Get all 5 The Sleeping Years releases available on Bandcamp and save 20%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Setting Fire to Sleepy Towns EP, Clocks and Clones EP, Into Sunlight, We're becoming islands one by one, and You And Me Against The World EP.
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From the harbour hill to where the crescent curls,
The black water swell, the turning of the world.
Strung lights and drunken sounds
Glimmer at the edges of your town.
We were hiding for so long
With everyone else all trying to hold on
But that time has gone now –
It’s you and me against the…
(It’s a) bleak light to figure in,
Our hands thrown up against the wind
Like mottled masts and lightning bolts,
We’ll call up storms to take us far from home.
We’ve been running for so long
From jaded hearts and broken love
All waiting for the ground to open up,
Well it’s you and me against the…
They’re down on us again,
Trying to keep us apart but we’ll refuse to give in
For this is it; something we can win –
This time.
And they’re frozen in this light while they’re marking time
For their fears shape them all until they’re rooted to the ground.
We’ve been trying for so long
Just to be ourselves, to be left alone,
Well if everyone is getting slow
Then it’s you and me against the world.
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This pulse that made you fight upstream
Sends the eels to mass and the salmon leap.
And on this rock you set your home,
The light that leaks from pitch and stone.
The floods that came took cattle and earth,
A broken wake where the currents turn.
And you saw the town when the river froze,
The swans at war and the foreign boats.
The water pools and your shadow grows long
To the tall tales your brothers spun.
In the house, lost, where the light grows dim,
I leave you now as your journey begins.
Borne along by an autumn moon,
He’s bearing north, heading for the mouth.
The river birds and the falling leaves
Open their wings and our heaven’s won.
His arms cut through a darkened Bann,
In his pale clothes, ghosting along.
He took his silences from there
And his hands hold the river back.
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3. |
The 22nd House
02:09
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4. |
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Little girl, it’s time to go,
They’re waiting for you now,
Down by the boat to take you to the north,
Tie up your hair, colour your nails,
And take his name,
You light a fire to warm the house again,
Draw village wives and churchmen to your gate,
Your accent standing you apart.
On the hour, dressed for rain,
She comes down from the house
To feathers and broken blades and on,
To the centre of her world
Where all the birds wheel around her for all time.
The years pass,
Your children have gone, you’re rooted to the land,
You tie up your hair, got winter in your hands,
You’re breaking bread to call them out.
And on the hour, dressed for rain,
The light retreating to the house,
The figures that wander there
Are waiting to open up their arms,
All her family around her for all time.
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You’ve been carrying that word for days,
Weighing it up, drawing breath,
Finding faults in lines, in the space that’s left,
You mouth the sound until it makes no sense.
How long have you waited for someone to find you here?
You wear your fictions out to the end
From false starts to cold trails
And leave your letters to speak of you now
Through characters, through hooks and tails.
How long have you waited for a love to track you down?
How long have you waited for someone to find you here?
How long have you been this way,
Waiting for someone to work you out?
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The Sleeping Years London, UK
The Sleeping Years is the solo project for Dale Grundle, formerly of the Catchers.
‘We’re becoming Islands One by One’,
showcases Dale’s exquisitely crafted, highly personal songs, influenced by the language and culture of Northern Ireland.
Guardian: ‘his voice breaks exquisitely between hope and despair in songs that the acoustic guitar was invented for’
... more
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