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Old Gods, Vol. 1

by Comrade Hat

supported by
Miss S Shiels
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Miss S Shiels How I love this album. Comrade Hat's finest in my humble opinion.
Vast, epic journeys through sound and mind. 'Summer of Glove' my fav today, that is. Thank you Comrade Hat for a splendid album.
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1.
Every day's a salvage operation To see what you have left Feeling bereft Birds are singing Alarm is ringing It's a beautiful morning To be driving To a funeral Hungover
2.
Spring alters the blood Slower than a bad guy's horse Doing the cobra From Guatabad to Guataworse Still it's never late If in the end all is good Just go east on the wolves Oh Little Red Riding Hood Tender cloud, you be loved As spring enters the blood Race across the blue abyss above Tender cloud, summer of glove If you raise crows You know they will peck out your eyes The world's a napkin But a bad bug never dies Summer of glove The count is clear and the chocolate thick Throw a glance and watch it stick Tender cloud shroud a blood red moon Head at three in the afternoon
3.
I'm cracking the code Bit by bit Don't ask me why Or what I want with it I'm rolling back the stone From the tomb So our secret talk We can resume I'm cracking the code Working through the night It's been there for years But it's only just come to light I'm searching through the shadows Looking for a clue I'm pulling back the undergrowth Just to catch a better view I like the green of far away fields But I'm not too green to forget what is real A lie's a lie whatever the shade However sweet the tongue However ripe the promise made I'm cracking the code But it eats at me I don't understand The life it leads In silent valleys Across centuries A music and a weapon Your ruthless tease I'm cracking the code I must do it alone I thought we could crack it together But each must crack his own For yours is a code I'll never understand So I'll just slip back into the shadows And keep speaking with the land I like the green of far away fields But I'm not too green to forget what is real A lie's a lie whatever the shade However sweet the tongue However ripe the promise made Surprise me, baby Make it all worthwhile Spring forth from the silence Do it in style But I know you will stay silent And I'll not take it thick Mar an té nach bhfuil laidir Caithfidh sé a bheidh glic I like the green of far away fields...
4.
Riven Wanter fancies Ring a ring of lazies Scroll through imitations Stare at your reflection Do your best impression For all to see Riven Wanter fancies Pay the price of daydreams A stay of execution Is no absolution Still, make your best ablutions For the gods I lost my love To a star Of the digital firmament But that's ok Because nothing is permanent I feel kinda holy even when I feel kinda holy even when I feel kinda holy even when I fail
5.
I sleep in the cold I live in the dark I do what it takes To kindle a spark I'm sorry if I miss the mark, sometimes But don't think I don't care Whatever you do I'm seeing old things In a new light I can't look at it It gets too bright I'm trying my best To put things right this time Don't think I don't care Whatever you do I feel a wind An offer rescind The hands of summer turn cold But I sense a change A curve in range Something about to unfold I'm anticipating I'm patiently waiting 'Til our hearts are full again... But 'til then I'll sleep in the cold I'll walk in the park I'll go where it takes To kindle that spark I know that I'll miss the mark, sometimes But don't think I don't care Whatever you do
6.
Business 02:24
It's business Business as usual (none of my business, no) What am I to do? I must go get new shoes Before footwear crisis blues Swallows me whole Holes in my soles The world is ending, Please! I'll be gaining followers On interplanetary craft fair artisan Amazon marketplaces friendly faces Thank you for doing business Mind the minefield on your way out
7.
Historicity 03:14
Tell me that it's got some history A family tree A little mystery Tell me that it's old and it's unique Let it speak Tales of bravery One touch and I tunnel down the sand A foreign land It feels so real to me It's everything I want the past to be It's future free This historicity Everything I own becomes a shell My legs are hell Creaking under strain I'd give it all to have my piece of eight Is it to late To participate? One touch and I tunnel down the sand A foreign land It feels so real to me It's everything I want the past to be It's future free This historicity
8.
Deep Sleep 03:42
There was a time When I had dreams Not just nightmares Before I caved in To every whim and vice But now the dreams Or so it seems Are over And every nightmare Feels like paradise For long ago I set my mind on deep sleep Waiting for my divorce from reality To come through There was a time I'd agonise Over every choice Before I learned To live with consequence But now I know my place In time and space Is too small To concern myself With cause and effect For long ago I set my soul to deep sleep Waiting for my divorce from reality To come through
9.
Old Gods 04:49
It's no country for old gods They fled along ago With the bard and golden eagle The wolf, the earl and the oak tree Their worlds melting like the snow It's no country for old gods The wells are running dry Silver bough and golden apple Growing in the waste ground Fighting to reach the sky Old gods

about

"...a pastoral, pleasingly woozy collection of songs which run the gamut from psychedelic folk to expansive jazzy pop funk and daisy-age disco" Irish News

"Burns...won’t relegate himself to one central theme. Instead he acts as a yggdrasill between tracks, a conduit from which an emotive, shifting landscape moves through, from pen to instrument... a psychedelic ring master in a circus of oddities" Chordblossom

"A miasmic fog of psychedelic rock, indie-folk and jazzy blues, Comrade Hat is a do-it-all kind of artist. A multi-instrumentalist with a flair for the surprising, his newest album keeps you on your toes from start to finish" Northern Winds

"wouldn’t be out of place in a David Lynch film" goldenplec.ie

"draws upon the familiar sounds of confessional, lonesome Americana, mystique, and glistening, low-key-yet-expansive 80s-recalling spectral echoes" The Thin Air


OLD GODS is the record that wanted to be made. A compilation of haunted songs, of ghosts and premonitions. Forgotten, cloaked in mystery, with a will of its own. It came together in an outbreak of musical alchemy that wove a golden thread through old and new, simple and complex, acoustic and electric, sublime and ridiculous. In the spirit of its dualisms, it comes in two instalments. Stay alert.

credits

released April 13, 2021

All songs written by Neil Burns, except Historicity, by Dominic O'Neill, and Deep Sleep, by Neil Burns and Paul J. Fox

Produced, performed & programmed by Neil Burns, with:
Siobhan Shiels and Ruth McCartney: backing vocals on Cracking the Code
Jack Kelly, upright bass on Whatever You Do
Andrew McCoubrey, drums and additional engineering on Whatever You Do
Rohan Armstrong: electric bass on Deep Sleep

Cover art adapted from a drawing by Sergio Andrés Acosta

Many thanks to all involved.
A special thanks for additional feedback/tech support:
Andrew McCoubrey, Eoghan Holland, Paul Fox, Richard Duckworth

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Comrade Hat Londonderry, UK

Old Gods, Vol. 1 - Out Now

Comrade Hat is Neil Burns when he writes songs.

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