1. ATMOSPHERE

The curse of time tightens in
Most will end as few begin
The blood that’s dried, the blood that’s spilled
A tainted void that once was filled

It’s all around you
The pull controls you
Wraps us up in all we can’t abide

We are the atmosphere
Atoms filled with fear
We are the atmosphere
Atoms filled with fear
The days are damaged
The evening’s evil
We are the atmosphere
Atoms filled with fear

An ebb and flow that bears a name
The force that rules all we became

It’s all around you
The pull controls you
Wraps us up in all we can’t abide

We are the atmosphere
Atoms filled with fear
We are the atmosphere
Atoms filled with fear
The days are damaged
The evening’s evil
We are the atmosphere
Atoms filled with fear

Lost among the stars
Lost in satellites
Crashing causes fire
Burning down
The moments and the magic in our time.


2. CALICO CONCRETE

He was a forcer and breaker
And nothing ever worked right.
It took a little magic, took a little tragic
Just to turn off the lights
She was a fixer and taker
She was never wrong
Packed an automatic,
Kept it in the attic
Waiting for her swan song

On a slab of calico concrete
On the corner of dumb and blind
They built the best house on the whole damn block
That would never stand the test of time
On calico concrete
You can feel the foundation sink
In the mud and the blood and the fucked-up love
Giving way underneath their feet on dead end street.

They were the cruel creators
Made a world of cardboard lies
Painted it to look like wood grain paneling
Right before our eyes
We were the fools who believed them
Or maybe we just wanted to be
Something to live for
Something that was more
Thank lower class loyalty

And if you ever walk past now
Tell me what’s still there
Is the patchwork prophet making money off
The American nightmare?


3. STEAM

Pulled in all directions
Torn limb from limb
Putting myself back together
Was my greatest sin

How can life be carried
When the cup’s come apart?
Dusty dregs to remember a once-full heart.

[Chorus]
Gone up in steam
A not so silent scream
Beneath the paint the picture’s dream
Is not what it seems.
Gone up in steam

No one knows the angles
Laid to win this game
No one sees in what fashion
You’re wearing a name.

Smiles begin to blister
And you pray for the rain
Search for faucets of grace to fill you again.

[Chorus]

The heat keeps rising like the sun
Isn’t this the life you asked for?
Isn’t this what you want?

[Chorus]


4. RED AND GREEN

The static and the waves
Lift you above ground
Decibels divine
Another world, you
Spent all your life in California,
Slept all your life and now you are awake
The record breaks.

Make your lines
Paint the sky
In red and green

Words and wine
Tearing down the freeway
So much time
Leading you to reach today

Singing someone else’s words
Living someone else’s time
Letting your own dreams turn cold
Giving lifeblood for a dime

You’ll never do the dance again
You have to take a chance again

Paint the sky
In red and green

Words and wine
Tearing down the freeway
So much time
Leading you to reach today

And the days go on and on


5. BUTTERFLIES IN A BEEHIVE

Pinned to the wood & the velvet
Under glass of redemption
Witness as we come clean
Held to a place of perfection
They all seek their reflection
To learn what it all means

The heavens ring
Within our wings

Like the butterfly
Living in the beehive
Will our spirits still survive
Up against the sting
Like the butterfly
If we make it out alive
Will our spirits still survive
Up against the sting

Chained in a straitjacket prison
Waiting for transformation
Straining to become free
Sweet- all the poison around us
They create to subdue us
Rage for all they can’t be.

The heavens ring
Within our wings

Like the butterfly
Living in the beehive
Will our spirits still survive
Up against the sting
Like the butterfly
If we make it out alive
Will our spirits still survive
Up against the sting

And the swarm will rise upon us now
Block the light and crowd our sight
We have nothing left to fight it now
But we keep on, keep on
Reaching toward the sunlight.