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Live off the Forest Floor

by Thrawsunblat

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Dandezebra
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Dandezebra Wow! This was a fantastic surprise! Very raw and real acoustic renditions of some of Thrawsunblat's best songs. Hauler down of bear and mammoth! Favorite track: Fires that Light the Earth (Live).
Sven Zwaan
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Sven Zwaan Recorded on my birthday! This is great. I love the acoustic versions of non acoustic songs and I really wish I could have been there at the live performance. Fires that light the earth is my all-time favorite song and this version is amazing as well. I'm going to listen to this album a lot.
Redonion
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Redonion i've had a wonderful surprise to find a new album from Thrawsunblat, this clearly made my day !
No matter how you interprete your songs, it always sounds beautiful and pleasing :)
keep on going, Maritimes ❤
more...
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1.
I chanced to meet a strange man Down a Brunswick lane, Dressed in brown and a vagabond's cloak A timeless image from the wood. I stopped and said to him Before he passed me by, "Stranger to these Maritime shores, spare me a moment of your time!" Green Man of East Canada Dark Shores of Northumberland Green man, sing, man, of your journey 'cross the waves! I'm no stranger to these lands, Though they're not my own. I left with the changed tides To call this Brunswick kingdom home. Its shores alive with green, Its cities cloaked in trees Like the halcyon of my youth, Thousands of old summers past. I wear the emblems of the summer and I bear its pulsing song. I carry it through winter, I spread it when the snows have gone. Across the jagged seas I traveled With the first to cross them, And spread my arms across the richness of these misted lands.
2.
Here I am a fortress. Heavy were my days; sleep wore my nights; Toil was my bane; but stone was my will. O my allies in blood and in spirit— Together we roam the brimming glades! But on my own I face the wailing winds Of languor, so here I am a fortress. Fashioned from the surrounding land, I stand against the winds. Here strength I summon and travel inward; I see into the earth. Its ore I gather, and smelt out in the depths of this fortress mine. So when we gather, then I emerge And I bear for you shimmering ore. Among the rocks did I lay; among the roots did I slumber; In the earth did I sleep; I was devoured by the sun. I was washed into the sea; I became naught but purpose; But then I rose and strong I stood Against the weight I chose to carry. A fortress I am and here I stand, Fashioned I am from this land. Life is not simply to breathe, Nor to break back for others’ intents. Life is to grow, to struggle free, To assert one’s own unique existence. A fortress of stone is what I am. Fashioned I am from this land, First crumbled down, down, Indiscernible from Earth.
3.
Vast river flows a mari usque ad mare, Tethering cities so distant. We ride to see the stones, the great standing stones They tower like the memories and myths they mark. On we go — to the standing stones we’ve made! On we go — to the standing stones we’ve yet to raise! So stand the stones a mari usque ad mare, Tethering times so distant. As we stand in awe, we prepare to carve out our own. On we go — anchored in the earth. On we go — megalithic art for these transient times.
4.
Brother of mine, How could you thrive in constant peace? Thrive without the struggle for always more? One only lives when at war. Sister, what tidings shall you bring? What spoils and vict’ries shall you ever sing? For what do you stand in your idleness? From what great journey do you rest? The peace for which you long is but rest for the road ahead. If you’ve yet to wander, why do you rest like the dead? The peace for which you long Is but rest for the road ahead. Fire I’ve lost, and fire I’ve found. I sing to you, ye dead above the ground. Brother of mine, What of the lightning that governed you? What scattered the clouds, O great thunderhead? When Man is at peace, he is dead. Sister, once fire-veined, What quenched your heart, simmered the blood? O former champion of the road unled, Why do you rest like the dead?
5.
I’ve seen this continent’s oceans, And all its creatures in motion. But above it all for splendour stand the briny Maritimes. Where the mist and the rain Blast life into me, And the old white pines Stand guard over the sea. Though I have left her as ofttime before Oh how I long for her Maritime shores I am but one of a thousand of lore Oh how I long for her Maritime shores Though I’ve lost myself in the greenery, And all other distant scenery, None match the climes Of the misty Maritimes. Elsewhere pipes are singing, And strings and drums are ringing. But none with the life of the briny Maritimes.
6.
We’ll walk through the day, on down to the bay We’ll claim old Goose River Point So haul on your mugs and growler jugs it’s a long road, but not as long as a dry road We’ll drink the ale and spin many a tale of our comrade’s final days. We’ll pour out the beer for the one not here Cheers, me b’y, once more. Cheers once more, me b’y. It’s a long road and a sorrowed load. It’s a long road and a sorrowed load, Cheers, me b’y, once more. Cheers, once more, me b'y. Where could we throw the ash, but the end of the path at the swirling Goose River Point? He’ll stand with the trees, and run with the streams where he once roamed, and now can ever again roam. And again next year we’ll feast out here an annual march to the sea. We’ll raise up a toast on the rocky coast: Cheers, me b’y, once more. Cheers, once more, me b'y.
7.
I: Of Consuming Flame There must be more, much more, to life than this electric, egocentric, current circumstance. On this Earth, there must be more than this for Homo sapiens. Give me sun and give me song, and I will charge our blood with ancient life. Give me sun and give me song— and the years I’ll sing us back to ice. Look to the sky, look to the hills, to ground you in this electric age. Look to the folk and the past they fill to ground you in this electric age. As you journey on through these modern times, walk light through the traps of the age. As you journey on through these modern times, walk heavy through the barriers made. Metachthonia! Metachthonia! Chthonic times are gone. Metachthonia! Metachthonia! Metachthonic times live on. Look not to these modern times— where diodes shine over the sun— to solve questions older than life, for the times only concern with themselves. II: The Chthonic Call Lost in urban sprawl. Spiritual withdrawal. Lights and screens decide all dreams. The distant landscape breathed and I heard the sky above—it groaned clouded words. Followed the chthonic call; journey to the coastal wall, where great trees stand across wide whispering land. The sound of waves striking cliffs was speech, conversation. Eternal tones, in the marrow of my bones: “And the fires burn bright. And they burn in number. Oh how they burn all across the Earth. And the fires burn all across the glowing Earth. And the fires burn for any who wish to find them.” III: In Mist and Spray I plant my feet upon the cliff and breathe the spray of the sea. Arms wider than the thundering sky. I roared out to all I could see and stretched flame into the sky. Though immersed in mist and spray, the fire that surged from heart to fist was ready to consume me. I saw the threads appear in the air: not quite cloud, not quite vine, glowing with each pulse, reaching high from my chest to the clouds. And the sky broke with crashing light and sound to deafen Thor himself. Lightning lit the ethereal braid. And all went black.
8.
Stars are all we have to connect our diverging lives. Look at the sky from where you are. And know that though we are so far, we see the same stars. Stars are all we have to connect our distant lives. So what becomes of you and I under this fading Winter sky? This death black sky. And so we lie, you and I, torn apart by the miles. And so we die, you and I, under the same black sky.

about

Eight songs from Thrawsunblat albums I – IV, arranged for acoustic performance, recorded live off the floor June 1st, 2019 at Studio Jolheim.

credits

released October 10, 2019

Joel Violette: guitar, vocals
Alex Storey: cajon beyond the mattress wall
Brendan Hayter: backing vocals, bass (1,2,5–7), guitar (3,4,8)
Keegan MC: fiddle (1,2,5–7), bass (3,4,8)

Recorded at Studio Jolheim, June 1st, 2019.
Engineered, mixed, mastered by Colin Streight
Produced by Joel Violette

Cover photo by N Violette
Cover layout by Joel Violette

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Thrawsunblat

metal from the atlantic fog

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