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Canopy of Crimson

by Teething Veils

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erinmack
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erinmack A heartfelt exploration of the survivor’s grief process, this isn’t casual listening - but it’s all the more beautiful for its gravity, with yearning strings contrasted by hypnotic vocals that bear witness to the brutal permanence of death. Anyone who has endured sudden loss will recognize the desperate grasping accompanying a lack of closure: “Would you let me see you, wherever you are?” Still, this album is a testament to finding a way back to the light after the unendurable, somehow. Favorite track: Walking with You, Walking with Me.
JOSE PABLO CORDERO SEPULVEDA
JOSE PABLO CORDERO SEPULVEDA thumbnail
JOSE PABLO CORDERO SEPULVEDA I have been following Greg Svitil's work for over two decades now, and Canopy of Crimson is likely the most fully realized version of his sound to date. Elegant, crimson-hued chamber pop with rich strings buoying vocal melodies which bring to mind a young Cohen (or a Waits who never took up smoking). Recommended. Favorite track: Sewn Hands.
Montgomery Fox
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Montgomery Fox Oh, love Shower in Sunlight, great piece of feeling!! Drums fat as leaves rustling crushed under your feet, walking under the sunlight and those strings, mmmmm. Nice work
David Nicholas
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David Nicholas A beautiful record that asks for active listening and rewards it with new layers revealed each time. Songs to appreciate when you can calm your mind first and take away so much.
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  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    CD with artwork by Adam de Boer and lyrics

    Includes unlimited streaming of Canopy of Crimson via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    high-quality black vinyl in jacket with artwork by Adam de Boer and lyrics

    Includes unlimited streaming of Canopy of Crimson via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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  • Streaming + Download

