"This is, simply, a gorgeous album: mellow yet complex, as rich as the best of Neil Young. Harvest Breed is a band in their prime."
- Joseph Boyden, Bestselling author of "Three Day Road" and "Through Black Spruce"
BIO
Harkening back to a time where albums were more than a computer playlist of MP3s, when music could still move masses, break hearts, open minds, and change the world, Harvest Breed 's songs bridge the gap between the warm and fuzzy iconic records of the 70's, and the consuming quest for lyrical perfection which permeates the work of contemporary poetry luminaries.
Recorded by Grammy-winner Mark Lawson (Arcade Fire), Everything Changes evokes classic albums by Grateful Dead, Townes Van Zandt, The Band, Neil Young and the Flying Burrito Brothers. It is at once invigorating and oddly familiar, like stumbling upon a long-lost friend in the middle of a foreign city, like the first snowfall of the year.
Now it seems they were moments of wandering
Punctuated with the purity of exaltation
Visions of you in the morning,
Drinking tea in the garden,
Feet in the cool grass
I stood and searched the leaves for an answer
We walked down to the lake, then,
Monsoon-like sheets of rain in the distance,
"Don't give up on me," you said.
I touched the hem of your dress.
"Glaciers will melt eventually."
You and I,
A mass of fading possibilities
Now these stories,
Strangers lost in distant cities
Late afternoon in the parking,
Summer heat beyond our caring,
We were like fixed in time
It could have been 1950s New York,
Though I remember you were full-color,
Or post-war Berlin,
Your hair battling the wind
In the screaming days of my youth
I'd traded honesty for a sense of pride
But my selfish streak
Had finally reached its peak
When an ego knows no bound
Glory gets crushed without a sound
From what the stars are made we cannot hold
The years don't make you wise, they make you old
So... heading where I was for whatever reason
Staring into shops and restaurant windows
Ignoring the rain and the season
The wind and its echoes
It's then that I saw her
Sitting in a busy dinner
Like a lonely prime number
In her tattered Salvation Army sweater
She was lost among the noisy crowd
Her silence twice as loud
The room heavy with her breathing
The way her mouth would just sing
I could have stopped but I kept on walking
Sometimes the fear is greater than the calling
I understood I could no longer live for myself
And put the rest of the world on a shelf
And then the calm after the storm
A calm that's quiet and worrisome
The door opened behind me
She came out in a hurry
And I headed home
Our long shadows not quite touching
To begin with randomness:
staring at a broken piece of mottled glass
alone in the dried-up river bed.
To continue with misgivings:
an empty Friday night,
your voice betraying surprise
on the other end of the line.
We crawled out of oceans to come scream on hilltops,
but there are still hornets in our garden.
Now I know why I never got the plane tickets (2),
the box of x-ray pencils, the newspapers,
Christmas gifts and apology letters...
You never sent them.
If you come home
You will turn this town
All the way upside down
One more time now
After so long
Waiting for the day
Planning what I would say:
That I'd been long gone
You were a dizzy weathervane
Pushed by the wind that sweeps down our empty lane
I was drowning in a stream
Never free as when you came to me in a dream
If you come home
You will burn this town
All the way to the ground
One more time now
You will turn on Main
Radio towers flashing
In a purple sky, drive
Past the high school
Past the strip mall
Like we were never there at all
You are a dizzy weathervane
Pushed by the wind that sweeps down our empty lane
I was drowning in a stream
Never free as when you came to me in a dream
I've been riding alone for miles
With California just outside the window
An old love song comes on the radio
Wake up,
Honey, wake up
I've been waiting now for a while
There are promises on which this life can't deliver
Once you give up on the shiver of a future
Wake up,
Honey, wake up
We were famous and we kicked walnut leaves
We were the hand that seldom gives
But always receives
People loved us on the street
We mocked their pitiable defeat
We were famous and we kicked walnut leaves
We still mistook pride for strength
And strength was our guide
The years felt new and different
We thought we'd never have to repent
We were famous and we kicked walnut leaves
The weight of reality is never
That which one perceives
Undaunted by the lessons of history
We were all practice and no theory
We were famous and we kicked walnut leaves
But we got out of the business
There was no one left to impress
Now on Friday nights we look at pictures
And try not to envy the amateurs
Photo: LePetitRusse