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TOTONOKO

by TOTONOKO

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1.
Zebediah 04:34
With Eureka caught up in your arms Nothing calling you on Quick, to the water This boat is to sink not a trace to be seen On the highlands invisible hand there's an orchard (invisible hand) with good harvest (invisible hand) all through winter Aisles of great, wide yonder When you wake up gathering thoughts with your cornering wings caught in the hinges covered in dust take yourself to the sun On the highlands Invisible hand there's an orchard (invisible hand) with good harvest (invisible hand) all through winter Aisles of great, wide yonder A fine boy, with fine eyes Oh, Zebediah Don't lose faith You're given enough people to follow you home You're given enough people to follow you home You're given enough good people to follow you home
2.
Overgrown 03:42
Overgrown trees and branches hope that I can find you with open arms coming back home Cut 'em down Giants shake the ground Tell me, is the fire burning worth tomorrow I'm coming back home When you come down You come down Come down down Drink it up from an empty drum All the doors are paper all the walls invisible I'm coming back home So long, great arnica Who will keep your brothers gathered up together? I'm coming back home When you come down You come down Come down Down Down to the rails Down to the noise we make Down to the rails Down to the noise we make Down to the rail Down to the noise we make
3.
She takes time slipping off her dress She keeps unopened letters for me She keeps an open bed No-one stays up and nobody is at the door The poster of the writer watches but doesn't know what for Mulberry hurricane coming round the bend knocks me off my feet again moving upwards, towards a marking in the sky An atom meets an atom A body meets the mud A thought becomes a pattern A man needs another one She takes care crossing Sunday highways She climbs the crooked tiling, bare feet folding on the rafters Without caution With no ground to kneel upon an offering to sparrows earns her a blue egg for blue yarn Mulberry hurricane coming round the bend knocks me off my feet again moving upwards, towards a marking in the sky How do I know you? I can barely tell Motion in a photograph waving from St. Peter's hill Far from her, she travels Far from her, she travels Far from her, she travels Mulberry hurricane coming round the bend knocks me off my feet again moving upwards, towards a marking in the sky In a dream I saw you palms cracked like a shell inside a map of origins your features etched into the silk Mulberry Hurricane coming round the bend knocks me off my feet again moving upwards, towards a marking in the sky
4.
Old Mexico 05:32
For five or six miles we held our breath we were four guys trying to get somewhere a mile or two more good sound to our ears of that little engine to the piny covered mountain Get out on top! You can see old Mexico Get out on top! You can see old Mexico You be a bug man gone wandering with a lost voice with enough to buy your summer Get out on top! You can see old Mexico Get out on top! You can see old Mexico
5.
I saw the crack of the capitol dome the crashing swallows oh, how they were quiet and you You were there in the crowd all of the lights floating up they're cheating innocence Somewhere, wide eyed I'll be your wake up, kind water And we were bare as the bodies of birds all falling down in that curtain We were giants and you You were right all along: Nobody's not on the run They're chasing innocence Somewhere, wide eyed I'll be your wake up, kind water I turned away and it was brighter I turned away and it was brighter I turned away and it was brighter I turned away and it was brighter The wind will rise as we try to reach out and it'll ring every tower 'til the sound bring you back to where you began where all the good thing belong I'm choosing innocence Somewhere, wide eyed I'll be your wake up, kind water
6.
Rest your legs on my pillow your head in birdsong Your room is so nice What will you put on the shelves? Just a picture of my dog a pendulum beside the clock but is wanting to love to love? Come back Come back again In your story you've been gone through the pines, through the pines like a ghost hoping to find just a body, anybody and all the words you have within shaking, waiting to come in but is wanting to love to love? Come back Come back again

about

These songs were recorded over the space of a few summer and winter months in Silverlake, Los Angeles, by Oakland-based duo TOTONOKO and engineer/co-producer Daniel Wright. This was a period of time characterized by long drives, great attention to birdsong, various nights spent on various floors and various bright mornings thereafter, and a good amount of laughter. What resulted is traveling music, bird music, night music, new music, joyful music.
Deeply informed by the inhertance of a world made increasingly smaller (Mateo Lugo was born in Venezuela and Nika Aila States spent her childhood in Germany) and by a shared love of both traditional and non-traditional music forms, the duo cites a heady range of influences, from Neil Young and Nina Simone to Radiohead and Sigur Ros, all the way over to Iannis Xenakis and John Cage. Armed also with a profound appreciation for the words of Woody Guthrie, Octavio Paz, and Marcel Proust, with an eye to the brilliant spectacle of everyday life, the pair have written and performed a collection of music that is as rich lyrically as it is sonically. Enduring harmonies are backed by strong guitars and a host of vivid sounds collected from the studio and from the streets. Present here are not just two strong voices, but also the intermittent hiss of a tape-recorder, the chatter both of Venice Beach and Silverlake birds, the hard work of roofers in the canyon, and childhood encounters with the ocean.
In a thoughtful but sweeping debut, TOTONOKO have excavated a striking landscape populated by cherished ghosts, curious dreams, and the promise both of rich toil and well-earned warmth. A simple folk song asks a difficult question, and a stranger tune boils down just to this: the noise we make.

credits

released August 16, 2014

WORDS AND MUSIC by TOTONOKO, except Mulberry Hurricane (TOTONOKO & Daniel Wright).
PERFORMED by TOTONOKO, Daniel Wright, the sea and the sounds of Los Angeles, and Rudi Schmidt (Charango) and Clinton Patterson (Trumpet) on OLD MEXICO, and Michael Calabrese (Drums) on WAKE UP, KIND WATER.
CO-PRODUCED by TOTONOKO and Daniel Wright.
ENGINEERED by Daniel Wright.
MASTERED by Manuel Jimenez (Arimaka).

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TOTONOKO Oakland, California

TOTONOKO is the partnership of Mateo Lugo and Nika Aila States. Drawing on international and interdisciplinary influences (Venezuelan-born Lugo is heavily involved in dance and German-raised States splits her time between music and photography), their sounds are about hope regained, underwater currents, and the search for home ... more

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