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Music For Looking Animals

by Mountain Time

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1.
ROSEMARY, ETC. Rosemary, get out of my garden please I gave you everything you wanted, it wasn’t what you dreamed And we’re on my way now, so I guess you’re on your own And anyways you know that Halloween was never quite my scene I always wished that we were taking off with everybody putting on But can’t you see it clearer now Rose, those masks was on all along A burnt-out case is a lonely old way to leave There ain’t no sad sea gonna be my authority Yes but can’t you see those clouds? The half-stitched crowns of that mystery? Or can’t you smell the flowers for the rosemary? And Melody, she comes to my window free Always untroubled by the weather balloon in my front yard Poor kid sits hypnotized by the glow of the TV light til dawn And you know sometimes I have to worry she’s deceived By the modesty of my things Or just mesmerized by the death rattle Of that cock he crows when he please When she rings me up and says sit down there Boy, it’s time to sing A burnt-out case ain’t the only old way to leave Just another baby who wasn’t ready to be free Yes but can’t you see those clouds? The half-stitched crowns of that mystery? Or can’t you hear the song now for the melody? A burnt-out case is a lonely old way to leave There ain’t no sad sea gonna be my authority Yes but can’t you see those clouds? The half-stitched crowns of that mystery? Or can’t you smell the flowers for the rosemary?
2.
Death Pause 04:02
DEATH PAUSE I was not there Could not have been persuaded I hope I see the light someday The sky is dark Storm clouds hang black out over The shifting shoreline sands where I understand The death pause fills the air Outside my window sill Silly me, a still life inside The death pause fills the air Outside my window sill Silly me, a still life inside A still life inside
3.
BECOMING ALL THINGS Alright my love, our time is up I need you to be ready The war is coming, the army up and running And you know I’ll go too The night is young, yes I’m watching you shift Those stones inside your belly And hiding my eyes, sure you’d recognize The mutiny in them swelling See I gave my heart to some mad God Never cared for the incision And the prison’s dark as I slip between these bars And greet these visions Just the stockbrokers and the monsignors Chasing prostitutes through the Bowery Past the Dow and Jones Mondays junkie models bones feed the furnaces on Fridays And the climbers wake in the streets having fallen Back down into town from the mountains surrounding And a two dollar Staple Singers tape plays from somewhere I think that it’s Freedom Highway but I ain’t sure And the vendors sell pride but what transfers is hate Some lie that you’re better or normal or safe And terror’s a sea that just swells inside each of us Just within reach of us, keeping our peace from us And the city’s lit up like a fireworks display Where tonight it’s the head of this state on a plate And St. Francis Zookeeper minding the grave Poor Jesus he just wanders round in that cage Becoming all things…
4.
Royalties 06:00
ROYALTIES Shored up against the darkness like a house of lights parading My heart is in the evening of its discontented days O it’s only lonely ways I’m going down As I wave goodbye to Madison Way Wave goodbye to Monroe There are teachers everywhere now There are paths that you can follow O I wish you never had to put one down But these canvases are empty when we wake up every morning Cause we’d have to think about what kind of world we’d want them sold in They are stretched too tight across these frames right now So it’s off to feed the daughters that we had too young to father The dreams we left in roadside detours, spending every dollar There is space and time and you can buy them now But God help you if you’re poor son, God help you if you’re shattered If you’re far too low to think anything you could do might matter It’s a shame the way some folks have got to go But the truth it is a sad and haunting tale that strikes believers And calls them to the fringes where all changes can be seen first And I know that’s where I need to go right now And I know it grows on trees love, I know it ain’t made of plastic I know it’s just as empty in abundance or in absence That it’s meant to always keep you wanting for But there’s something in the air tonight and I can feel it honey There is something in the air tonight says I’m gonna get my money But my ship it isn’t coming in, I am To that masterpiece the harbor where all love lays down its armor And my baby she is waiting there beside the stillest waters And I say hello to her and realize
5.
Empty Graves 04:35
EMPTY GRAVES I’m a sowing machine Everything but what she needs And God she knows just what I mean I’m a sewing machine Always stitching things back up But I’m always looking for that stream That takes me out under the sun somewhere Where all love just stretches out for me And those Army boys drink hate In the bars their bodies shake Cause they know they ain’t coming home tonight Poor mothers know that it’s too late They just hang out all of the time now Cause they got all the time it takes And all the time in the whole universe Couldn’t fill these empty graves So just hang out all of that time now On the clothesline of our fate Cause we know we ain’t coming home tonight Poor mothers know that it’s too late Cause the suburbs they are frozen And the ghettos they’re in flames And all the time in the whole universe Couldn’t fill these empty graves Or these tables up with laughter Or these sleepy heads with dreams Or this tin man's heart with confidence Or these ghettos with relief Or these suburbs with release Or these ghettos with relief Or these suburbs with release
6.
LADY OF THE RADIATOR Lady of the radiator breaks down and dies No one ever saw the way she’d spin round and cry Stranded in that elevator way up in that sorry starry sky Lady of the radiator sits all alight Says I can feel you now I can feel you now I can really feel you now But no one hears a sound Lady of the radiator melts all the ice The world a solid block now starts to crumble twist and slide The animals all drowning as she stares into their endless empty eyes From an ark stacked high with loneliness and precious wasted time Says I can feel you now I can feel you now I can really feel you now Says I can feel you now I can feel you now I can really feel you now But no one hears a sound
7.
FORETOLD IN G Hang it all up on the wall And join the caterwaul of life and love and pain It has to die today It has to be tonight on a bed unmade Has to be laid low and raised back up again Laid low and raised back up Laid low and raised Bet you’ll see you tonight on the way To the moon and be surprised as day Bet it all boils down and burns black in a spoon And the canopy sways It has to leave tonight to be saved Has to burn so bright to be made out in the haze It has to die today For there is another world O and another world And another world…
8.
MODERN LIVING I do not want to be saved I want to be thrown out into the alleyways and the city lanes Where sex and love and death and pain engage Don’t want to be ashamed to say what I mean Or some burnt out case for the cautioning I wanna be a phone that rings And wakes you up when you have slept too long So you can take me off of that mailing list Won’t read those manuals for paralysis Filled with such distrust And fear of what exists beyond the bubble of your bliss Keeps you buying what they feed you Leaves you hungry and broke as shit And honey that’s no way to live Can’t we just let go? A simple yes and it will be so… We will raise the blinds Will go outside Will see the world Will open up when we are terrified Sing it…

about

In the aftermath of the dissolution of adored emo / indie rock bands Mineral and The Gloria Record, songwriter Chris Simpson took a step back from making music for the first time since his mid-teens. This period became a critical time of exploration which fueled a longing for simplification, both personally and creatively. It was during this period that a more refined approach to his creative process was born. Mountain Time, both a reference to timeliness (or lack thereof) and a childhood amongst the natural beauty of Colorado evolved from Simpson’s previous solo effort Zookeeper as the most fitting moniker for the latest project. With the transition, while the process and approach of creating "Music for Looking Animals" became more autonomous, the drive and ultimate desire to create remained rooted within many of the same wells of inspiration that fueled previous incarnations of Simpson’s songwriting. For Simpson, much of what the record is externalizing are larger questions embedded within the natural passing of time. While "Music for Looking Animals" is an attempt at simplification, it is hardly minimal in terms of lyrical and musical depth.

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released June 26, 2020

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Mountain Time Austin, Texas

Mountain Time (formerly known as Zookeeper) is the home of Chris Simpson (of Mineral, & The Gloria Record) and his songs. New album "Music For Looking Animals" out now on Spartan Records.

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