Free States EP

by alter egos

Free States EP cover art
/

  • Digital Album

    Immediate download of 9-track album in your choice of MP3 320, FLAC, or just about any other format you could possibly desire.

    Buy Now  name your price

  • Share / Embed
1.
03:44
lyrics
download
2.
03:50
lyrics
download
3.
02:44
lyrics
download
4.
03:14
lyrics
download
5.
04:54
lyrics
download
6.
03:41
lyrics
download
7.
02:37
lyrics
download
8.
03:07
lyrics
download
9.
02:25
lyrics
download

about

Produced by alter egos and Jean-François Morasse
Recorded, engineered, mixed, and mastered by Jean-François Morasse @ Shamrock Studios, Montréal, Québec, Canada, February 4-8, 2011

credits

released 21 February 2011
Andrew Joncas: bass, guitars, lap steel
Robert Sarwark: vocals, guitars, drums
Vincent Stephen-Ong: keyboards, alto sax
Amy McDonald: vocals on "Playground"

tags

tags: alt country country pop rock adult contemporary tiki-core Montréal

license

all rights reserved

feeds

feeds for this album, this artist

about

alter egos formed when Andrew heard the demos that Rob had recorded while living on an island off the coast of West Africa. ... more Old pals from the infamous "Poutine Circuit", the dynamic duo decided it wise to form a hot new teen combo. The band is now poised to bring their smooth adult contemporary and tiki-infused sounds to the bowling alleys and seedy cocktail lounges of North America. less

contact / help

For help with downloads, click here.

For all other inquiries, click here.

Redeem download codes here.

Track Name: For the Record
Hearts on fire
don't do nobody any good
You're a liar
You fell in love like I knew you would
Mouths on mine
wasn't how I thought I'd end the night
Tastes like wine
Tastes exactly how I thought it might

So come back and
say that again
for the record
I know that your
past isn't
really checkered

So waste my time
Send me down
the very primrose path
that I'd have climbed
if I'd only known
that you'd come back...

to say that again
for the record
I know that
your past isn't
really checkered

So I give up
or rather I suppose
that I give in
It's too much
for me to keep on
with a safety pin
Turning it back
Turning around
I turned a corner
without making a sound
Coming up daisies wasn't
what I would guess
that you'd have expected
from a wilderness

You got it right
You got it right the first time
Track Name: I Would've Loved You
I would've loved you
so much
and so well
We could've gone through
heaven, earth, limbo, and hell

I feel like I've awoken
from a coma dream
but nothing's really broken
when you add up all the pieces left in me

I would've followed
you and all your schemes
straight through the gauntlet
if you'd only asked of me
you'd have had the best of me

So you're not ready for me
but I'm still ready for myself
I'm taking my heart
from off of my sleeve
and putting it right back on the shelf
Every time I looked in your eyes
I thought I'd find you finding me
But now I know my guesses were lies
And now I know I'm up here from
down there on my knees

When you add up
all the pieces left in me
When you take apart
what was
and could've been
I would've loved you
Track Name: Surrenderers, Informants, Sneaks, and Spies
We can work together
we can war and thieve
we can take forever
we can make believe

Why can't I recall
the whites of my enemies' eyes?
Turncoats we are all
surrenderers, informants, sneaks, and spies
betrayers of our own

Friends that once surrounded
beggars for empathy
in countries left unfounded
claimed by you and me

let's make the rules
let's make a flag
and keep things pure till they go bad
well we can always dream

Why can't I recall
the whites of my enemies' eyes?
Turncoats we are all,
surrenderers, informants, sneaks, and spies
betrayers of our own lies

Damn your eyes
tonight
Track Name: Eminent Domain
Here upon the mountain
both fire and the night
Will it be forgotten
when i held you to me till the morning light?

