Get all 8 Arms of Kismet releases available on Bandcamp and save 30%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of My Projection of You (single), Potter's Field (single), Dreamland (single), Ballast and Bromides, The Helium Age, Play for Affection, Cutting Room Rug, and Eponymous.
1. |
Angels in the Snow
02:59
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specks of dust
floating in space
flecks of rust
that occupy a place
grains of sand
upon the beach
pains and plans
a beating heart in each
with the blanket on the ground
where nothing new could grow
we made angels in the snow
shards of glass
upon the street
hard overpass
beneath their tiny feet
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2. |
Careless World
03:58
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writing at the Broke Cafe
imagining I had some cash
sipping gin & tonics and
eating bangers & mash
bouncer bounced right up to me
as if he had something to say
‘who do you think you are?’
I said, ‘Ernest Hemingway’
it’s a world without care
a bus that charges no fare
so I grabbed a taxicab
and ditched it at the Square Kenmore
a guy was sitting on a stool
checking IDs at the door
he flipped out a flashlight and
as I turned my back
he said, ‘this ain’t your picture,
Mr. Kerouac’
then I was pulling a rickshaw down
the median of Mass Ave
and it looked suspicious, boy
it’s not something I would normally have
a cop pulled me over
and said, ‘when you turn, you blink’
I said, ‘I’m the Dalai Lama
and I get free drinks’
get control of the bus
don’t worry, girl
it’s a careless world
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3. |
Carnival by the Sea
04:16
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je suis un artiste
vous êtes un objet d’art
holding hands on the boardwalk
funnel cakes from a cart
I shotgun a beer
I want to dive off the pier
at the carnival
I am mischievous
my complaints are few
‘cause Coney Island
looks a lot like you
I tremble and twitch
I want to jump off the bridge
at the carnival by the sea
in the haunted mansion
live the ghosts of Luna Park
the calliope fills the dark
playing ‘That Old Gang of Mine’
I can hear that lonesome part
in this dead amusement park
I can’t forget that old quartet
I’m gonna jump off the bridge
the furious Cyclone braves another day
so the thrill of living never goes away
and I’m dreaming of a lost, idyllic sway
on the Ferris wheel out by the bay
idling in my father’s car
at some decaying dead end
and I’m lost in time again
it’s eerily familiar, like a place I’ve always been
with my friends
I can’t forget
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4. |
Greyhound
03:17
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I took the Greyhound bus to our hometown
Main Street was boarded up and broken down
our old friends were hiding in their homes
from the truck that comes on Sundays
to collect their bones
I found that oak tree in the park
our initials carved upon the bark
I took the Greyhound just to get a look
and saw the dawn patrol of the Sunday truck
the lots of sand and dirt were overgrown
by the vines of faded glories
covering their bones
I found that oak tree in the park
our initials wrapped inside a heart
I found that oak tree in the park
our initials carved upon the bark
I saw that oak tree in the dark
our initials wrapped inside a heart
I took the overnight Greyhound
fleet of foot across the ground
I rode the overnight Greyhound
on the road to our hometown
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5. |
Belly Up
04:11
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in your survival you astound
living unforgiven
in a casket in the ground
and I’m considering
that I might take my leave
at the risk of offending the bereaved
in your insouciance you impress
swaying and sashaying
in a long, black funeral dress
and I’m considering
an act you can’t police
at the risk of awaking the deceased
sad songs play on the lost airwaves
static in your gloom
belly up to the bar
there’s room
in your redemption you regale
scornful mourners
with phantasmagorical tales
and I’m considering
escaping to the coast
at the risk of insulting my good hosts
sad songs play on the lost highways
static in your tomb
belly up to the barmaid
there’s room
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6. |
The Condor
04:34
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I am the condor
over canyons and peaks
bird’s eye on the dead and dying
and their hide and seek
I am the scavenger
with a taste for you
wild jungle on a winged ride
late supper on the mountainside
I am the writer
of your chapter and verse
reveries on a cold dark flight
and a fate far worse
I am the painter
of a picture of you
bright colors in a blessed book
high flying on the overlook
hey
I was lost and hungry
soaring over the fields
flew into a long tirade
I can’t change the way I’m made
when I caught the currents
you never let me down
saw you standing there all aglow
before you came unglued
when I spied your footprints
and your forked tongue
saw you standing there, soul amiss
at the edge of the abyss
I am the condor
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7. |
On the Tracks
03:30
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lying out
on the grass
waiting in the shadows
for the train to pass
nodding out
in the glow
forgetting everything
we used to know
shine to fade in the dusk
ride the rails and the rust
dying out
in the dark
forgetting everything
but the spark
fade to black in the dusk
ride the rails and the rust
you said
love is lunacy
and passion for a paramour
is fleeting fantasy
même si nous vivons pour l’amour
take these words and lay them on the tracks
you said
love is fallacy
and not the answer anymore
a sweet apostasy
même si nous vivons pour l’amour
take these words and nail them to the tracks
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8. |
Forever
04:06
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I see the clock on the wall
suspended in time
and unaware
I’ve got these tix at will-call
and as I rise up the stairs
to the balcony
I taste the rarefied air
forever is a long, long time
I’m down this big rabbit hole
and I don’t know where it goes
so I'm following
what my compass shows
it’s relative, I know
and it does not help to think
and so I’m wandering
I can’t wait forever
forever is a long, long time
forever is a long, long time
and they say that heaven
it has a line
forever is a long, long time
forever is a long, long time
forever leaves you stone cold blind
if you dream of heaven
then get in line
what else can you do now
forever is a long, long time
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9. |
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Zelda, it was hell in the spring
but I’d have done anything to save you
Zelda, won’t you tell me something
something new
Zelda, we were lost in a dream
and we’d have done anything to stop time
Zelda, won’t you tell me something
something true
and I don’t mean to be unkind
it’s just the empire of my mind
hearing Daisy Buchanan
in her hat and her coat
talking, ‘F. Scott and everything he wrote’
Zelda, we attained all those dreams
but we lost everything to hard time
Zelda, won’t you give me something
something back
hearing Daisy Buchanan
in her silk velvet coat
talking, ‘F. Scott and everything he wrote’
father of Roth and Mailer and Pynchon
F. Scott Fitzgerald and the horse he rode in on
the pursued and the pursuing
the busy and the tired
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10. |
S.O.S.
05:11
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cast off your old complaints
pick up your brush and paint
you are a vessel of the helium rising
on a float through open sky
you are an element adrift on the current
born to rise and fly
it’s the same old story
and it’s getting old
it’s the same old story and
it’s dying to be told
and
discard your dread and fright
pick up your pen and write
you are a cipher with a meteor’s message
on a flight through hollow space
you are an acrobat on gravity’s rainbow
weightless in this place
it’s the same old story
and it’s getting old
it’s the same old story and
look at them
they’re dying to be told
and
don’t give up
and don’t give in
don’t give up
and then don’t do it again
hey
we’ll find a way
breathe in this moment
before it’s history
written in your heartbeat
how bad can it be?
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Arms of Kismet Winchester, Virginia
Brooding and poppy, funny and foreboding, it’s toe-tapping, tragicomic rock ’n’ roll.
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