 fans who also own “New Preoccupations”
Up there with Joe's best -- it feels like it pulls from every record he's done before while still being completely distinct from any Cymbals record in the way it combines the psychedelia and accessibility with some of the lushest, most ornately arranged music I've heard. Plus the guitars still rock, the solos fucking slap, and the ballads somehow slap just as hard. The narrative based lyrics also hit a sweet spot in Joe's lyricism -- direct but inventive, descriptive and endlessly compelling.
go to album