Are you free now?
Can you say how?
I'll awaken when and only when it's real

Down here on the islands
held captive by a dream
Harbors beckon sweetly
more nowadays than we have ever seen
These titles pull no water
just the weight of their parchment
so soon turned to dust

Who's the hero?
What are villains?
Alter egos caught between good deed and sin
What is godhead?
Where does time end?
Old dominions lost to eminent domain

1, 2, 3
Track Name: On the Wall
Over- and underwhelmed by
stars in their own hidden daylight
keeping the synnergy while
you're overwhelming me

Robins are calling me so
I'll open up this old window
Songs for my humbled outside
linger and mark where my youth died

On the wall
On the wall
I'm on the wall
and I dropped the ball
on the wall

Tinder and kindling wood burns
quick as the tide of the day turns
somewhere; it's not so warm now
but that's how the sun keeps its head down

CHORUS

Slipping on rocks in rivers
waters grow deeper and shiver
until the depths that go nowhere
then force me ashore with a dead dare

Darwin is haunting me here
guarding his heart from his last fear
X marks the spot while I tremble
and note all the stones I resemble

CHORUS
Track Name: Native Tongue
Ease it away
but come back
Come back so we can fall apart again
It's so innocuous
to have no words to say
that I'm in love with an abstraction in your eyes

And they're looking distant now to me
now that you are back within arm's reach
I just forgot the perfect tense to say
that I wanted you
that I'd have wanted you to stay

You're so mysterious
with your life
O with your native tongue
And we were delirious
so high on young bluffs
but yours were younger and all the air was trapped within your lungs

And you're sounding distant now to me
now that you are back within arm's reach
I just forgot the perfect tense to say
that I wanted you...no
that I'm wanting you...no
that I've wanted you...no
that I'd have wanted you to stay

A E I owed you a chance
to tell me that it's over
but my ear's weren't
keen enough to hear hearts breaking
So if you want to speak your mind
speak slowly so I'm sure
and you won't hear my voice again.
Track Name: Triple L
hey lady
you're a hummingbird
you're a golden child

take warning
I've lost control
you drove me wild

your glory days
are not with me
you get a horizon

in simple tasks
I thought we'd do
not a single one

you slip between my fingers
and you're gone
your scent no longer lingers
in my room
I almost don't believe
you ever were
You must think you're
clever, coy, demure

leaving losing lost
heads we split the difference of the cost
tails we play the coin as it gets tossed
leaving losing lost
Track Name: Clout
I called you over
to see my projections
for going to Cuba this year
Seems with all of your big complications
it's our brinkmanship that I fear

But you've got style
and you've got taste
well you've got it all
And what with all of that clout
you keep pushing me out
and you're standing so tall

I wandered over
to see what the fuss
with the hipsters was doing outside
It seems the yuppies
have somehow outdone me
while taking us all for a ride

But as it's still night
I can't get enough light
just to look at them right
And as it's still night
I just can't look them in the eyes

Holding out for the distance of dawn
I wander on and on
Marble heads with their noses worn off
are kissing paragons
Columns crack but they never grow back
The hand of time slaps all artifacts
I get nostalgic for ways that the world as we know it has not ever known (X2)

Well they've got style
and they've got taste
Oh, well they've got it all
And what with all of that clout
They keep pushing me/us out
and they're standing so tall
Standing so tall (X3)

I get nostalgic for ways that the world as we know it has not ever known
Track Name: Playground
Well I'm a boy
and you're a girl
Or wait, that came out wrong
'Cuz I'm the girl
and you're the boy
that's why I wrote this song
We may just be little kids
just running along
But if you say it's okay
I'll love you all day long

You may be the one for me
and I might be the same
If you gave your hand to me
we could learn this brand new playground game

My mom said that little boys
will do what boys will do
Your mom said that I'm no good
and your dad said so too
Teacher said that class was over
and freed us from this zoo
But I'd stay in school forever
just to be near you

You may be the one for me
and I might be the same
If you gave your hand to me
we could learn this brand new playground

You may be the one for me
and I might be the same
If you gave your hand to me
we could learn this brand new playground game
Brand new playground game
Brand new playground game