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SWARM

by Bambara

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rikm
rikm thumbnail
rikm Southern Gothic literary Post Punk at its finest, "Swarm" finds Bambara telling stories in a musical form that resonates with the listener on powerfully emotional frequencies.

Highly recommended...
Mew
Mew thumbnail
Mew A grim enveloping fog that aggressively chokes you.
this album is a masterpiece Favorite track: Black.
Gwynncore
Gwynncore thumbnail
Gwynncore Dialing just a tad back on the noisiness of previous releases SWARM is still a hard rocking and erratic Industrial Punk hell ride. Sounding like the product of a ketamine session between Sonic Youth and The Cramps SWARM will blow your ear drums out and tug at your heart strings. Favorite track: Filled Up With Night.
//RRRhund\
//RRRhund\ thumbnail
//RRRhund\ "Swarm" is carried by an excellent blend of death rock, noise rock, and post punk vibes (Birthday Party + Swans + Iceage). Atmospheric and violent at the same time.
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  • SWARM LP
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1.
I cleared the weeds off of her home I tore the seams of all of your (her) clothes I stole the seeds out of her bowl I broke the mattress springs just like chicken bones There was a time I walked freely in the night And I kissed you in alleys and bars Yeah I felt every sting of desire But it’s gone. I killed the bees with the rusty garden hose Fell to my knees like I was before a throne I can’t see anything Inside the box you left with Touya’s things Just some of your hair, and pieces of string tied to a shard of glass But I’ll take it with me Yeah I take it There was a time I walked freely in the night And I kissed you in alleys and bars Yeah I felt every sting of desire But it’s gone. I suck down a drink and sink into that hole I wait for the dream to hit me like a stone Where I sprout wings and hover all alone
2.
Well I’m standing here again But it’s not the same as it was back when your father was in the pen Its empty now And the hives have all been knocked loose from where they’d been Yeah they’ve fallen down We’d watch her from the roof Watch Touya scream and dance around on her small muscular feet Till she’d fall down “Her sister, Touya, lived behind the apartment building down the street She sat there fat and naked all tangled up in weeds But she seemed happy on her dirty mattress swatting at the bees.” “I’m not a stranger” I said. Touya did a little spin Rat shit rides the wind on black plastic bags And I’m looking down Where I put my fingers in your mouth while Touya waved her legs like flags I’m hunted now Yeah like a rabid dog but I’m not afraid. I am afraid. Oh Touya I see you smiling in your filth And I see your sister She’s telling me she’s not afraid yeah she is afraid I’m a stranger I’m a stranger
3.
An Ill Son 04:08
The night when I first saw you Your skull made all the skin on your face shine Skin pulled so tight Dancing with dark eyes Like holes as black as coal As bright as night flickering out I have become an ill son Your love chewed right through the rope and chicken wire Like a pulsing fire When they see me now they see it too Your cheekbones push glowing domes out of my chest Translucent and red I can’t sleep I’m hurting The night I saw you dancing Your snakes went wild when I was told they’d be asleep Hanging down to your feet I knew that you’d be my red glow My sickness grown out of the night flickering out I can’t sleep I’m hurting Back then. Fresh tattoo on your wrist When you told me that– Your father feeds you feathers While your mother feels the weather in her bones It’s not the wind that moans It’s deep within the forest And the leaves that fall before us will be consumed They know the rules I can’t sleep I’m burning Ash falls out of my mouth And you’re not here ​
4.
Black 02:56
Can’t hide from Orion He’s bright and mad and I’m too drunk to walk straight I’ll just end up like his lion Roaring weak while he beats stars into my mane Until all I see is black I flipped a coin in the kitchen She started crying when she saw it was tails She said “I guess it means that I’m moving” Bones rolled through the bird on her wrist like wind through a veil You better not look back Cause all you’ll see Is black “Where do you think you’ll be going?” I mumbled quietly through my chipped front teeth But I don’t think she could hear me For the screech of passing trains and all the sobbing She dropped her hands from her face I saw her bird fall how light bends Then I thought of Orion And if he could fall how her bird did then Would he bleed out like prisms All cut up and colorful A constellation with a crack in his skull A constellation with a crack in his skull She said Better not sleep Like that cause all you’ll see Is black