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1.
I can’t remember what you wore On the last night we kissed on the platform When you passed through the train’s sliding doors Beloved, bewildered, adored There’s an unrepaired hole in the wall Between the funeral home and the chapel Where voices that nobody hears Fall to the floor, from the mantel I searched, on the night that you died For someone to shoot me with novocaine Slipping on forfeits and failures My body, a house after a hurricane
2.
Sewn Hands 03:47
You waded in a murky stream That swept you off your feet, Knocked me to my knees, Taken downstream I sewed my hands in sweat-soaked prayer Still, you did not speak Beneath the water lilies, you did not breathe Wayward dream, taken downstream Torn in tatters, ‘cross the seams The cold hard ground wrapped ‘round my feet Bewildered angel who lies beneath Behind the glass, buried downstream Moonlit visits to the anodynic clinic Pushed down my hunger, cut my connection Those hands that clawed you scratch at my door Hailing Mary, spent and sore I chiseled toward you through the smoke I saw your eyes’ light through a hot glass scope My heart dismantled, poured into elegy It wasn’t you, but a memory Torn in tatters, ‘cross the seams From beyond, you’re freezing me My burrowed head is nearly dead Sullied stream, wayward dream The sharpest eyes, the coldest knives The blackened glass did shatter You rose above me from the floor Your hovering heart oscillates and scatters Your wraith unbound, my heart grew bolder A titanic specter shadowing my shoulder The ties did bind, the ties did tear You dropped your burdens, walked down the stairs I tried to touch you through the glass and see you through the dense white smoke It must have been some pointless kind of joke Are you somewhere out there breathing with me under the same moon? I'm digging my grave with a tablespoon
3.
On the clearest night, under stars like milk I saw you at the mill, moonlit, soft, and still Halfway around the world, dark as death My lungs, full of rocks, drew their breath through blunt instruments Whatever happens after the last breath, and a stilled heart Memory fades while passions grow, never to be torn apart To become ill, awash in wintry light Faded are the sleetless nights You sweatered and scarved, holding your kite Your pulse a stone splashed in the sea, Its ripple disappeared I’ll only see you when I stop looking for you Won’t your unblinking eyes see me? Ease me, with silkened hand, back to your sun-soaked, salving, eternal fountain Where I may bathe in your voice Your faithful servant, with rattled bones, dragging bags of stones along a raw and stormy road
4.
At dusk the bare trees, caressed by silver sky, are enveloped by the lamps that light the stillest nights Dilating in my memory, your deepest brownest eyes The gentlest lulls, down the sidewalks we’d glide during your last winter alive My car hums down the street, I look beyond the lonesome passenger seat at buildings rumbling in and out of focus, their windows passageways to places where you hover Fluttering homeward, to know something more To become ill, a sea storms below Through touches, through phones, beyond the horizon To the unseen unknown, while I’m left here with the echo of the last sound of your voice, and the rumble of the last tick of your pulse There’s not much in this world that I know to be true I don’t believe in an afterlife, but I know there’s one for you
5.
You showered in the sunlight Till you were ablaze You shined with dizzying kindness You were born and you were razed I don’t want this sort of world anymore It’s written across my grizzled face Opened our eyes somewhere under the rainbow All romance left the state The salvo did nothing to salvage the spirit Inside the billet furthest from the moon As I lie waiting for a roaring train To meet my body soon Drawn in chalk along the streets we walked Rain washed it all away If I could find you in the next life I could not be convinced to stay here
6.
At midday, the sun came out from behind a cloud Casting a shadow of a tree by the beach Heartfelt, the heart felt little difference Where nothing could keep you around At midnight, the world broke down Noises from underground snuck up with violence Voices on your phone called you home Where nothing ever breaks down At dawn, you were still gone Gloved compartments, under streetlight Where everything foul rained down Where everything foul rains down
7.
Walking with you, walking with me Watching your eyes beam Down sidewalks and streets You looked to the sea What did you want to show me? And when you want, stay with me Wrap your words around me When you leave, I want to go with you To be where you are An awful noise buzzing I didn’t see coming Poured through your home You couldn’t pass through mirrors You couldn’t walk through walls You couldn’t hold on to some way to feel less alone And when you want, lie here with me Wrap your words around me When you leave, I want to go with you I just want to follow you When a person grows ill, where can they go? Someone threw dirt on the fire that lit up your dreams Your body went cold Your hands and your toes Those hands I’d give my world to hold And when you want Stay with me Rest and breathe deeply When you leave I want to go with you I just want to see you Won’t you please Come back and talk to me? Would you let me see you, wherever you are? Walking with you, right by your side Walking with you is where my dreams reside For all time
8.
The snow dusts the sidewalk, the cold glides on the wind Your voice coats my eardrum, from heaven, descends Bathed in blurred streetlight, your eyes pierce and shine The pins and the needles simmer in time There’s frost on the window, obscuring the pane The sun warms the sleet where you stared at the rain Dark beams part the ceiling, light beams part the sky Your mouth and teeth muffled, echoing, alive Staring at the rain, your eyes met the beams on the ceiling You dropped all the weight you’d been bearing Climbing cold walls, your pulse stalled at their crest When you were a child, carried across snow Your lungs drawing breath, your heart pounding on You walked on the beach, you swung from the trees You rode down the river, you smiled and showed teeth You looked at the camera, you smiled so wide You raised your right hand, you touched the mare’s side The dreams that you carried, unseen and unreal A nurse dressing wounds that time doesn’t heal We’re looking out the same window, looking out for each other The darkness unfurls, a reflective umbrella A canopy of crimson, erasing the light Our battles have all been waged, our bodies underground Stood proud and paralyzed, without a sound My footsteps fall heavy, my brain struck with clatter Your wraith walked on in, the crows they did scatter Your black hair did shimmer, you beamed across the room Your unblinking eyes exhuming the gloom You moved past the chair, you laid your heart on the stairs You said “I’m glad that it’s here. I’m glad that we’re here.”

about

"If the latest from this self-described chamber-folk outfit feels funereal, it isn’t just because bandleader Greg Svitil sings like a eulogist, or because Hannah Burris knows how to make her viola weep. It’s because funerals allow emotions to be purged and smothered, making time feel stranger than slow."

-Chris Richards, Washington Post

credits

released August 10, 2020

Kevin Buckholdt | drums
Hannah Burris | viola
Craig Garrett | bass guitar
Greg Svitil | guitar, organ, piano, voice

“Bare Trees, Silver Sky” and “Walking with You, Walking with Me” violin by Kelly Servick

Words and music by Greg Svitil
Arr. Buckholdt, Burris, Garrett, Svitil

Canopy of Crimson
Teething Veils | 5
Etxe Records & Productions | 25
Recorded and mixed by Don Godwin at Tonal Park | Takoma Park, MD
February 1-2 and 5-6, 2020
Mastered by James Plotkin at Plotkinworks | Bethlehem, PA

Artwork by Adam de Boer
Photography by Rafa Cruz
Sleeve design by Craig Garrett

Special thanks to Erin Frisby and Kate Oczypok

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Teething Veils Washington, D.C.

"These songs—sepia-toned yet searching, eccentric yet melodically inclined—add up to something that feels like its own universe, sometimes wistful, sometimes the kind of menacing only achieved via a late-career Tom Waits death rattle." -Wash CP

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