5.
Like Waves 02:39
6.
I Don't Mind 02:04
There’s a light I used to see From the porch of my old house Now I’ve heard it’s fallen down, but I don’t mind I don’t mind In the backyard there is a shed that Holds the bones of an animal I loved All rearranged by the flood, but I don’t mind, and I decided To buy the place for the smell Cause some part of you is tied to it Can’t remember what it is I don’t mind I don’t mind There’s a face that I recall When sleep loosens its grip But, I can never look at it I don’t mind I don’t mind
7.
I keep pacing around my room But it doesn’t help and I grind my teeth and I tear my shirt and I grind and I tear And I, had that dream again Where we stood in the park frowning in the light Then the sun went black and the sky turned into night The stars cut us up like butcher knives Outside my window. Those birds chirp like camera shutters. The kind with the feathers your dad would collect. Their gray shit drowns the all statues around here. I forgot what they’re called. But you know I walked by the place today where I broke my fist on the bathroom wall and you threw up into the sink. On the corner of some avenue and some street. I don’t know. I don’t know. I keep writhing around in my bed But it doesn’t help and I bite my lip and I crack my knuckles and I bite and I crack And I, had that dream again We we’re fucking in the back seat of your car Then the sun blew out And the sky filled up with night The stars fell like hail and crushed our spines When I was falling asleep. I heard the voice of a girl. I couldn’t quite tell who she was over the sound of all the buzzing. But she said my name and she brushed my hair with her sturdy fingers. Bees stung my neck and they felt like lips . She kissed my neck and it felt like bees. Felt like her name started with a T. I don’t know. I don’t know.
8.
It's Nothing 03:13
I sleep through the violence of the city But there’s a fly caught buzzing ‘round my room And then I drink in the violence and its stench While I hide in bars from the moon I don’t know I don’t know We were hollow and heavy Falling lightly through a dream Then you saw something moving I said its nothing Through the violence of the street I walk around remembering in fits There was a time, while you murmured nonsense in your sleep, that I watched a fly land on your lower lip I clenched my fist, but I could not swing at it I don’t know I don’t know Take another pull with my head thrown back And everything is chopped up and fluid like waves Now, slowed down, all images become beautiful Rat tails twitch like dancing things. Even Orion seems alright, wavering on the wet trash outside. Wings sprout out of my lower back and I hover, buzzing, above the bar. I look down to where you would be sitting. Tear-streaked cheekbones. And I see you as an old black shed. We were hollow and heavy Falling lightly through a dream Then you saw something moving I said its nothing
9.
Well I came here from a place With lots of trees and beauty for beauty’s sake Now, metal screeches through the night And I’m finding that I like the way it sings I crush rats with my heel And smile when they squeal slow like bending steel Hear you whistle so I run Find you bathing in the sun I squint in it with you. Till you– Say something Back home there was a flood And I’m told my house was buried in mud I’m drunk and dizzy here Where all the ugly things are lit up so pretty But Sometimes I’d like to see a girl With flowers braided in her hair I pass out on the train Till you–
10.
11.
In Bars 01:48
12.
As Her 02:18
I dreamed that I was her dreaming Woke up as her and tore my shirt Woke up as her and said my name I dreamed that I was her dreaming Woke up as her and bit my lip I dreamed that I was her dreaming Woke up as her and my licked my skin Woke up as her and tore my skirt Woke up as her and scratched my legs Woke up as her and smelled my hair Woke up as her and said my name

credits

released April 1, 2016

Bambara is Reid Bateh, Blaze Bateh and William Brookshire.

Lyrics by Reid Bateh.

Recorded by Ben Greenberg at Gary's Electric in Brooklyn, NY, in October 2014.

Additional engineering by William Brookshire and Davey Jewell.

Mixed by Bambara. Mastered by Neal Warner.

Additional vocals on "It's Nothing" by Rachel Barnhart and Kerry Santullo.

Album art by Blaze Bateh.

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Bambara Brooklyn, New York

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